Percutaneous transhepatic angioplasty and stent implantation for prehepatic portal vein obstruction.

Twenty-nine months after a Whipple procedure for pancreatic carcinoma, a 47-year-old woman developed esophageal variceal bleeding. Percutaneous transhepatic portography revealed a severe stenosis of the portal vein with prehepatic portal hypertension and collateral circulation mainly to the gastric and esophageal veins. Percutaneous transhepatic balloon angioplasty was used to dilate the stenoses, but it did not remove the stenosis sufficiently. Therefore, an 8-mm, self-expandable stent was implanted, creating a nearly normal lumen without a pressure gradient. Portal hypertension was relieved, and the patient had no recurrent variceal bleeding for the 5 months up to her death.