Abernethy Malformation – a Rare but Important Diagnosis Prior to Liver-Directed Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

A 45-year-old man with incidentally discovered, unresectable HCC were treated with TACE to the left hepatic lobe and TARE to the right hepatic lobe. Upon retrospective review, he was found to have a congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunt with the absence of the portal vein (Abernethy malformation). This case report discusses variant splanchnic and portal anatomy in the setting of rare, congenital portosystemic shunts and evaluates types of liver-directed therapies for HCC in this setting.