[Portal hypertension in chronic lymphatic leukemia (author's transl)]

A syndrome of portal hypertension with hemorrhagic ascites was developed in a 44-year-old patient, 2 years after he had been diagnosed as having a chronic lymphatic leukemia. The study of the patient, including two liver biopsies and a laparoscopy, excluded the existence of another hepatic or extrahepatic associated condition. The clinical course of the patient was rapidly fatal progressive in spite of the cytostatic therapy, and he died as a result of an acute liver failure. The autopsy confirmed the absence of vascular occlusions in the suprahepatic veins or in the vena porta. The liver showed, in contrast to the findings of previous biopsies and laparoscopy, an evident fibrotic pattern.