Splenoportographic evaluation of portal hypertension in children

Since 1956, 105 patients were examined by splenoportography in the Department of Radiology of the American University of Beirut. Of those, 17 were children. The purpose of this paper is to report the splenoportographic findings in this group of children with reference to the frequency and age distribution of intrahepatic versus extrahepatic portal obstruction. In our experience, intrahepatic obstruction was found more commonly in children having portal hypertension with or without gastrointestinal bleeding, than extrahepatic obstruction. This is contrary to reports from other parts of the world where extrahepatic obstruction is cited to be the commonest cause of portal hypertension. 1–6