Serious intestinal bleeding from vascular ectasia secondary to portal thrombosis after living-related liver transplantation in a child

J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Surg. 2005;12(4):317-20. doi: 10.1007/s00534-005-0971-6.

Abstract

Serious intestinal bleeding from vascular ectasia secondary to extrahepatic portal thrombosis is much less frequent than variceal bleeding, and its treatment is not clearly defined. We describe a 4-year-old girl with repeated intestinal bleeding from vascular ectasia, without any varix, with late extrahepatic portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and late hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) after living-related liver transplantation. The bleeding stopped after simple splenectomy. She has presented neither bleeding nor any serious complications related to splenectomy for 1 year to date. We think uncontrollable hemorrhage from gastrointestinal vascular ectasia secondary to extrahepatic portal thrombosis in a pediatric patient can and should be treated by simple splenectomy, because patients with this complication usually have a normally functioning liver. However, it is not clear whether this procedure is effective for variceal bleeding.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Child, Preschool
  • Collateral Circulation
  • Dilatation, Pathologic
  • Female
  • Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / etiology*
  • Hepatic Artery / pathology*
  • Humans
  • Liver Transplantation*
  • Living Donors
  • Portal Vein / pathology*
  • Postoperative Complications
  • Thrombosis / complications*