Treatment of rare gastric variceal bleeding in acute pancreatitis using embolization of the splenic artery combined with short gastric vein.

In the acute stage of pancreatitis, sinistral portal hypertension is a rare reason for gastric variceal bleeding. Here we report a 20-year-old female patient with massive upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage 7 days after an episode of severe acute pancreatitis. Computed tomography showed gastric varices caused by splenic venous thrombosis. Emergency endoscopic examination was performed, however tissue adhesive utilized to restrain the bleeding was not successful. Although interventional therapy was controversial to treat the gastric variceal hemorrhage resulting from sinistral portal hypertension, the bleeding was successfully treated by embolization of the splenic artery combined with short gastric vein. Two weeks after the interventional the patient was discharged from our hospital without recurrence of bleeding. Embolization of the splenic artery combined with short gastric vein proved to be an effective emergency therapeutic method for gastric variceal bleeding caused by sinistral portal hypertension in the acute stage of pancreatitis.