The Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (CGHMC) has achieved a groundbreaking medical milestone with the successful completion of the first-ever Transhepatic Stent-Assisted Portal Vein Aneurysm Coil Embolization. To the best of our knowledge, this is also the first procedure of its kind performed in the Philippines.
This complex and minimally invasive procedure involved accessing the portal vein through the liver via a minute puncture in the abdominal wall. Deployment of a metal stent was then done to protect the portal vein and keep the subsequently placed detachable coils in place within the aneurysm to prevent further enlargement or rupture.
The procedure was made possible through the collaborative efforts by a multidisciplinary team composed of consultants from the CGHMC Interventional Radiology, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Surgery, Gastroenterology, Anesthesia, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (TCVS), Endocrinology, and Cardiology Services.
The patient, a 69-year-old female, presented with obstructive jaundice caused by the portal vein aneurysm. MRCP and MDCT showed a 3.7 x 4.0 x 3.7 cm saccular dilatation of the proximal main portal vein causing extrinsic compression of the common bile duct. Prior to the procedure, she underwent an Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with bile duct stent insertion performed by Dr. Michael Louie Lim, the attending physician and gastroenterologist. The multidisciplinary team included Dr. Noruel Gerard Salvador (HPB Surgeon), Dr. Kristine Mae Tan (Anesthesiologist), and Dr. Francis Basilio (Lead Interventional Radiologist), along with Dr. Rudolf Kuhn and Dr. Joemel Francisco (Interventional Radiologists from another institution).
Other specialists involved were Dr. Melissa Uy (Endocrinologist), who managed the patient’s primary hypothyroidism and prediabetes with an atrophic pancreas due to aneurysm encroachment; Dr. Reichel Lasquite (ERCP Procedure Anesthesiologist); Dr. Stewart Santos (TCVS); Dr. Kent Tan (Interventional Cardiologist); and Dr. Billy James Uy (HPB Surgeon).
This pioneering procedure marks a historic milestone, not only for CGHMC, but also for the advancement of interventional and hepatobiliary treatments in the Philippines. It highlights CGHMC’s commitment to innovation and its capability to handle complex medical cases through a multidisciplinary approach.
