[Arteriovenous shunt after splenectomy. A rare cause of cardiac incompensation and portal hypertension].

A 50-year-old man, who underwent splenectomy after trauma 23 years previously, presented with upper gastrointestinal bleeding caused by varices and cardiac insufficiency with lung oedema, ascites and peripheral oedema. An arteriovenous splenic shunt from artery to vein with an aneurysm measuring 10 cm across was closed using transarterial coiling technique. One year later the shunt was still closed, but a cardiac insufficiency requiring medical anticongestive therapy persisted.