Treatment of the Budd-Chiari syndrome in polycythemia vera by repeated percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of a hepatic vein stenosis.

This report is of a 63-year-old man with polycythemia vera who developed the Budd-Chiari syndrome due to right hepatic vein stenosis. Diagnosis was made by laparoscopy and liver biopsy, and confirmed by hepatic venography. The patient was treated by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, and recovered completely from ascites, leg oedema and venous stasis. No pulmonary embolism was observed. One month after angioplasty, a second laparoscopy and liver biopsy showed a marked improvement in hepatic congestion and haemorrhagic necrosis, thereby confirming the effectiveness of this technique in treating the Budd-Chiari syndrome. Further treatments with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty were required with a good clinical outcome.