Peer-reviewed article
Single-center experience of interventional therapy for congenital portal-systemic shunt in children.
Guo X, Di Q, Shen G ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a clinical medical study about interventional treatment for a rare congenital liver condition (portal-systemic shunt) in children. It reports on 26 children treated with embolization procedures, finding a 73% success rate and improvements in liver function markers. The study focuses on medical efficacy and safety outcomes rather than broader child well-being.
Key points
- Overall technical success rate was 73% (19/26 children)
- Intrahepatic shunts had higher success (94.4%) than Abernethy malformations (25%)
- Only 1 mild complication (puncture site hematoma) occurred; no severe complications
- Among successful cases, blood ammonia normalized in 100% of patients
- Liver function parameters normalized in 63% of successfully treated children
Limitations
This is a single-center retrospective study with a small sample size and short follow-up period (1-12 months), so long-term outcomes and generalizability to other settings are unknown. The study focuses narrowly on a rare medical condition and does not address broader child health or well-being outcomes.
Abstract
Objective To investigate the safety and short-term efficacy of interventional therapy for congenital portosystemic shunt (CPSS) in children, and to provide single-center small-sample empirical data for clinical practice. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 26 children with CPSS who underwent interventional therapy at Capital Center for Children's Health, Capital Medical University from January 2022 to August 2025. Based on anatomical subtypes, they were categorized into the intrahepatic portal-systemic shunt group (18 cases) and the Abernethy malformation group (8 cases). Techniques such as coil embolization and Amplatzer occluder embolization were employed. Postoperative follow-up was performed for 1-12 months to evaluate technical success rates, complication rates, and improvements in liver function and blood ammonia levels. Results The success rate of interventional therapy in 26 pediatric patients was 73% (19/26). Among them, the technical success rate in the intrahepatic portal-systemic shunt group was 94.4% (17/18), while the Abernethy malformation technique achieved a success rate of 25% (2/8). The incidence of mild complications within 1 month postoperatively was 3.8% (1/26), including 1 case of puncture site hematoma, with no severe complications reported. Among the successfully treated patients, the normalization rate of postoperative liver function parameters [Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)] was 63% (12/19), the improvement rate of bile acids was 73.7% (14/19), and the improvement rate of blood ammonia was 100% (19/19). Conclusion The individualized interventional embolization strategy for children with different anatomical subtypes of CPSS is safe and effective, with definite short-term efficacy, and can be used as the first-line treatment for CPSS children.