peritoneo-venous [Denver] shunt in the management of intractable ascites in-patients with portal hypertension

The Denver Peritoneo-venous shunt was implanted in 15 patients with intractable ascites. The procedure was safe with no peri-operative mortality. It much improved the quality of life as regard with respiration, sleep and locomotion- in 60% of the patients. It also improved some of the biochemical abnormalities of those patients namely, serum albumin and serum creatinine levels. It avoids the patients the costly frequent hospitalizition, frequent intravenous albumin administration and the hazardous abdominal paracentesis