Portal Vein Thrombosis Program

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Our team is made of experts from disciplines which include transplant surgery, hepatology, advanced endoscopy, liver intensive care, advanced sonography, interventional radiology, neurocognitive psychiatry, and hematology who meet regularly to collaborate in evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of children with 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.  Furthermore, if liver disease is advanced, we may offer liver transplant evaluation as one of the largest pediatric liver transplant programs in the country. 

Since the program's inception, we have established clinical protocols that have guided how we care for our pediatric patients.  We utilize state of the art sonography techniques and advanced endoscopic procedures to help diagnose and treat portal vein thrombosis and its resultant portal hypertension.  Our interventional radiology team works in concert to offer minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for those who may benefit.  Our surgical services include a novel portal vein reconstruction technique to reestablish direct portal flow through the liver (the Goss-Galvan shunt) and the Meso-Rex procedure, as well as portosystemic shunts like the splenorenal shunt, and the modified Sugiura technique to treat portal hypertension. We consider the anatomy and physiology of our patients to offer a breadth of individualized care for portal vein thrombosis.