title: A large portal vein: a rare finding of recent portal vein thrombosis.
abstract: Acute portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is rarely encountered by clinicians. The most common manifestation of acute PVT is sudden onset of abdominal pain. A computed tomography scan without contrast often shows a high-density material in the portal vein. After injection of contrast agents, absence of luminal enhancement and enlargement of the obstructed portal vein are shown. In this case report, we demonstrated a rare computed tomography finding in which the diameter of the main portal vein was enormously distended to 3-fold that of the aorta in a patient with recent PVT. Despite thrombolysis and anticoagulation were immediately given, portal venous recanalization was not achieved in the patient. After 5 years, variceal bleeding and ascites occurred and liver function had persistently deteriorated. Finally, he died of progressive liver failure. Considering this case, we suggest that an early decision for invasive interventional treatment might be necessary to both increase the rate of portal venous recanalization and improve prognosis, as anticoagulation and thrombolysis therapy failed to recanalize recent PVT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Interventional Radiology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Xingshun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Guohong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Zhanxin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Chuangye
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wengang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Kaichun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Daiming
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fan