Procedure-Related Complications of Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (TIPS) and Its Clinical Significance

Purpose: The purpose was to evaluate the procedure.related complications of the TIPS and its clinical sig. nificance. Materials and Methods: The materials consisted of 52 patients who had 57 TIPS procedures for the man. agement of variceal bleeding due to portal hypertension. To detect the occurrence of complications during transhepatic needle puncture(from hepatic vein to the portal vein) , contrast material was injected with the withdrawl of the puncture needle. Results: Procedure.related complications occurred in 28 patients (54%) among 52 patients. The comp. lications were biliary tree puncture(15 cases) , transperitoneal puncture(14 cases) , stent malposition(3 cases) , stent migration(1 case) , hepatic arteries puncture(1 case) , splenic vein perforation(1 case) , and paroxysmal ven. tricular tachycardia(1 case). Three patients had acute stent thrombosis with rebleeding immediately after the procedure. The procedure was repeated in two patients. One patient was expired due to rebleeding. Conclusion: The procedure related complications were clinically insignificant in most instances , except when stent thrombosis or proxysmal ventricular tachycardia was developed.