Transplantation
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Portal vein thrombosis is the most common cause of portal hypertension in noncirrhotic patients. Variceal bleeding is difficult to treat in these patients, especially those with prehepatic diffuse portal mesenteric thrombosis. In a patient with refractory esophagogastroduodenal variceal bleeding as a result of diffuse portomesenteric thrombosis and portal hypertension, life-threatening bleeding was unresponsive to endoscopic therapy and other surgical procedures. ⋯ There is only one report in the literature mentioning multivisceral transplantation for a patient with life-threatening esophagogastroduodenal bleeding; however that patient had protein C deficiency. Our patient had normal liver and intestinal function tests and no signs of hypercoagulable disease. We believe that multivisceral transplantation should be considered as a treatment option for patients with diffuse mesenteric thrombosis, even in the absence of liver and intestinal failure, when other treatment options for variceal bleeding have failed, particularly in a younger patient with a relatively good nutritional status before transplantation.
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Cerebral blood flow (CBF) volume can be measured at bedside by color duplex flowmetry of the extracranial cerebral arteries. In neurointensive care patients, we prospectively tested the hypothesis that a CBF volume <100 ml/min indicates imminent cerebral circulatory arrest. ⋯ Early confirmation of cerebral circulatory arrest is of decisive importance if the patient is a potential organ donor. CBF volume measurement allows confirming the arrest of cerebral circulation even in patients without a patent acoustic bone window for TCCD. Because the critical lower threshold for survival appears to lie at 200 ml/min, bedside monitoring of CBF volume in neurointensive care patients may indicate a therapeutic window before irreversible circulatory arrest occurs.