Abstract The availability of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) covered, self-expandable nitinol stents in 2001 considerably improved the patency, response rates and survival of the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). Side effects of portosystemic shunting such as hepatic encephalopathy (HE) and worsening of hepatic function, however, remained a problem. To reduce HE, underdilatation of nitinol stents has been practiced for many years. However, as shown recently, underdilatation was a flop since, due to their intrinsic memory, nitinol stents always expanded to reach their nominal diameter of 8 or 10 mm. To overcome this problem and to be able to perform permanent shunts with a smaller diameter of < 8 mm, we studied the usefulness of a balloon-expandable, covered, metallic stent which allowed adjustment to any diameter between 5 and 12 mm. Methods: 30 patients with cirrhosis and symptomatic portal hypertension were included. The mean Child-Pugh score was 8 ± 2.17 patients had refractory ascites, 9 patients variceal bleeding and four patients other indications for the TIPS. Results: The TIPS was successfully implanted in all patients within 69.6 ± 21.8 min. The shunt reduced the portosystemic pressure gradient by 57.5 ± 14.2% with a mean stent diameter of 7.4 ± 1.0 mm (5 -10.3 mm). During a mean follow-up of 330 ± 249 days, shunt revision was necessary in 5 patients (17%), four of them had insufficient response and received stent dilatation and one patient had stent misplacement requiring a parallel shunt. Three patients (10%) developed HE. Conclusions: The covered, balloon-expandable stent could be placed accurately and allowed creation of adapted shunts with smaller diameters as usual. This resulted in a comparatively low rate of HE.
Keywords: balloon-expandable; stent; portal hypertension; transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt