Profile of extrahepatic portal venous obstruction (ehpvo) in a tertiary care hospital in pakistan

To study the clinical and laboratory profile of patients with EHPVO in a tertiary care hospital of Pakistan and to differentiate EHPVO from cirrhosis of liver and to see the effect on liver function tests. This is a prospective observational study conducted at Department of Gastroenterology, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. Twenty five patients of 12-55 years of age with the features of portal hypertension were included in this study. After careful history and physical examination patients were subjected for laboratory investigations including liver function test, renal function test, blood CP, PT, APTT, HbsAg and anti HCV, other specialized procedures including endoscopy, liver biopsy and ultra sound was also done in all patients. Portal vein thrombosis was the predominant cause of EHPVO, accounting for 88% of cases. All patients were presented with upper GI bleeding, splenomegaly was observed in 88% of patients. None of the patients had clinical, biochemical or liver biopsy evidence of chronic liver disease. The diagnosis of extra hepatic portal venous obstruction and differentiation from cirrhosis can be easily made by characteristic clinical features, normal liver function tests and doppler ultrasound. Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is the predominant cause of EHPVO in Pakistani patients, as seen at this tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. (author)