Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunts for Hepatorenal Syndrome: TIPping the Scales in Whose Favor?

Excerpt

Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is a life-threatening though potentially reversible complication of liver cirrhosis associated with high mortality. HRS usually occurs after a precipitating event such as bacterial infection that triggers severe circulatory dysfunction, inadequate cardiac output, and a proinflammatory state that substantially reduces renal perfusion [1]. Though the most successful treatment is liver transplantation (LT), this option is not applicable to the vast majority of HRS patients due to a lack of available organs and/or patient factors affecting candidacy. Hence, there is much interest in alternate therapies which could either reverse HRS or bridge a patient to successful LT. …