Portal and mesenteric venous calcification in patients with advanced cirrhosis

OBJECTIVE, The incidence of calcification in the portal and mesenteric veno us system was studied in patients with advanced cirrhosis undergoing evalua tion for liver transplantation. The significance of portal and mesenteric c alcification on liver transplantation was also investigated, CONCLUSION. An 11% incidence of portal and mesenteric venous calcification was found in patients with cirrhosis, which was much higher than anticipate d. Two (29%) of seven patients who had calcification present on CT and unde rwent liver transplantation died at surgery as a result of portal venous th rombosis, Thus, venous calcification seen on CT is a significant finding in patients undergoing liver transplantation.