[Non-cirrhotic portal hypertension due to didanosina. A rare case]

Liver involvement is usually seen in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), especially in patients coinfected with hepatitis B or C, in alcohol abuse, etc. However, there is a group of patients who develop liver involvement and portal hypertension of unspecified cause. Non-cirrhotic portal hypertension (NCPH) is a liver disorder recently described, but potentially serious. It has been reported in HIV-infected patients with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), specifically didanosine (DDI). The pathophysiology involves the infectious agent (HIV) and its treatment (HAART), since both generate a pre-hepatic portal venulopathy. Similarly, HIV infection produces a prothrombotic state by protein S deficiency leading to the obliteration of small hepatic venules. It has been postulated that DDI as a cofactor in the pathogenesis of NCPH. All this leads that many of the liver biopsies show nodular regenerative hyperplasia. We present the case of a HIV-infected patient who was treated with a longstanding DDI. She developed upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGB) and ascites due to NCPH, whose diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy. However, there is no similar study in our country.