Body Composition Changes After TIPS and Associated Clinical Outcomes

During a TIPS procedure, the interventional radiologist, with the help of x-ray and ultrasound guidance, makes a channel through the liver to connect the portal vein (the vein that carries blood from the digestive organs to the liver) to one of the hepatic vein (three veins that carry blood away from the liver back to the heart) using a special type of needle. The interventional radiologist then replaces the needle with a wire and catheter, and a small tubular device called a stent graft is placed in this channel to keep the pathway open between the two blood vessels.