Survival in patients undergoing TIPS

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SourceURL:http://www.gastrohep.com/news/news.asp?id=2306

Survival in patients undergoing transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt

Patients undergoing ePTFE-endoprosthesis implantation have better survival
rates than conventional TIPS patients, find doctors in the October issue of
Hepatology.

In patients with cirrhosis the implantation of a transjugular intrahepatic
shunt (TIPS) results in a reduction of portal pressure. However, this
intervention does not reduce mortality.

The high stenosis rates of conventional bare stents causes high
reintervention rates. This may be correlated with poor survival.

ePTFE-covered stentgrafts have improved patency rates, however their impact
on survival has not been ascertained.

In this study, doctors retrospectively evaluated 419 patients who received
bare TIPS implantation and 89 who received ePTFE endoprostheses at centers
in Austria.

3-month survival was 93% in the ePTFE group.
Hepatology

The 2 groups were compared using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis.

The doctors found that patients undergoing ePTFE stentgraft implantation
had significantly higher survival rates.

They determined that 3-month survival was 93% in the ePTFE group, compared
to 83%. The 1- and 2-year survival was 88% and 76% for the ePTFE-group,
compared with 73% and 62% for conventional TIPS patients.

In addition, the team identified stent type, patient age, and Child-Pugh
Class as independent predictors of patient survival.

Dr Bernhard Angermayr's team concluded, "atients undergoing
ePTFE-endoprosthesis implantation had higher survival rates within 2 years
after TIPS-implantation".

"These data should be validated in a prospective series".

Hepatology 2003; 38(4): 1043-50
02 October 2003

"Enlightenment does not come 'by imagining figures of light but by making
the darkness conscious.'"  (Jung)