Lorenz Balcar

It is a great honour being nominated since it is the first time having the chance to participate for an international award of this kind. Overall, it feels rewarding since it acknowledges the effort, I put into research over the last years to achieve such a goal.

Lorenz Balcar, MD, is a doctor and researcher based in Vienna, Austria. He enrolled in the physician scientist PhD at the Medical University of Vienna and is currently doing his clinical rotations and research.

Since Balcar’s mother works as a veterinarian and his dad as a radiology technologist, medicine as a profession was quite appealing for him since the early years. After doing his first scientific work during medical school, Balcar decided to also follow the aim to work as a clinician scientist next to clinical work.

His recent research focuses on patients with advanced liver cirrhosis. For those at high risk of severe bleeding from swollen veins, a specific treatment called transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) can improve outcomes. However, even patients at lower risk may face complications despite using standard treatments.

The study therefore focused on factors predicting re-bleeding and mortality in these lower-risk cases of severe bleeding from swollen veins in the oesophagus or stomach. While no clinically meaningful predictors were identified for re-bleeding, they developed a nomogram integrating Child-Turcotte-Pugh score (i.e., a score for liver disease severity), creatinine, and sodium to stratify mortality risk.

Our study paves the way for future clinical trials evaluating whether elective transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt placement improves outcomes in presumably ‘non-high risk’ patients who are identified as being at increased risk of death.

Next to clinical work and science, Balcar likes to go running and is an enthusiastic musician, playing trombone at and conducting the 'Musikkapelle Zellerndorf', a music corps in Lower Austria.