Portosystemic shunting in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis: a good risk disease

Five patients with primary biliary cirrhosis underwent portosystemic shunting for the control of variceal bleeding. Three procedures were emergencies and two were elective. There was no operative mortality; all patients were followed until the present or until death. One patient is alive 4 years and another, 2 years postoperatively. One patient died 4 years after operation and another died 16 months postoperatively. Another patient survived for 8 years following her shunt and eventually died as a result of a cerebrovascular accident. This group of patients is compared to a larger group undergoing portosystemic shunting because of portal hypertension secondary to other forms of liver disease. The absence of operative mortality and the fact that several of these patients had moderately long postoperative survival despite apparently poor liver function suggest that the usual criteria for the assessment of operative risk are not valid in primary biliary cirrhosis.