Case Report of Splenic Artery Steal Syndrome: Demonstration of Portal Hyperflow Mechanism by Anatomic Variant of the Splenic Artery and Correlation With Doppler Rates

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings Vol. 43; no. 6; pp. 2269 - 2271
• Main Authors: Pérez, J, Grande, L.G, Achécar, L, Moreno, A, Fortún, J, Arranz, G, Tejedor, M, Blázquez, J, Sánchez, J, Pian, H, Bárcena, R
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.07.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Flow Velocity; Cardiovascular system; Embolization, Therapeutic; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fundamental immunology; Hemodynamics; Hepatic Artery - diagnostic imaging; Hepatic Artery - physiopathology; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; Liver Circulation; Liver Transplantation - adverse effects; Male; Medical sciences; Portal Vein - diagnostic imaging; Portal Vein - physiopathology; Regional Blood Flow; Splenic Artery - abnormalities; Splenic Artery - diagnostic imaging; Splenic Artery - physiopathology; Surgery; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Tissue, organ and graft immunology; Treatment Outcome; Ultrasonic investigative techniques; Ultrasonography; Vascular Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Vascular Diseases - etiology; Vascular Diseases - physiopathology; Vascular Diseases - therapy; Sonography; Doppler ultrasound study; Human; Correlation; Genetic variability; Rate; Genotype; Transplantation; Anatomy; Mechanism; Syndrome; Case study; Medicine; Variant; Splenic artery; Treatment; Surgery; Graft; Portal vein
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2011.05.022

Abstract We report the case of a liver transplant recipient who developed a “splenic artery steal syndrome” (SASS) successfully treated by partial splenic embolization (PSE). Interestingly, because the patient presented an anatomic variant of the splenic artery (SA) originating from the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), improvement was observed in hepatic artery (HA) flow following PSE that could only be explained by decreased portal perfusion and not by the derivation from the SA.