Pancreatic disease-associated portal hypertension:clinical analysis of 59 cases / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical features and management of pancreatic disease- associated portal hypertension.Methods A retrospective analysis was carried out in patients with portal hypertension complicating with pancreatic diseases in our hospital from January 1986 to April 2005. Medical records of these patients were reviewed,including data of demographics,etiologies,venous involvement,clinical presentation,laboratory tests,imaging studies,therapeutic modalities and out- comes.Results There were 59 cases of portal hypertension resulted from pancreatic diseases in our hos- pital,accounting for 4% of all portal hypertension in 19 years.The underlying pancreatic diseases were chronic pancreatitis(21 cases,35.6%),pancreatic carcinoma(20 cases,33.9%),acute pancreatitis (8 cases,13.6%),pancreatic pseudocyst(3 cases,5.1%).Of the 40 patients whose venous involve ment was identified,splenic vein obstruction occurred in 27 cases(67.5%),followed by portal vein obstruction(16 cases,40.0%).Mild or moderate splenomegaly was present in 48 cases(81.4%),with leukocytopenia as the most common manifestation of the 31 cases(52.5%)of concomitant hyper- splenism.Forty-five patients(76.3%)developed gastroesophageal varices(including 35 isolated gastric varices),among them,19 had bled(32.2%).Conservative treatment was effective in controlling acute bleeding,but could not prevent re-bleeding.Splenectomy was performed in 18 patients,mainly because of gastrointestinal hemorrhage.No postoperative bleeding occurred in the period of follow-up from 8 months to 9 years.Conclusions Pancreatic diseases may compromise portal vein and its tributaries, leading to generalized or regional portal hypertension.Pharmacological therapy can effectively control acute variceal bleeding,while surgical treatment is the appropriate procedure of choice in case of hemor- rhage recurrence.