Research Article: Single-center experience of interventional therapy for congenital portal-systemic shunt in children
Abstract:
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.
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.
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).
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.
No summary available.