ALB and Ascites: As expected cirrhotic patients with ascites had a higher impairment of both liver (albumin 3.5±0.5 vs. 2.9±0.4, p<0.001; bilirubin 1.0±0.4 vs. 3.1±3.4, p = 0.005; INR 1.1±0.1 vs. 1.4±0.3, p = 0.002) and kidney function (creatinine 0.7±0.1 vs. 1.0±0.3, p = 0.007), compared to their counterpart without ascites.