Sapheno-peritoneal shunt for the treatment of ascites

Abstract

For the surgical treatment of drug resistant ascites caused by hepatic cirrhosis usually different types of valvular plastic tubes are used, implanted as peritoneo-venous shunts. These shunts drain the ascites into the jugular vein. In the 1st Surgical Department of the Semmelweis University Budapest we have performed 267 peritoneo-venous shunt operations. We introduced a new method using an autolog venous graft with a peritoneo-venous anastomosis, that drains the ascites into the saphenous, then femoral vein. So far we performed 5 such interventions. The early results suggest that sapheno-peritoneal shunt can be successfully used for treatment of ascites. With this operation complications of plastic grafts are avoidable.