Evaluation of Doppler-ultrasonography in the diagnosis of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt dysfunction: A prospective study.

AIM: To prospectively evaluate the performance of Doppler-ultrasonography (US) for the detection of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) dysfunction within a multicenter cohort of cirrhotic patients.

METHODS: This study was conducted in 10 french teaching hospitals. After TIPS insertion, angiography and liver Doppler-US were carried out every six months to detect dysfunction (defined by a portosystemic gradient ≥ 12 mmHg and/or a stent stenosis ≥ 50%). The association between ultrasonographic signs and dysfunction was studied by logistic random-effects models, and the diagnostic performance of each Doppler criterion was estimated by the bootstrap method. This study was approved by the ethics committee of Tours.

RESULTS: Two hundred and eighteen pairs of examinations performed on 87 cirrhotic patients were analyzed. Variables significantly associated with dysfunction were: The speed of flow in the portal vein ( P = 0.008), the reversal of flow in the right ( P = 0.038) and left ( P = 0.049) portal branch, the loss of modulation of portal flow by the right atrium ( P = 0.0005), ascites ( P = 0.001) and the overall impression of the operator ( P = 0.0001). The diagnostic performances of these variables were low; sensitivity was < 58% and negative predictive value was < 73%. Therefore, dysfunction cannot be ruled out from Doppler-US.

CONCLUSION: The performance of Doppler-US for the detection of TIPS dysfunction is poor compared to angiography. New tools are needed to improve diagnosis of TIPS dysfunction.