Objective To approach the prognosis after liver transplantation （LT） of liver function for Child grade A in patients with portal hypertension， and to compare with periesophagogastric devascularization with splenectomy （PDS）. Methods The data of 195 portal hypertension cases with Child A caused by hepatitis B cirrhosis who received surgical treatment of PDS （152 cases） or LT （43 cases） in division of liver transplantation center of West China Hospital of Sichuan University from 1999 to 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. The pre-， intra-， and postoperative variables in two groups that including patients’ age， score of Child， score of model for end-stage liver disease （MELD）， total bilirubin （TB），creatinine （Cr）， international normalized ratio （INR）， albumin （Alb）， complications of portal hypertension， amount of intraoperative bleeding and blood transfusion， operative time， and in the ICU and hospital stay time were compared. The postoperative outcomes were statistically analyzed including severe postoperative complications， short-term and long-term survival rates. Results Compared with PDS group， the amount of intraoperative bleeding and blood transfusion of LT group were morer （P＜0.05）， the operative time， in the ICU and hospital stay time of LT group were longer （P＜0.05）. The rate of severe postoperative complications in LT group was higher than that in PDS group 〔18.60% （8/43） vs. 1.97% （3/152），P＜0.05〕. The levels of TB and Cr during the postoperative period in LT group were higher than that in PDS group （P＜0.05）. Although the INR on day 1 after operation in LT group was higher than that in PDS group （P＜0.01）， but the difference disappeared soon on day 7 after operation in two groups （P＞0.05）.The 1-， 3-， and 5-year survival rates of the LT and PDS groups were 90.3%， 86.5%， 86.5%， and 100%， 100%， 100%， respectively， significant difference were observed in both short-term and long-term survival rates between the two groups （P＜0.05）. Conclusion LT offered no significant survival benefit to patients with portal hypertension and Child A due to hepatitis B cirrhosis， whereas PDS could be an effective treatment.