Abstract: Portal vein thrombosis（PVT） should be treated properly because it has an objective effect on the prognosis of patients with cirrhosis. Anticoagulant therapy is commonly used in clinic，but how to make the correct choice of it for patients with risk of variceal bleeding is very hard. The current worldwide guidelines for the management of cirrhosis patients with PVT do not provide a definite recommendation. We retrieved the relevant clinical trials in literatures and found that the application of anticoagulation in cirrhosis patients with PVT was associated with a high rates of recanalization and didn’t increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. The evidences of current research，however，are generally at a very low levels，and more prospective studies with relatively large samples are needed to give a confirmed conclusion. We think the use of anticoagulant therapy should be individualized based on the specific circumstances at present.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, Portal vein thrombosis, Anticoagulant therapy