Encephalopathy in patients with extrahepatic obstruction after lienorenal shunts

Thirty patients with portal hypertension resulting from extrahepatic portal vein obstruction were studied. Evidence of postshunt encephalopathy was sought using neurological and psychometric tests and visual evoked potentials. Eleven patients were studied before and after lienorenal shunt operations and 19 at varying intervals, from 6 to 123 (median 26) months, after the same procedure. All the shunts were patent and none of the patients developed clinical or subclinical encephalopathy. In patients with extrahepatic portal vein obstruction, a lienorenal shunt does not appear to be associated with postshunt encephalopathy.