Correlation of splenectomy with portal vein thrombosis in β-thalassemia major

Objective: to evaluate the correlation of portal vein thrombosis and splenectomy in β-thalassemia major patients visiting babol medical university, iran. methods: this cohort study was done from 1997 to 2008. in our study, major β-thalassemic patients visiting for transfusion at least once a month at amirkola children's hospital were selected. portal vein thrombosis was diagnosed through doppler ultrasound in symptomatic patients. cases were 160 β-thalassemia major patients who underwent splenectomy and 160 remaining thalassemic patients without splenectomy were controls. statistical comparison with fisher exact test was performed. results: five cases had suffered from portal vein thrombosis (p=0.03). majority patients with portal vein thrombosis had their symptoms after first month of the operation. conclusion: correlation of splenectomy with portal vein thrombosis is statistically significant among β- thalassemic children from iran.