Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Emergency splenocaval shunt surgery eased portal hypertension in a dog
By Poy, N S et al.·Published in Veterinary surgery : VS·1998·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Splenocaval shunting for alleviation of portal hypertension in a dog: a case report.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A dog with a serious condition developed life-threatening portal hypertension (high blood pressure in the liver) after a surgical mishap during a procedure to fix a previous shunt. To address this, veterinarians quickly created a splenocaval shunt, which redirected blood flow and significantly lowered the portal pressure. The dog had minimal complications after the surgery and returned to health. A follow-up surgery was done a month later to fully close the shunt, leading to a successful outcome.
People also search for: dog portal hypertension treatment · splenocaval shunt for dogs · dog surgery complications
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To describe the construction and use of a splenocaval shunt to prevent portal hypertension in a dog with iatrogenic rupture and subsequent complete occlusion of an intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (IPSS). STUDY DESIGN: Case report describing a single, client-owned animal. RESULTS: During dissection, the back wall of an IPSS was torn. Complete shunt occlusion was required to control the hemorrhage. This resulted in the development of life-threatening portal hypertension. Emergency splenocaval shunt construction reduced the portal pressure from 47 to 20 cm H2O. The dog experienced minimal postoperative complications. A second surgical procedure was performed a month later to completely ligate the splenocaval shunt. CONCLUSIONS: A splenocaval shunt can be used to divert blood from the portal to the systemic circulation to control portal hypertension. In this dog, it resulted in a successful outcome with few complications. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The splenocaval shunt could be constructed before the dissection of a difficult IPSS if problems arise as occurred in the dog described in this report. Complete IPSS occlusion can be performed without development of portal hypertension.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9662778/