Introduction and aim: Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) is caused by hepatic venous outflow obstruction. This work aims to analyze the pattern of vascular involvement in Egyptian patients with BCS, demonstrates its relation to etiology and shows its impact on clinical presentation.
Material and methods: The current retrospective study was conducted at The Tropical Medicine Department, Ain Shams University on one hundred Egyptian patients with confirmed diagnosis of primary BCS who were presented to the Budd-Chiari Study Group (BCSG) from April 2014 to May 2016 by collecting clinical, laboratory and radiological data from their medical records.
Results: Isolated hepatic vein occlusion (HVO) was the most common pattern of vascular involvement (43%), followed by combined HVO and inferior vena cava (IVC) compression by enlarged caudate lobe (32%), then combined HVO and IVC stenosis/webs (21%), and lastly isolated IVC occlusion (4%). Ascites was more significantly encountered in BCS patients with HVO than in those with isolated inferior vena cava (IVC) occlusion and patent HVs (P = 0.005). Abdominal pain was significantly encountered in patients with occluded three major HVs (P = 0.044). Behcet's disease was significantly detected in isolated IVC occlusion. Protein C deficiency was significantly detected in patients with combined HVO and IVC compression.
Conclusion: Isolated HVs occlusion was the most common pattern of vascular involvement in Egyptian patients with primary BCS. Vascular pattern of involvement affected the clinical presentation and was related to the underlying thrombophilia in those patients.
Keywords: Hepatic vein occlusion; Thrombophilia; Vena cava occlusion.