[Idiopathic intrahepatic portosytemic shunts in 4 children].

Intrahepatic portosystemic anastomoses are macroscopic communications between the venous portal system and the systemic circulation and located partly in the liver. We report 4 new cases of type II shunts, which illustrate the circumstances of the diagnosis of these exceptional anomalies. For 2 children, the diagnosis was done antenataly by US and spontaneous involution in a few months was observed. In the third case the malformation was evidenced fortuitously at 3 weeks of life, and this 6-year-old child remains completely asymptomatic so far. Then, in the fourth case, a cerebral venous thrombosis was fortuitously and antenatally evidenced in an otherwise uneventful pregnancy and portosystemic shunt was demonstrated postnataly in the extensive work up of the neonate.