CRP and portal hypertension: To assess correlation and proximity of the investigated biomarkers with each other as well as with markers of systemic (WBC, CRP) and hepatic inflammation (AST, ALT), portal hypertension (platelets, sodium) and liver function (bilirubin, INR, albumin, MELD), we used hierarchical cluster analysis (Figure 1F) as well as non‐parametric correlation analysis (Figure 1G).