Clinical featuresand management of hepatic portal venous gas--acase report and cumulative review of literature

Hepaticportal venous gas (HPVG)has traditionally been considered an inevitable harbinger of death. Recently, an increasing number of cases of HPVG have been reportedin patients with various clinical conditions. We herein report the case of a patient inwhom HPVG developed after radical resection of esophageal cancer.Abdominal CT revealed a massive amount of gas in the hepatic portal venoussystem and extensively throughout the small intestinal wall, especially in the wall of the small intestine in the pelvic cavity. This case report provides a deep understanding of HPVG.HPVG is not always associatedwith profound abdominal sepsis requiring surgical intervention.