Egyptian Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease: Surgical Point of View

Originally the syndrome was described in South Africa at 1920, but at present it is endemic in Jamaica, encountered in Afghanistan and India. The syndrome was described under dif‐ ferent names, from Jamaica the disease was described under the term Jamaican veno-occlu‐ sive disease, in India the disease was given the term Indian childhood Cirrhosis (ICC), in Europe HVOD has been called endophlebitis obliterans of which sporadic cases were descri‐ bed, as in Germany. Hepatic venoocclusive disease was examined by scanning electron mi‐ croscopy (SEM). SEM correlated its histology and postmortem examination and disclosed microscopic occlusion of the centrilobular and sublobular veins in the liver, these veins were occluded partially or completely by intimal and medial thickening of their walls due to pro‐ liferation of collagen and reticulin fibers. In addition to venous obliteration, which had not been demonstrated by other techniques, frequent occlusion of the sinusoidal opening into the central veins was observed by SEM. [4], [5], [6].