title: Successful portal-systemic shunt occlusion of a direct shunt between the inferior mesenteric vein and inferior vena cava with balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration following recanalization after placing a covered stent in the portal and superior mesenteric veins.
abstract: Extrahepatic portal-systemic shunts cause portal-systemic encephalopathy. Direct communication between the inferior mesenteric vein (IMV) and the inferior vena cava (IVC) is a relatively rare pathway among the variety of portal-systemic shunts. This report describes a case of successful occlusion of an IMV-IVC shunt. Based on laboratory data and computed tomography findings, a 69-year-old woman with liver cirrhosis was diagnosed with portal-systemic encephalopathy due to a shunt between the IMV and the IVC. Her hepatic coma had not been adequately controlled by oral or intravenous pharmacotherapy. First, we placed a covered stent in the main trunk of the portal vein and the superior mesenteric vein (SMV) to block the SMV hepatofugal flow and splenic vein hepatopetal flow, but this therapy showed only a transient therapeutic effect due to recanalization. Next, we performed balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) of the portal-systemic shunt. After the BRTO, she has had no episodes of portal-systemic encephalopathy for 2 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8520, Japan. hayashi@m.kufm.kagoshima-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Sadao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Yasutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Terutoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Senokuchi
authors.forename: Kazuto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueno
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakajo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D021721:Balloon Occlusion / Q000379:methods*; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008642:Mesenteric Veins; D013162:Splenic Vein; D015607:Stents; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media