The diagnosis and treatment of 11 cases of portal vein cavernous transformation.

Objective To investigate the clinical feature,etiology,diagnosis and treatment of cavernous transformation of the portal vein(CTPV).Methods A retrospective study was made on clinical data of 11 patients with CTPV.Results A total of 11 patients had portal hypertension.Tumor was the most important etiology of CTPV in adult.Apart from liver diseases due to CTPV,the liver function could be classified as Child A.The diagnosis of cavernous transformation was confirmed by color Doppler ultrasonography,CT,MRI or DSA in all patients.Medical treatment was efficient but patients re-bled easily.Splenectomy and devascularization were performed on 2 cases.Conclusion Feature of CTPV is portal hypertension.Doppler ultrasound can identify the CTPV generally.Recently CTPV is mostly treated by surgical methods and the operation choice is portasystemic shunt.