Clinical evaluation of interventional treatment for Budd-Chiari syndrome

Objective: To evaluate the interventional treatment of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) with regard to different types of the disease. Methods: One hundred and fifty-nine consecutive cases with BCS underwent interventional treatments with regard to different types of the diseases, including percutaneous angioplasty (PTA), transcatheter thrombolysis, endovascular stent implantation and modified transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (MTIPS). Among them, 147 cases that underwent complete follow-up were enrolled in this study. Simple obstruction of HV, membranous obstruction of IVC, membranous obstruction of IVC combined with thrombosis in the distal lumen and segmental obstruction of IVC constituted 13.6% (20), 66.0% (97), 6.1% (9)and 14.3% (21/147), respectively. The technical success rate of each type was determined. They were followed up for (67.3±9.0) months (16 h-104 months). Overall primary patency rate was evaluated. The late effect on liver function was analyzed according to the Child-Pugh score. Results: The primary patency rate of PTA was 65.6% (86/131) and the secondary, patency rate was 96.9% (124/128). The primary patency rate of stent implantation was 78.9% (15/19) and the secondary patency rate was 92.3% (24/26). One patient of type IIIa that received recanalization, catheter-directed thrombolysis and PTA in IVC died of hemoptysis 72 h after the procedure. One patients of type I b who received MTIPS died of DIC 16 hrs after the procedure. And one patient of type Ib who received MTIPS died of liver failure 13 months after the procedure. Twelve patients died in 7-79 months after the interventional procedure due to unrelated causes. At the end of follow-up, the liver function of the patients was improved. Conclusions: Optimal application of various vascular interventional techniques has a satisfactory primary and secondary patency rate and improves the long-term liver function. (authors)