Intrahepatic portal vein aneurysm: three-dimensional power Doppler demonstration in four cases

Portal vein aneurysm: What to know

Portal vein aneurysm is an unusual vascular dilatation of the portal vein, which was first described by Barzilai and Kleckner in 1956 and since then less than 200 cases have been reported. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the international literature to better clarify various aspects of this rare nosological entity and provide clear evidence-based summary, when available, of the clinical and surgical management. A systematic literature search of the Pubmed database was performed for all articles related to portal vein aneurysm. All articles published from 1956 to 2014 were examined for a total of 96 reports, including 190 patients. Portal vein aneurysm is defined as a portal vein diameter exceeding 1.9 cm in cirrhotic patients and 1.5 cm in normal livers. It can be congenital or acquired and portal hypertension represents the main cause of the acquired version. Surgical indication is considered in case of rupture, thrombosis or symptomatic aneurysms. Aneurysmectomy and aneurysmorrhaphy are considered in patients with normal liver, while shunt procedures or liver transplantation are the treatment of choice in case of portal hypertension. Being such a rare vascular entity its management should be reserved to high-volume tertiary hepato-biliary centres.

Visceral venous aneurysms: clinical presentation, natural history and their management: a systematic review

AIM

Aneurysms of the visceral veins are considered rare clinical entities. The aim is to assess their clinical presentation, natural history and management.

METHODS

An electronic search of the pertinent English and French literature was undertaken. All studies reporting on aneurysms of visceral veins were considered. Cases describing patients with arterial-venous fistulae and extrahepatic or intra-hepatic portosystemic venous shunts were excluded.

RESULTS

Ninety-three reports were identified, including 176 patients with 198 visceral venous aneurysms. Patients' age ranges from 0 to 87 years, and there is no apparent male/female preponderance. The commonest location of visceral venous aneurysms is the portal venous system (87 of 93 reports, 170 of 176 patients, 191 of 198 aneurysms). Aneurysms of the renal veins and inferior mesenteric vein are also described. Portal system venous aneurysms were present with abdominal pain in 44.7% of the patients, gastrointestinal bleeding in 7.3%, and are asymptomatic in 38.2%. Portal hypertension is reported in 30.8% and liver cirrhosis in 28.3%. Thrombosis occurred in 13.6% and rupture in 2.2% of the patients. Adjacent organ compression is reported in 2.2% (organs compressed: common bile duct, duodenum, inferior vena cava). The management ranged from watchful waiting to intervention. In 94% of the cases, aneurysm diameter remained stable and no complications occurred during follow-up. In most of the cases, indications for operation were symptoms and complications. Six cases of renal vein aneurysm are reported; three of them were asymptomatic. Three of these patients were treated surgically.

CONCLUSION

The most frequent location of visceral venous aneurysms is the portal venous system. They are often associated with cirrhosis and portal hypertension. They may be asymptomatic or present with abdominal pain and other symptoms. Watchful waiting is an appropriate treatment, except when complications occur. Most common complications are aneurysm thrombosis and rupture. Other visceral venous aneurysms are extremely rare.

Congenital extrahepatic portal vein aneurysm

Portal vein aneurysm is a rare clinical entity, with only 41 published cases in the English-language literature. Twenty-five of them were congenital. We present the case of a 50-year-old woman who was incidentally diagnosed with a congenital extrahepatic portal vein aneurysm during an investigation for dyspepsia. Ultrasonographic features are described with correlation of computed tomographic and magnetic resonance findings. Etiology, clinical significance, and management strategies for these lesions are discussed and a review of the literature regarding this entity is presented.

CT angiography of intrahepatic portal aneurysm

We report a case of an asymptomatic portal vein aneurysm diagnosed at ultrasonography and documented with multidetector computed tomography. We describe the features found at quadriphasic multidetector computed tomography with three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography.

Colon stenosis caused by old portal vein thrombosis

A 58-year-old female with a history of portal vein thrombosis was referred to our hospital with abdominal pain and distention. Colon fiber and enema of the colon showed stenosis at the transverse colon and the ascending colon, with edematous mucosa. Laparotomy revealed no abnormal findings other than chronic ischemia of the colon. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of colon stenosis caused by portal vein thrombosis.

A huge intrahepatic portal vein aneurysm

Portal vein aneurysm is an unusual vascular abnormality. We report a rare case of a huge intrahepatic portal vein aneurysm at the umbilical portion with hepatic encephalopathy. Abdominal contrast-enhanced dynamic computed tomography and angiography clearly showed a well-circumscribed, 50 x 40-mm portal vein aneurysm at the umbilical portion with portohepatic venous shunt. To our knowledge, this is the largest intrahepatic portal vein aneurysm ever reported.