SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT OF PORTAL-HYPERTENSION FOLLOWING ARTIFICIAL ARTERIOPORTAL SHUNTING - REPORT OF A CASE

A 63-year-old woman diagnosed as having hepatic hilar cancer underwent an extended left lobectomy of the liver with excision of the right he patic artery which was involved by the tumor. Because the hepatic arte ry could not be reconstructed by direct anastomosis, an artificial art erioportal (A-P) shunt was constructed between the common hepatic arte ry and the portal vein. However, 4 weeks after the operation, portal h ypertension with severe esophageal varices developed. Under the diagno sis of portal hypertension caused by excessive blood flow from the A-P shunt, coil embolization of the common hepatic artery was performed u sing an angiographic technique, following which the esophageal varices completely disappeared. This case demonstrates that portal hypertensi on after A-P shunting can be effectively treated with coil embolizatio n.