Case seriesRole of Computed tomography in predicting prognosis of Hepatic portal venous gas

- When hepatic portal venous gas is diagnosed on computed tomography, the first etiology that radiologist should look for is the intestinal necrosis.
- The association of hepatic portal venous gas and pneumatosis intestinalis is highly suggestive of acute mesenteric ischemia.
- Abundance of hepatic portal venous gas on CT is not correlated with prognosis.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to report through 13 cases the particularities of abdominal computed tomography (CT) aspects of hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) and its correlation with patient prognosis.MethodsWe analyzed abundance of HPVG and its association with pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) in correlation with fatal outcome using chi-square tests.ResultsEtiologies were mesenteric infarction (n = 5), sigmoid diverticulitis (n =  1), septic shock (n = 1), postoperative peritonitis (n = 1), acute pancreatitis (n = 1), iatrogenic cause (n = 3) and idiopathic after a laparotomy (n = 1). The outcome was fatal in for 6 patients. Abundance of HPV was expressed in total number of hepatic segments involved. The involvement of 3 or more segments was a sensitive sign for lethal outcome with high sensitivity (100%) but it was not specific (50%). Negative predictive value of this sign was 100% (p ≤ 0.005). Positive predictive value of PI for death was 100% (p ≤ 0.001).DiscussionAbundance of HPVG is correlated with prognosis. The presence of PI announces poor outcome Negative predictive value of presence of HPVG in 3 or more segments is interesting. Predicting prognosis with CT can help surgeons to assess the most adequate treatment. Iatrogenic causes are increasingly described after interventional radiology procedures with favorable course.ConclusionThe first etiology radiologists should look for in front of HPVG involving more than 3 hepatic segments and associated with PI is intestinal necrosis which announces a poor prognosis. This study shows that outside of shock situations, HPVG involving 2 or less hepatic segments without PI predicts a good outcome.