The authors present a study of 38 vinyl acetate models of duodenum, pancreas, stomach and spleen where the tributaries of the splenic veins were identified and quantified. It was found that all the splenic veins receive pancreatic veins. The number of those veins ranged between seven and 22, median of 14.52±3.53. The left gastric vein joined the splenic vein in 36.84% of the models. The inferior mesenteric vein joined the splenic vein in 44.74% of the models. One gastric vein, from the fundus of the stomach, joined the splenic vein in 57.89% of the models. On 65.79% of the models, pancreatic veins from the tail of the pancreas ended in a segmental vein of the spleen. They range from one to four with a median of 1.64±0.95. The authors concluded that the knowledge of the number and frequency of splenic vein tributaries would be important in the distal splenorenal shunt when associated with spleno-pancreatic disconnection.
Splenic vein; Splenorenal shunt; Portal hypertension