A case of successful management of portosystemic shunt with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease by balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration and partial splenic embolization

We describe a patient with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease who was successfully managed for severe abdominal distension, impaired liver function and a portosystemic shunt by interventional therapies. The patient's intra-hepatic portal vein was compressed and narrowed by multiple liver cysts, which resulted in a decrease of the portal blood flow and portal hypertension due to a huge gastro-renal shunt These haemodynamic changes were assumed to contribute to insufficient protein synthesis in the liver. Therefore, we first repeatedly performed minocycline hydrochloride instillations to treat the multiple liver cysts. Then, we conducted a partial splenic embolization to prevent elevation of the portal vein pressure prior to balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration which was performed to increase the portal blood flow. The portal blood flow markedly increased, and protein synthesis in the liver also recovered and the clinical symptoms improved. The patient has been monitored for more than two years up to the present and her liver function parameters have remained within the normal range. Renal insufficiency is known to be a major prognostic factor in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. In some cases, however, liver involvement with multiple cysts may result in a fatal outcome. In such cases, interventional therapies, as provided to this patient, should be considered.