Nowadays, liver transplantation (LT) has been the main curative treatment option for end-stage liver disease owing to the marked improvement in surgical techniques and perioperative management. The presence of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) has no longer been considered an absolute contraindication for LT, especially after 1985 when the first successful LT was performed for a patient with PVT. To date, only LDLT has been available in Egypt with no cadaveric backup [1], [2].

The incidence of PVT varies from 7% to 16% among patients with end-stage liver disease. In fact, studies have shown a 1-year de novo PVT rate of 7.4% to 8.4% in patients with cirrhosis without PVT who are listed for LT [3], [4].

Furthermore, PVT grade could affect posttransplant outcomes given that patients with complete PVT were reported to have inferior 1-year survival rates compared to those with partial PVT. This difference in short-term outcome between LT recipients with complete and partial PVT could be attributed to the more complex LT procedures in the former [4], [5].

Although the available data from some studies found no significant difference in outcomes between LT recipients with and without pre-LT PVT, suggesting that long-term survival might not be influenced by the presence of preoperative PVT [6], other studies have found that PVT promotes increased management and outcome burden, and the presence of PVT upon listing and/or transplantation was associated with worse patient outcomes and graft survival [5], [7].

This study aimed to assess the short-term outcomes of liver transplantation and compare the 1-year survival rates between patients with and without preoperative PVT.