Doppler ultrasound facilitates renal vein dissection during distal splenorenal shunt.

We have found that the use of intraoperative Doppler ultrasound greatly facilitates the performance of the selective distal splenorenal shunt by precisely identifying the retroperitoneal location of the renal vein. The amount of dissection and tissue injury required for performing this operation was, thereby, minimized. This may theoretically result in a lowered incidence of postoperative ascites and complications after the Warren shunt.