Portal vein angioplasty using a transjugular, intrahepatic approach for treatment of extrahepatic portal vein stenosis after liver transplantation

Abstract

Symptomatic portal vein stenosis is an uncommon complication after liver transplantation. Portal vein angioplasty has been successfully established for treatment of portal vein stenosis using mesenteric or percutaneous, transhepatic approaches. We herein report on a patient who suffered from variceal bleeding due to portal hypertension 3 months after liver transplantation. After successful endoscopic sclerotherapy, an extrahepatic portal vein stenosis was diagnosed, and portal vein angioplasty was considered as primary therapeutic option. Instead of mesenteric or percutaneous, transhepatic approaches, we adopted a transjugular, intrahepatic access to introduce a 14-mm balloon catheter into the portal vein. Using this technique, angioplasty was successfully performed. After intervention, no further episodes of variceal bleeding occurred. We favour the transjugular, intrahepatic technique for portal vein angioplasty because it does not require general anesthesia, in contrast to the mesenteric approach, and it reduces the risk of intra-abdominal bleeding, compared to the percutaneous, transhepatic approach.