OBJECTIVETo evaluate the results of the surgical treatment of patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS).

METHODSThe clinic data of 120 BCS patients who underwent various consecutive surgical treatments from July 2001 to October 2010 was analyzed. There were 82 male and 38 female patients, aging from 11 to 72 years with a mean age of (41 ± 13) years. All patients experienced various examinations to identify the pathological type of BCS. There were 5 cases of small hepatic veins type, 28 cases of large hepatic veins (LHV) type, 31 cases of inferior vena cava (IVC) type and 56 cases of combined obstruction of LHV and IVC. Totally, 25 patients experienced interventional treatment, include percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and/or stenting for stenosis of hepatic vein and/or IVC, 77 patients experienced open-thorax operation for BCS radical resection under protection of right atrium by-pass with extracorporeal circulation.

RESULTSTotally 97 cases were followed up from 1 to 120 months after various surgical treatment methods. Perioperative mortality was 6.2% (6/97). Follow-up period mortality was 8.2% (8/97). The restenosis of IVC and/or hepatic vein happened in 3 cases out of 25 cases in intervention treatment group in contrast with 15 cases out of 77 cases in radical resection group. The 5-year patency and survival rate of IVC/hepatic vein were 64.5% and 83.3%.

CONCLUSIONSThe surgical treatment of BCS need to get accurate diagnosis and pathological classification firstly, then, to choose appropriate therapeutic strategies based on individual pathological classification. The BCS radical resection can be an alternative method in some particular pathological classifications and the cases who failed in interventional treatment.