Incidence of portal vein thrombosis in patients with β-thalassemia

BACKGROUND: Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is one of the important complication postsplenectomies which is considered part of treatment if hypersplenism developed. It can be diagnosed clearly with advance in the quality of X-ray. It is usually associated with prolonged prothrombin time and increased level of D-dimer and alkaline phosphatase. The treatment includes regular blood transfusion and antithrombotic agents Objectives: The aim was to evaluate incidence of PVT in β-thalassemia patients and its association with splenectomy and nonsplenectomy patients PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Babylon hereditary blood disease center, for 12 months beginning from the first of June 2020, and ending in June 2021. It includes 150 patients with β-thalassemia, they classified 70 patients with splenectomy as the first group and 80 patients without splenectomy as the second group, their age ranged between 3 and 18 years. Doppler ultrasound was done for all patients by a single radiologist to confirm the presence or absence of thrombosis in the portal vein. RESULTS: The results showed that 4.6% of patients had PVT and its incidence increased with age older than 10 years, history of splenectomy, high platelets count, high serum ferritin, low Hb, high white blood count. Abdominal pain was the most common symptoms. CONCLUSION: PVT occurred in 4.6% and the major risk are splenectomy and older 10 years of age. The Doppler ultrasound is considered as simple, noninvasive technique for the detection of thrombus.