Portal Hypertension

Abstract

Portal hypertension presents to the vascular surgeon primarily because of the complication of variceal hemorrhage. This chapter includes a discussion of the anatomy and pathophysiology of portal hypertension as well as the clinical considerations and diagnostic techniques. Since variceal hemorrhage, whatever the cause, is the major problem for the surgeon, the discussion will focus principally on the surgical management of this condition. Although there are many methods for dealing with variceal bleeding including tamponade, sclerotherapy, and the direct transesophageal ligation, this chapter will deal mainly with decompression operations of the portal tree which we consider appropriate surgical therapy for these patients.