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Portal and mesenteric venous calcification in patient with advanced cirrhosis
Bing Pan1, ShaoCheng Lyu, Qiang He
1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
Insights
Portal vein calcification is a rare finding in liver cirrhosis patients. This condition is associated with portal vein thrombosis, leading to poor prognosis and complications during liver transplantation.
Area of Science:
- Hepatology
- Vascular Surgery
- Radiology
Background:
- Portal and mesenteric venous calcifications are infrequently reported in cirrhosis patients.
- Preoperative identification of vascular lesions in cirrhosis is challenging.
- Portal venous calcification in cirrhosis correlates with increased postoperative complications, mortality, and poor prognosis.
Rationale:
The incidence of portal and mesenteric venous calcifications in patients with cirrhosis has rarely been reported. It is also very difficult to determine the vascular lesions in preoperative imaging examination. The liver cirrhosis patients associated with portal venous calcification have high postoperative complications and mortality, but poor prognosis.
Patient Concerns:
We present a patient (45-year-old male), who was admitted to the hospital with liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension associated symptoms.
Diagnoses:
Abdominal imaging computed tomography confirmed the presence of calcification in the portal vein system.
Interventions:
The patient underwent allogeneic liver transplantation.
Outcomes:
The patient died 2 days after liver transplantation.
Lessons:
Calcification in the portal vein system is extremely rare, and always occurs in patients with long-standing liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension gastroesophageal varices and splenomegaly. The presence of portal vein calcification on computed tomography may be a sign of portal vein thrombosis, which may result in a difficult transplantation, and poor prognosis.
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