Peritoneo-venous shunting and endoscopic sclerotherapy in patients with portal hypertension

Denver type peritoneo-venous (PV) shunting for intractable ascites was performed in 16 patients also treated with endoscopic injection sclerotherapy (ST) for variceal haemorrhage. Indications, timing and results of shunt insertion are detailed and discussed. Serial ST for eradication of varices could be completed in 10 patients a median of 7 months before PV shunting. The postoperative risk of bleeding was increased four times, i.e. the number of GI bleedings per month of follow-up, was 0.05 and 0.21 (p less than 0.05) respectively, before and after shunt operation. Two patients experienced their first variceal bleeding and 6 patients rebled during a median follow-up of 3 months after PV shunting. The Denver shunt succeeded in resolving ascites clinically in 13 patients within 7 days with a median decrease in weight of 10 kg, parallel to increased urinary output and reduced serum-creatinine. Three patients did not benefit from the shunt procedure due to terminal neoplastic disease (one patient), and severe hepatorenal failure, although the shunts were proven patent. Serious complications included clinically important consumptive coagulopathy, DIC-syndrome (two patients), myocardial infarction (one), pulmonary embolism (three), and sepsis following intervention of obstruction (one).