Published on January 31, 2020

Liver Disease

The liver is vital for processing, metabolizing and detoxifying of nutrients and contaminants in the body. Within the liver, a specialized system of blood vessels–the hepatic portal venous system–normally gathers newly digested food and nutrients from the intestines and other organs, and brings them to the liver. Any permanent damage and scarring to the liver such as cirrhosis causes backup of the portal venous system and leads to the development of abnormal, fragile and enlarged veins or varices and possibly portal hypertension. 

Treatment

Interventional radiologists at Silver Cross use minimally invasive, image-guided therapies to treat liver disease, such as portal hypertension. Bleeding due to portal hypertension may occur in areas such as the esophagus, stomach, small bowel, large bowel and rectum and may not be treatable with an endoscope.

  • TIPS. To decrease blood flow and pressure in these enlarged veins (varices), an interventional radiologist may place a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) that decreases the varices and returns blood to normal circulation. A small incision is made to access the internal jugular vein. Using live X-rays, a catheter is maneuvered through the body’s large veins and into the liver. A small needle is then passed through the liver into the portal venous system. The interventional radiologist then places a stent–a small metallic tube–in the liver to direct blood from the portal venous system/varices back into the normal circulatory system. Patients are kept in the hospital after the procedure to evaluate the success of therapy, assess patient stability after the complex procedure, and monitor for signs of unexpected injury.

  • Balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO). To stop life-threatening bleeding around the stomach, an interventional radiologist may obliterate or block the bleeding vessel by selectively injecting an agent that causes the vessel to scar, a treatment called balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO). Using live X-rays, the interventional radiologist maneuvers a catheter through a large vein in the body (the inferior vena cava) into the veins in the stomach (gastric varices), typically next to the left kidney and adrenal gland. The catheter is then placed near the area of bleeding vessels, and a substance that causes the vessels to clot and scar (sclerosing agent) is injected at the target location. To prevent the sclerosing agent from going to other parts of the body, a large balloon is inflated within the blood vessel prior to injection. Once sufficient time has passed, the toxic agent is removed and the balloon is deflated.

Related Providers

Physicians on Silver Cross Hospital’s Medical Staff have expertise in their areas of practice to meet the needs of patients seeking their care. These physicians are independent practitioners on the Medical Staff and are not the agents or employees of Silver Cross Hospital. They treat patients based upon their independent medical judgment and they bill patients separately for their services.