Transient Portal Hypertension

In most cases, portal hypertension is a chronic complication of a chronic disease of the portal vein, or the liver, or the hepatic veins. It is conceivable that an acute and transient disease of the portal vein, or the liver, or the hepatic veins may determine an acute and transient increase of portal vein pressure. However, the number of well-documented cases of transient portal hypertension is limited, which may suggest that the condition is uncommon. In fact, transient increase in portal hypertension is likely to be relatively common; but, porbably because the increase in portal pressure remains moderate and is of short duration, transient portal hypertension is asymptomatic and is therefore not recognized. Nevertheless, in a few well documented cases, transient portal hypertension has induced transient ascites [1] and bleeding esophageal varices [2,3].