Should both schistosomal and nonschistosomal variceal bleeders be disconnected?

Splenopancreatic disconnection (SPD) was conceived and implemented as a technical addition to distal splenorenal shunt (DSRS) to maintain its selectivity and preserve portal perfusion. The proposed hemodynamic and metabolic stability of hepatocytes after DSRS-SPD should improve survival. In this nonrandomized study, 145 consecutive (Child A/B) variceal bleeders were electively subjected to selective shunt with DSRS in 93 and DSRS-SPD in 52 patients. The 2 groups were similar before surgery with a mean follow up of 24 +/- 12 (DSRS) and 27 +/- 14 (DSRS-SPD) months. DSRS-SPD had an operative mortality of 3.8%. Postoperative pancreatitis occurred in 7.7% after DSRS-SPD and 3.2% after DSRS alone, with schistosomal hepatic fibrosis representing 86% of morbid cases. Shunt patency was high and recurrent variceal hemorrhage was low in both groups. Clinical encephalopathy was significantly reduced after DSRS-SPD (p less than 0.05). The addition of SPD significantly reduced both the incidence of chronic hyperbilirubinemia in the schistosomal patients (p less than 0.05) and the difference between the changes in total serum bilirubin in all patients (p = 0.001). Portal perfusion was preserved after DSRS-SPD in all of the angiographically-studied patients. The overall survival was 84% after DSRS and 88% after DSRS-SPD. The schistosomal patients showed an incidence of 95% and 96% survival after DSRS and DSRS-SPD, respectively. DSRS-SPD was able to improve survival (92%) better than DSRS (77%) among well-matched nonschistosomal patients. These data show: (1) DSRS-SPD still has low operative mortality and a high patency rate with a low incidence of recurrent variceal hemorrhage, (2) DSRS-SPD maintains portal perfusion, achieves better survival, and reduces the incidence of encephalopathy, especially in patients with nonalcoholic cirrhosis and mixed liver disease, (3) in the schistosomal population, DSRS-SPD reduces the incidence of chronic hyperbilirubinemia but increases the risk of postoperative pancreatitis.