Portal venous blood flow velocity is a factor associated with portal venous thrombosis after partial splenic artery embolization in hepatic cirrhosis patients.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate risk factors for portal venous thrombosis (PVT) after partial splenic artery embolization (PSE) in hepatic cirrhosis patients.

METHODS: The authors retrospectively analyzed 151 hepatic cirrhosis patients with hypersplenism who underwent partial splenic artery embolization between January 2020 and December 2021. The patients were divided into a PVT group and a non-PVT group according to whether they had PVT after PSE. Univariate analyses were performed to select risk factors for PVT after PSE, and multivariate analysis was used to analyze variates with a value of P less than 0.1 in univariate analysis.

RESULTS: There were 151 patients enroled in the study, with 22 patients in the PVT group and 129 patients in the non-PVT group. There was no significant difference in terms of age, sex, smoking, hypertension, diabetes, Child-Pugh between two groups. White blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts after PSE were significantly higher than those before PSE in both the PVT group and non-PVT group. Univariate analysis showed that portal venous blood flow velocity, ligation of oesophageal varices and WBC after PSE were found to have a P value less than 0.1. Multivariate analysis showed that portal venous blood flow velocity was a factor associated with PVT after PSE.

CONCLUSION: Portal venous blood flow velocity was a factor associated with PVT after PSE. Portal venous blood flow velocity should be considered before patients undergo PSE.