[Sapheno-peritoneal shunt for the treatment of ascites]

For the surgical treatment of drug resistant ascites caused by hepatic cirrhosis usually different types of valvular plastic tubes are used, implanted as peritoneo-venous shunts. These shunts drain the ascites into the jugular vein. In the 1st Surgical Department of the Semmelweis University Budapest we have performed 267 peritoneo-venous shunt operations. We introduced a new method using an autolog venous graft with a peritoneo-venous anastomosis, that drains the ascites into the saphenous, then femoral vein. So far we performed 5 such interventions. The early results suggest that sapheno-peritoneal shunt can be successfully used for treatment of ascites. With this operation complications of plastic grafts are avoidable.