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Background: Liver transplantation in presence of diffuse portal vein thrombosis is possible by using caval blood as portal inflow, through cavo-portal transposition. However, clinical results are heterogeneous and experimental studies are needed, but similar hemodynamic conditions are difficult to obtain, especially in small animals. Herein we describe a new simple model of cavo-portal transposition in rat. Methods: Spontaneous porto-systemic shunts are induced by subcutaneous transposition of the spleen. The presence of porto-caval shunts through the spleen permits the interruption of the main portal vein without splanchnic hemodynamic consequences. Cavo-portal transposition is achieved by anastomosing the inferior vena cava and the main portal vein after division of the pancreaticduodenal vein. Results: Selective angiography revealed total splanchnic blood diversion to the systemic venous circulation through the neoformed collaterals; macroscopical examination showed the absence of any signs of acute portal hypertension with normal liver and gut appearance. Conclusion: This model of cavoportal transposition is simple, effective and it simulates the clinical hemodynamic condition since the porto-systemic shunts induced by splenic subcutaneous transposition correspond to the physiological inframesocolic collaterals during chronic portal thrombosis in man. Background Thrombosis of the portal vein has been a formidable challenge in liver transplantation and it was historically considered an absolute contraindication [1]. Refinements in surgical techniques in the last decades allow surgeons to overcome portal thrombosis with progressive extensions, by using phlebothrombectomy, venous jump grafts or portal vein arterialization [2,3]. Moreover, the use of caval blood as unique portal inflow has been used recently to performed liver transplantation in patients with diffuse splanchnic thrombosis: in this setting graft portal flow has Published: 16 August 2007 BMC Surgery 2007, 7:18 doi:10.1186/1471-2482-7-18 Received: 1 June 2007 Accepted: 16 August 2007 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2482/7/18 © 2007 Di Domenico et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.