title: Clinical, radiologic, and endoscopic characteristics upon diagnosis of patients with prehepatic portal hypertension at the Instituto Nacional de Pediatría from 2001 to 2011.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prehepatic portal hypertension in children can be asymptomatic for many years. Once diagnosed, the therapeutic measures (pharmacologic, endoscopic, and surgical) are conditioned by the specific characteristics of each patient. In Mexico, there are no recorded data on the incidence of the disease and patient characteristics.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the main clinical, radiologic, and endoscopic characteristics upon diagnosis of these patients at the Instituto Nacional de Pediatría within the time frame of January 2001 and December 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional, retrolective, descriptive, and observational study was conducted in which all the medical records of the patients with portal hypertension diagnosis were reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a greater prevalence of prehepatic etiology (32/52) (61.5%) in the portal hypertension cases reviewed. Males (62.5%) predominated and 11 of the 32 patients were under 4 years of age. The primary reason for medical consultation was upper digestive tract bleeding with anemia (71.9%) and the main pathology was cavernomatous degeneration of the portal vein (65.6%). Splenoportography was carried out on 17 of the 32 patients. A total of 65.5% of the patients received the combination therapy of propranolol and a proton pump inhibitor. Initial endoscopy revealed esophageal varices in 96.9% of the patients, 12 of whom presented with gastroesophageal varices. Congestive gastropathy was found in 75% of the patients. The varices were ligated in 8 cases, sclerotherapy for esophageal varices was carried out in 5 cases (15.6%), and sclerotherapy for gastric varices was performed in 2 patients. Seventeen patients (53.1%) underwent portosystemic diversion: 10 of the procedures employed a mesocaval shunt and 7 a splenorenal shunt. Nine patients (28.1%) underwent total splenectomy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The primary cause of the disease was cavernomatous degeneration of the portal vein; it was predominant in males and the first symptom was variceal bleeding.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México. Electronic address: florazarate@gmail.com.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zárate Mondragón
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Romero Trujillo
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cervantes Bustamante
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Radiología, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mora Tiscareño
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montijo Barrios
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Cadena León
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cázares Méndez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Toro Monjaraz
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Gastroenterología y Nutrición, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, México D.F., México.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ramírez Mayans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006975:Hypertension, Portal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico
keywords: Children; Hipertensión portal prehepática; Mexico; México; Niños; Prehepatic portal hypertension