Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt or (TIPS) is a shunt (tube) placed between the portal vein which carries blood from the intestines and intraabdominal organs to the liver and the hepatic vein which carries blood from the liver back to the vena cava and the heart.
For what is TIPS used?
It is used primarily (but not exclusively) in patients with
cirrhosis in which the scar tissue within the liver causes
partial blockage of flow of blood passing through the liver from the portal vein to the hepatic vein. The blockage increases the pressure in the portal vein, which is called portal hypertension. As a result of the increase in pressure,
portal blood flows preferentially through the branches of the portal vein to
veins coming from abdominal organs that normally drain into the portal vein.
These organs connect with veins that do not empty into the portal vein and thus
bypass the liver. Thus, much of the flow of blood bypasses the liver. If these veins going to the other organs enlarge, they are referred to as
variceal veins or varices. Varices that form in the stomach and esophagus may rupture and bleed.
Liver disease can be cause by a variety of things including infection (hepatitis), diseases such as gallstones, high cholesterol or triglycerides, blood
Portal hypertension is most commonly caused by cirrhosis, a disease in which results from scarring of a liver injury. Other causes of portal hypertension
Heart failure is caused by many conditions including coronary artery disease, heart attack, cardiomyopathy, and conditions that overwork the heart. Symptoms
Varices are dilated blood vessels usually in the esophagus or stomach. Symptoms of bleeding varices include vomiting blood, black stools, low blood pressure,
