Times of India
06 July 2010
By Pratibha Masand
Mumbai, India

Pooja, now 26, was all of eight when she first vomited blood in her school. Local doctors suggested a blood transfusion, which was done promptly. But Pooja’s problems did not end there. Once every year since then, Pooja retched blood and then got a transfusion. “Either my father or aunt or uncle would donate blood.”

Then, in January this year, Pooja’s friend Amritpal Singh read an article on portal hypertension in the Delhi edition of TOI and suggested that she too see doctors at Fortis Hospital in Mulund.

The problem with Pooja’s metabolism came to light only when she came to Mumbai a fortnight ago. “When we made the examinations, we realised that her portal vein – which carries blood from spleen and intestine to the liver – was blocked. Her spleen and some other veins were also swollen as there was immense pressure. These would rupture and all the blood would come out through the food pipe, thus resulting in blood vomits. Plus, her blood cells and platelets were low,” said Dr S K Mathur, head of surgical gastroenterology at Fortis Hospital.

“We performed a spleno–renal shunt with splenectomy on her last week. Which means that we did a bypass in her metabolism, wherein we connected the vein of the spleen to the vein of her left kidney. We also removed her spleen, which was the main cause of all the blood pressure. Now, Pooja will no longer have any problems.”