Portal hypertension due to portal venous thrombosis: Etiology, clinical outcomes

The thrombophilia in adult life has major implications in the hepatic vessels. The resulting portal vein thrombosis has various outcomes and complications. Esophageal varices, portal gastropathy, ascites, severe hypersplenism and liver failure needing liver transplantation are known well. The newly formed collateral venous circulation showing itself as pseudocholangicarcinoma sign and its possible clinical reflection as cholestasis are also known from a long time. The management strategies for these complications of portal vein thrombosis are not different from their counterpart which is cirrhotic portal hypertension, but the prognosis is unquestionably better in former cases. In this review we present and discuss the portal vein thrombosis, etiology and the resulting clinical pictures. There are controversial issues in nomenclature, management (including anticoagulation problems), follow up strategies and liver transplantation. In the light of the current knowledge, we discuss some controversial issues in literature and present our experience and our proposals about this group of patients. (C) 2007 The WJG Press. All rights reserved.