Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 28, 2024; 30(20): 2621-2623
Published online May 28, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i20.2621
Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt for recompensating decompensated cirrhosis?
Dimitrios S Karagiannakis
Dimitrios S Karagiannakis, Academic Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, General Hospital of Athens “Laiko”, Athens 11527, Greece
Author contributions: Karagiannakis DS writing, review and editing, writing original draft, supervision, resources, methodology, investigation, formal analysis, data curation, conceptualization.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dimitrios S Karagiannakis, MD, PhD, Doctor, Lecturer, Senior Research Fellow, Academic Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Medical School of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, General Hospital of Athens “Laiko”, 17 Agiou Thoma Street, Athens 11527, Greece. d_karagiannakis@hotmail.com
Received: February 21, 2024
Revised: April 23, 2024
Accepted: May 6, 2024
Published online: May 28, 2024
Processing time: 96 Days and 0.7 Hours
Abstract

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is a medical procedure that has been used to manage variceal bleeding and ascites in patients with cirrhosis. It can prevent further decompensation and improve the survival of high-risk decompensated patients. Recent research indicates that TIPS could increase the possibility of recompensation of decompensated cirrhosis when it is combined with adequate suppression of the causative factor of liver disease. However, the results of the studies have been based on retrospective analysis, and further validation is required by conducting randomized controlled studies. In this context, we highlight the limitations of the current studies and emphasize the issues that must be addressed before TIPS can be recommended as a potential recompensating tool.

Keywords: Decompensated cirrhosis; Liver recompensation; Baveno VII; Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt

Core Tip: Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is a procedure used to manage severe complications of liver cirrhosis, such as variceal bleeding and ascites, that characterize the decompensated state of the disease. Research has shown that TIPS can prevent further decompensation and improve the survival of high-risk cirrhotic patients. Recent studies have also suggested that TIPS may have a positive effect on recompensating decompensated cirrhosis. However, these results are based on retrospective analysis, and several issues remain unclear.