Portal hypertension due to traumatic hepatic arterioportal fistula: report of successful embolization.

We report a case of severe portal hypertension due to a post-traumatic hepatic arterioportal fistula. A 77-year-old male patient was admitted for abdominal pain, inappetence and weight loss. Further clinical signs were ascites and splenomegaly. Sonography showed a marked enlargement of an arterioportal fistula, which was diagnosed some years before as a consequence of abdominal trauma during the Second World War. Angiography demonstrated an imposing dilatation of the right hepatic artery filling an intrahepatic pseudo-aneurysmatic cavity with fistula formation to the portal vein. By means of selective hepatic artery embolization, complete occlusion of the right hepatic artery and the arterioportal fistula was achieved. Within 4 weeks the patient recovered and sonography showed disappearance of ascites and splenomegaly.