A case of large leftgastric-renal vein shunt with acute hepatitis

An unusual case of gastro-renal shunt with acute hepatitis is reported. In the course of acute hepatitis, a remarkably dilated coronary vein was observed by the ultrasonic examination. By percutaneous transhepatic portography, a large communication between the left gastric and left renal veins was seen. When we performed a hemodynamic study with venous catheterization and pulsed Doppler flowmetry, blood flow of to-and-fro type was observed in this shunt. In this case, there was no hepatic encephalopathy in the past nor in the acute stage of hepatitis, probably because blood of superior mesenteric vein was not flowing into the systemic circulation so much; it was in a state of the to-and-fro type blood flow.