3 Cases of Portal Vein Thrombosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Liver Cirrhosis Treated with Anticoagulation

ABSTRACT

The reported prevalence of PVT is in the range of 0.6-15.8% in patient with liver cirrhosis or portal hypertension. If the patient has hepatocellular carcinoma, thrombus is likely to be malignant thrombus. Malignancy, frequently of hepatic origin, is responsible for 21-24% of over all cases. The overall mortality rate of chronic PVT has been reported to be less than 10%, but is increased to 26% when associated with hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis. However, no treatment guideline has been established on anticoagulant therapy for PVT in patients with concomitant hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis. Because actually it is not easy to distinguish between malignant thrombus and benign thrombus in clinical aspect, PVT in hepatocellular carcinoma are still debatable whether or not treatment when it diagnosed. We present 3 cases of portal vein thrombosis successfully treated with anticoagulation in hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis, and we include a literature review.