Combined hepatic artery and segmental portal vein occlusion in antiphospholipid syndrome

Antiphospholipid syndrome can have various clinical presentations, two of t he most common being arterial and venous thrombosis. It is, however, unusua l for them to occur in combination. We report here a case of combined hepat ic artery and segmental portal venous occlusion in a 32-year-old patient wh o was shown to have a lupus anticoagulant. There have been no previous repo rts of thrombosis occurring simultaneously in the coeliac axis and the port al vein. Computerised tomography, Doppler ultrasound scanning and selective visceral angiography were used to demonstrate the anatomical lesions. The patient was treated medically with unfractionated heparin leading to a favo urable clinical outcome. The diagnosis and management of this case is discu ssed with reference to the current literature on visceral thrombosis and an tiphospholipid a nti body syndrome. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.