Preoperative successful thrombectomy and thrombolysis of acute extensive splanchnic venous system and TIPSS thrombosis in a child with Budd‐Chiari syndrome—Creating a window to enable living donor liver transplantation

Preoperative extensive PV thrombosis can pose a technical challenge during liver transplantation surgery. Several strategies adopted to mitigate this problem include creation of a superior mesenteric vein-PV jump graft, use of a polytetrafluoroethylene graft, renoportal anastomosis, or cavoportal hemitransposition. Extensive and diffuse thrombosis of the splanchnic venous system may even necessitate multivisceral transplantation. We describe the case of a pediatric patient with Budd-Chiari syndrome and decompensated cirrhosis, who developed extensive thrombosis of the porto-spleno-mesenteric venous system prior to liver transplantation. We used a combination technique of thrombus aspiration by a novel trans-TIPPS approach followed by thrombolysis. Complete preoperative resolution of the extensive thrombosis was achieved. This allowed the creation of a brief window to enable planned LDLT. In prudently selected patients, performing an early mechanical and chemical thrombolysis of an extensive acute splanchnic venous thrombosis can thus help expedite a planned LDLT.