Portal Vein Thrombosis Program

Overview

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The Portal Vein Thrombosis Program at Texas Children’s Hospital was established in February 2021 to include an interdisciplinary team of experts with the mission of providing cohesive treatment for pediatric patients whose blood flow in their portal vein is blocked, also known as portal vein thrombosis (PVT). This multidisciplinary team is led by our Transplant Hepatology Fellow. Our program treats all PVT patients regardless of whether or not they have liver disease.  

Our team is made of experts from disciplines which include transplant surgery, hepatology, endoscopy, advanced sonography, interventional radiology, neurocognitive psychiatry and hematology who meet regularly collaborate to evaluate, diagnose and treat children with both acute and chronic portal vein thrombosis.  

Our program helps to guide and coordinate care for patients who may warrant a wide spectrum of monitoring and treatments, including surveillance imaging, serial endoscopies, hematologic treatment for hypercoagulable states, interventional therapeutics and surgery for their portal hypertension, as well as neurocognitive assessment.

Since the program's inception, we have established clinical protocols that have guided how we care for our pediatric patients.  We have developed state of the art endoscopic interventions and refined sonography techniques to help diagnose and treat portal vein thrombosis and its resultant portal hypertension.  Our surgical services include a novel portal vein reconstruction technique to reestablish direct portal flow through the liver, the Meso-Rex procedure, portosystemic shunts like the splenorenal shunt, and the modified Sugiura technique to treat portal hypertension. We offer all surgical, endoscopic and interventional services to treat portal vein thrombosis, depending on the anatomy and physiology of our patient, up to and including liver transplantation.