Clinical Outcomes of Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (Tips) Creation Using Fluency Versus Viatorr Stent-Grafts: A Single-Centre Retrospective Study

Purpose To investigate the effects of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation using Fluency versus Viatorr stent-grafts on the long-term clinical outcomes. Materials and Methods This was a single-center retrospective study from January 2010 to October 2021 in 213 patients receiving TIPS with Fluency (Fluency group, n = 154) versus Viatorr (Viatorr group, n = 59) stent-grafts. Inclusion criteria were: age > 18 years old and TIPS creation for variceal hemorrhage. Exclusion criteria were: age > 80 years old, concomitant chronic heart or lung disease, active tuberculosis or human immunodeficiency virus infection, extrahepatic malignancy, alcohol dependence, TIPS created outside of our hospital, without any follow-up data, or decline to participate. The primary outcome was primary patency rate and its associated risk factors. Results The 5-year cumulative primary patency rate was significantly higher in Viatorr group than in Fluency group (89.0% vs. 19.6%, p < 0.001), whereas the 5-year cumulative transplant-free survival rate (62.3% vs. 62.2%, p = 0.636) was comparable between two groups. Cox-regression models revealed that group (hazard ratio [HR]4.029, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.486–10.927, p = 0.006), use of bare stents (HR 3.307, 95% CI 1.903–5.747, p < 0.001), and baseline portal vein thrombosis (HR 0.248, 95% CI 0.149–0.412, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with shunt patency. Incidences of adverse events were not significantly different between two groups ( p > 0.05). Conclusions TIPS creation using Viatorr stent-grafts is superior to using Fluency stent-grafts in terms of higher long-term primary patency rate but similar transplant-free survival rate.