Sonographic demonstration of portal venous system thromboses secondary to inflammatory diseases of the pancreas.

Sonographic demonstration of abdominal venous thromboses subsequent to pancreatic benign inflammatory diseases has been seldom reported up to now. Seven cases of thromboses of the portal venous system associated with acute or chronic pancreatitis are reported. All cases were detected by sonography in patients without clinical manifestations of portal hypertension. Echogenic thrombus within the lumen of the vein was observed only in the short-term follow-up of acute pancreatitis. Cavernomatous transformation was observed in 6 patients with long-term calcifying pancreatitis. Extrinsic compression by pseudocyst of the pancreas was observed in only 1 case. In all the other cases, thromboses seems to be secondary to local inflammatory phenomena during previous episodes of acute pancreatitis.