title: Stent placement for the treatment of portal vein stenosis or occlusion in pediatric liver transplant recipients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy of stent placement for the treatment of portal vein (PV) stenosis or occlusion in pediatric liver transplant recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Written informed consent was obtained from a legal guardian, and our institutional review board approved this study. Percutaneous (n = 10) or intraoperative (n = 2) stent placement was attempted in 12 pediatric recipients (age range, 6-102 months) via the percutaneous transhepatic or inferior mesenteric vein route. Stents 6-10 mm in diameter were placed. Technical and clinical success, complications, and patency of the PV were retrospectively analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Technical success was achieved in 10 of 12 patients (83%) and clinical success was achieved in eight patients (67%). Eight of the 10 patients in whom technical success was achieved (80%) remained healthy with a patent PV during the 10-58-month clinical follow-up period. One patient with technical success died of acute rejection without recurrent PV complications and another died of acute rejection after stent replacement as a result of an hourglass deformity of a deployed stent with partial thrombosis. No major procedural complications occurred.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on this study in a relatively small number of patients, PV stent placement seems to be a safe and effective method for the treatment of posttransplantation PV stenosis or occlusion in pediatric patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Research Institute of Radiology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1 Poongnap-2-dong, Songpa-ku, Seoul 138-040, Republic of Korea. kogy@amc.seoul.kr
authors.forename: Gi-Young
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Kyu-Bo
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: SungGyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Hyun-Ki
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Kyung Rae
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyung Mo
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young-Joo
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015607:Stents; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018616:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Duplex; D014654:Vascular Patency; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*