Role of surgical portosystemic shunts in the era of interventional radiology and liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND

In the present era of liver transplantation and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts, the role and choice of shunt surgery for portal hypertension was reviewed.

METHODS

This retrospective study analysed the management of patients with portal hypertension in a tertiary liver transplant unit between June 1993 and May 2002. During this 9-year interval, 394 patients underwent endoscopic control of varices, 235 transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts were inserted, 1142 liver transplants were performed, while only 29 patients needed a surgical portosystemic shunt.

RESULTS

Twenty-nine shunt operations were performed in nine patients with cirrhosis, one patient with congenital hepatic fibrosis and 19 without parenchymal liver disease. There were 12 side-to-side lienorenal, nine mesocaval, three proximal lienorenal, two distal lienorenal, two portacaval and one mesoportal shunts. Encephalopathy was seen in five of 11 patients with a non-selective shunt, but did not occur after side-to-side or selective lienorenal shunt procedures. At a median follow-up of 42.5 months, one mesocaval shunt had thrombosed and one portacaval shunt had stenosed; both were successfully managed by percutaneous intervention. To date, six patients have died; two succumbed to postoperative complications, one of which was related to the shunt.

CONCLUSION

Patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome and cirrhosis can nearly always be managed by a combination of endoscopy, interventional radiology and liver transplantation. In the rare instances when these therapies fail in patients with cirrhosis, a side-to-side lienorenal shunt is a good option.