Portal Steal Syndrome From a Large Linton's Splenorenal Shunt after Liver Transplantation: Successful Endovascular Management Through Off-Label Application of a 30 mm Amplatzer Cardiac Plug

Abstract

A 34-year-old patient underwent liver transplantation for progressive hepatic failure in the setting of congenital hepatic fibrosis. In past medical history, the patient had undergone splenectomy with proximal Linton's splenorenal surgical shunt creation for symptomatic portal hypertension with hypersplenism. The patient developed an early allograft dysfunction, with radiologic evidence of a reduced portal flow associated to portal steal from the patent surgical shunt. The patient was successfully treated through endovascular placement of a 30 mm Amplatzer cardiac plug at the origin of the splenic vein.

Keywords: Amplatzer cardiac plug; Liver transplantation; portal steal syndrome; surgical portosystemic shunt.