precipitate hepatic failure and transplantation is then an emer-
gency rescue procedure.
10
Early referral is essential.
Options for decompression with shunts are limited in patients
with thrombosis or severe compression of the inferior vena cava;
only a suprahepatic shunt (from splanchnic veins to the heart e
meso-atrial shunt) or TIPSS (which can be performed even in those
with obstructed hepatic veins) is suitable. Otherwise, TIPSS or a side-
to-side portacaval shunt is the procedure of choice. A surgical shunt
should not be used in patients who present acutely. A 95% 5-year
survival can be achieved in chronic cases. All forms of shunting
reduce hepatic parenchymal perfusion, so liver reserve and reversible
liver injury must be assessed to ensure adequate residual function.
Liver transplantation: is the preferred option when shunting is
impossible or fails; 5-year survival is 70% or more and it may be
the treatment of choice in fulminant cases.
11
Balloon dilatation: when isolated webs are found in the hepatic
veins and inferior vena cava (more common in the Far East),
balloon dilatation of these often relieves the obstruction.
10
Anticoagulation: should be used long term, particularly after
shunting and after liver transplantation, regardless of whether
a cause is found. Multiple thrombophilic risk factors may co-
exist, including as yet unidentified ones. Thrombolytic therapy
is not usually effective.
10
Portal vein thrombosis (PVT)
Aetiology and presentation
The causes are umbilical sepsis and any intra-abdominal sepsis
causing secondary thrombosis, and also carcinoma of the
pancreas and other malignancies.
12,13
Thrombophilic syndromes are the principal primary cause,
coagulation defects being more common than myeloproliferative
disorders. PVT can occur as a complication of cirrhosis in 0.6e16%
ethe most frequent causes are invasion by hepatocellular carci-
noma (HCC), as well as a pro-coagulant tendency in patients with
advanced cirrhosis and a decreased hepatopetal flow.
PVT is an adverse prognostic factor in cirrhosis, whether or
not associated with HCC.
12,13
Patients may be asymptomatic, with splenomegaly that is
either palpable or diagnosed incidentally by imaging, or may
present with bleeding from varices at the gastro-oesophageal
junction or further down the gastrointestinal tract, or rarely
with an acute abdomen due to mesenteric infarction.
Diagnosis
Ultrasound Doppler is the imaging modality of choice, followed
by cross-sectional CT or MRI with contrast, to diagnose associ-
ated malignancies and to define the extent of thrombosis.
A thrombophilia screen should be performed, as for BuddeChiari
syndrome, and relatives screened if this is positive.
12
Management
In the absence of malignancy in non-cirrhotic PVT, lifelong
anticoagulation should always be evaluated as first-line therapy,
as the risk of further thrombosis is substantially greater than that
of bleeding.
12
Many centres eradicate varices by ligation before
starting anticoagulation, whether or not there has been previous
bleeding. The evidence for benefit of anticoagulation in cirrhotic
PVT is less clear-cut; the risk and adverse consequences of var-
iceal bleeding are far greater than in those without cirrhosis.
12
Increasingly, anticoagulation is used for patients awaiting liver
transplantation as thrombotic extension into the superior
mesenteric vein may make the surgery impossible.
13
Bleeding gastro-oesophageal varices are treated as described
previously. PVT is not a contraindication to TIPSS, which is
successful in 65% of cases.
13
It can be used if bleeding is not
controlled by endoscopic methods, or when anticoagulation is
contraindicated, particularly before transplantation, although it
is preferable to anticoagulate after TIPSS to increase patency
rates. Thrombolytic therapy is rarely effective but has been used
in cases of very recent acute mesenteric infarction, or when
surgery for this complication is not possible.
12,13
A
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MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS IN LIVER DISEASE
MEDICINE 39:10 611 Ó2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.