Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2023 Oct;42(5):677-685.
doi: 10.1007/s12664-023-01393-1. Epub 2023 Aug 29.

To evaluate the prevalence of spontaneous portosystemic shunts in decompensated cirrhosis patients and its prognostic significance

Affiliations
Observational Study

To evaluate the prevalence of spontaneous portosystemic shunts in decompensated cirrhosis patients and its prognostic significance

Rishabh Kothari et al. Indian J Gastroenterol. 2023 Oct.

Abstract

Introduction: Spontaneous portosystemic shunts (SPSS) are frequent in liver cirrhosis and their prevalence increases as liver function deteriorates, probably as a consequence of worsening portal hypertension, but without achieving an effective protection against cirrhosis complications. This study was conducted to detect the prevalence of portosystemic shunts in liver cirrhosis patients and analyze its prognostic role.

Method: We conducted a prospective observational study, where 92 patients with decompensated cirrhosis were evaluated based on history, physical examination, biochemical tests and abdominal computed tomography (CT) angiography findings. A follow-up was done after six months for the development of cirrhosis-related complications.

Results: Of the 92 cirrhotic patients, 57.6% had SPSS (large SPSS + small SPSS) detected by multi-detector computed tomographic angiography. Overall, we found large SPSS in 24 (26.1%) patients, small SPSS in 29 (31.5%) patients and no shunt in 39 (42.4%) patients. Among the shunts, the splenorenal shunt is the most frequent type (25, 27.2%) followed by the paraumbilical shunt (20.7%). Previous decompensating events, including hepatic encephalopathy, ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and gastrointestinal bleed, were experienced more frequently by the large SPSS group followed by the small SPSS and without SPSS groups. Regarding follow-up, decompensating episodes of hepatic encephalopathy developed more frequently in patients with large SPSS (41.7%) than in patients with small SPSS (24.1%) followed by patients without SPSS (12.8%).

Conclusion: In summary, all cirrhotic patients should be studied with radiological imaging to detect the presence of portosystemic shunts. In several cases, patients with large SPSS had a more impaired liver function and more frequent complications of portal hypertension. So, these patients would probably benefit from a closer surveillance and more intensive therapy.

Keywords: Hepatic encephalopathy; Liver cirrhosis; Portal hypertension; Spontaneous portosystemic shunts; Varices.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Garcia-Tsao G, Abraldes JG, Berzigotti A, et al. Portal hypertensive bleeding in cirrhosis: risk stratification, diagnosis, and management: 2016 practice guidance by the American Association for the study of liver diseases. Hepatology. 2017;65:310–35. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garcia-Tsao G, Sanyal AJ, Grace ND, Carey W. Practice Guidelines Committee of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases; Practice Parameters Committee of the American College of Gastroenterology. Prevention and management of gastroesophageal varices and variceal hemorrhage in cirrhosis. Hepatology. 2007;46:922–38. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akahane T, Iwasaki T, Kobayashi N, et al. Changes in liver function parameters after occlusion of gastrorenal shunts with balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration. Am J Gastroenterol. 1997;92:1026–30. - PubMed
    1. Arora A, Rajesh S, Meenakshi YS, Sureka B, Bansal K, Sarin SK. Spectrum of hepatofugal collateral pathways in portal hypertension: an illustrated radiological review. Insights Imaging. 2015;6:559–72. - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Bagheri M, Hajati A, Hosseini M, Ostad SP. Comparison of findings of spontaneous splenorenal shunt in color Doppler sonography with multislice CT scan (64 slices) in liver transplant candidates. Eur J Radiol. 2012;81:2027–36. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources