Stent-grafts for the treatment of TIPS dysfunction: fluency stent vs Wallgraft stent.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the clinical efficacy of an expanded polytetrafluoro-ethylene-covered Fluency stent compared with that of a polyethylene terephthalate-covered Wallgraft stent for the management of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) dysfunction.


METHODS
A retrospective review of patients who underwent TIPS revision with stent-grafts between May 2007 and June 2011 was conducted. The patients were divided into two groups according to the stent-grafts implanted: the Fluency stent (Bard Incorporated, Karlsruhe, Germany) and the Wallgraft stent (Boston Scientific, Galway, Ireland). The primary patency rates were calculated and compared using the Kaplan-Meier method.


RESULTS
A total of 73 patients were evaluated in this study: 33 with Fluency stents and 40 with Wallgraft stents. The primary patency rates at 12 and 24 mo were 91% and 85%, respectively, in the Fluency stent group and 78% and 63%, respectively, in the Wallgraft stent group. The primary shunt patency rates after TIPS revision were significantly better with the Fluency stent than with the Wallgraft stent (P = 0.033).


CONCLUSIONS
TIPS revision with the Fluency stent has higher medium-term patency rates than that with the Wallgraft stent.
Department of Gastroenterology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan Province, China.
Xue-Feng
XF
Luo
Ling
L
Nie
Zhu
Z
Wang
Jiaywei
J
Tsauo
Ling-Jun
LJ
Liu
Yang
Y
Yu
Biao
B
Zhou
Cheng-Wei
CW
Tang
Xiao
X
Li
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010690:Phlebography; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D019168:Portasystemic Shunt, Transjugular Intrahepatic / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene
Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene-covered stent-grafts; Fluency; Revision; Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt dysfunction