POSTERIOR PITUITARY EXTRACT is known to lower the portal venous pressure in animalsl-3 and in man a similar effect has been demonstrated during the control of bleeding from esophageal varices with intravenous pitressin.44 It has been suggested that pitressin lowers portal pressure by increasing splanchnic resistance.7 The present communication concerns the effects of intravenous pitressin on sp...

To evaluate the effect of portal hypertension and diminished portal venous blood flow to the liver on hepatic regeneration, male rats were subjected to partial portal vein ligation and subsequently to a two-thirds partial hepatectomy. The levels of ornithine decarboxylase activity at 6 h after partial hepatectomy were greater (p less than 0.001) in the rats with prior partial portal vein ligati...

Ascites is a frequent sequela of severe hepatic disease. Recently, surgical intervention in the form of a peritoneovenous (P-V) LeVeen shunt has been introduced in the treatment of ascites. Anesthetic management of the patient with ascites undergoing placement of a LeVeen Shunt requires an understanding of: (1) the physiology of hepatic circulation; (2) the systemic consequences of ascites; (3)...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of protein C, protein S and antithrombin deficiency, and factor V Leiden, prothrombin G20210A, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T mutations in children and adolescents with portal vein thrombosis, as well as assessing the hereditary character of this disorders. METHODS A two-year study was carried out to determine the frequency of thrombophilic ...

Although reports of hypoplasia or absence of the liver of left lobe are not few, descriptions of the intrahepatic vessels are rare but valuable for discussion of the pathogenesis. The present report demonstrates a case of the left surgical lobe hypoplasia that is characterized by 1) the scar-like lobe with few parenchymal tissue and dilated bile ducts, 2) no Spiegel's lobe with the portal vein ...

Congenital absence of the left portal vein is a rare vascular anomaly with a reported prevalence varying from one in 62 to one in 507 cases. A patient admitted for recurrent cholangitis secondary to extensive dilation of the left biliary ductal system associated with Caroli's Disease was determined by preoperative dynamic CT to have an excessively large right portal vein and no left portal vein...

Pancreatic pseudocyst is a relatively common occurrence resulting from acute or chronic pancreatitis. However, a rare subset of these patients present with a pseudocyst fistulizing into the portal vein. We present the case of a 58 year-old woman with a rapidly expanding pancreatic pseudocyst with portal venous fistulization causing portal vein thrombosis, in addition to biliary and duodenal obs...