Noradrenaline or terlipressin for hepatorenal syndrome?

Hepatorenal syndrome is a condition associated with very high mortality that may be reverted in some cases with vasoconstrictors. Terlipressin has generally been considered standard treatment, but noradrenaline has been postulated as alternative. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening 30 databases, we identified six systematic reviews including four pertinent randomized controlled trials. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings following the GRADE approach. We concluded noradrenaline and terlipressin probably have similar effects on reverting hepatorrenal syndrome and decreasing mortality, but noradrenaline is associated with less adverse effects, and has lower costs.