Surgical correction of a splenophrenic shunt in a dog: a case report

A 4.3 kg, nine-year-old, spayed female Shih Tzu was presented for a two-month history of seizures, ataxia, and hyper-salivation. A diagnosis of a splenophrenic shunt was made by use of computed tomography angiography with volume-rendered imaging. A cellophane band was placed around the shunt after its isolation from the central tendon of the diaphragm. Clinical signs continued to wax and wane. Preprandial and postprandial bile acids levels were still elevated 10 months after surgery. An ameroid ring constrictor was placed around the shunt vessel before the vessel entered the diaphragm from its caudal aspect. At three months after the second surgery, the dog was near the normal ranges of preprandial and postprandial bile acids. Although a study of the anatomy of different types of extrahepatic portosystemic shunts has been reported in dogs, to the authors’ knowledge, there is a lack of information on clinical presentation, treatment, and postoperative results in a specific type of extrahepatic portosystemic shunt, such as a splenophrenic shunt. Cellophane banding should be avoided for occlusion of a splenophrenic shunt passing along the central tendon of the diaphragm.