Background and aim Hepatic ascites usually treated by natriuresis and diuresis. Empagliflozin is a sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor which is a novel drug that was designed for management of type II diabetes mellitus by targeting sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 in the kidney, advocating urinary excretion of both sodium and glucose in the urine. We aimed to explore the safety and efficacy of empagliflozin as an auxiliary treatment for ascites in patients with liver cirrhosis Patients and methods A clinical trial was conducted on 104 patients with cirrhotic ascites enrolled in this study treated for 3 months by the standard therapy salt restriction plus diuretics (spironolactone and frusemide) then standard therapy plus empagliflozin 10 mg po once for another 3 months abdominal girth and body weight was used a measure of ascites volume. Results Empagliflozin had very good safety profile as regard cirrhotic patients, however there were no statistically significant reduction of abdominal girth and body weight as a measure of ascites volume. Conclusion Empagliflozin was found to be safe and well tolerated in patients with advanced chronic liver disease. Although it appeared to enhance diuresis and facilitate ascites mobilization, these effects did not achieve statistical significance.
Ali et al. (Thu,) studied this question.