Portal hypertension secondary to congenital arterioportal fistula.

An infant boy with severe portal hypertension developed failure to thrive and malabsorption. Clinical findings and ultrasonography suggested the presence of an arteriovenous shunt, and hepatic angiography confirmed the diagnosis and outlined the anatomy of the vascular malformation, which was an intrahepatic arterioportal fistula. Ligature of the hepatic artery gave excellent results as demonstrated by disappearance of portal hypertension and malabsorption and subsequent growth catch-up.