Successful balloon dilatation for postoperative caval stenosis caused by primary venorrhaphy for traumatic retro-hepatic caval injury in a three-year-old child: Report of a case

Abstract Inferior vena cava injuries are highly lethal. We experienced a case of retrohepatic inferior vena cava injury as a result of blunt trauma in a three-year-old female. Because the site of bleeding of the IVC was identified, we repaired it with running sutures. An attempt at primary repair resulted in postoperative narrowing of the vena cava. There was pressure gradient of the right atrium and inferior vena cava, and collateral circulation developed. Since it was also found that the haemodynamics was unstable, the child underwent another intervention before the stenosis of the IVC was fixed. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no previous reports of therapeutic radiological intervention for stenosis that developed after treatment of a traumatic IVC injury. The IVC in the present case recovered enough patency so that the collateral venous flow could be decreased after balloon dilatation angioplasty.