[Portal hypertension and splenic circulation]

The severe complications of portal hypertension have not been solved yet, except the majority of cirrhotic livers suffering of hemorrhagic varices which are expected to be managed by a liver transplant. When we started to study post operatively our patients operated on with the porta azygous disconnection in whom we ligate the splenic artery and the short vessels with the technique we described in 1981, we found that the patients subject to this procedure have no alterations in their splenic circulation. An anatomic research study determined that the spleen is also irrigated by the left gastroepiploic artery which it has not been described before. This finding simplifies our surgical disconnection procedure because now it is not necessary the ligation of the splenic artery.