Portal thrombosis: high incidence following splenectomy for portal hypertension.

The authors report the incidence of portal thrombosis in their experience, of patients who have been operated on for splenectomy as treatment for portal hypertension with splenomegaly and hypersplenism without a portal systemic shunt. In 161 patients studied angiographically for portal hypertension due to cirrhosis, portal thrombosis was shown in 19 patients. Of these 19 patients 13 previously splenectomized. Only 6 were never operated upon.