Skip to main content
GORE® VIATORR® TIPS Endoprosthesis with Controlled Expansion

Consider TIPS in Treating Portal Hypertension

The liver and portal hypertension

The liver is the largest organ in the body, weighing about three pounds, and is responsible for over 500 functions. Most of the blood that leaves the stomach and the small intestines must pass through the liver. Cirrhosis of the liver occurs when normal liver tissue is damaged and replaced by scar tissue. Most of the blood flowing through the liver comes from the portal vein, and in a cirrhotic liver, the scar tissue significantly slows the flow of blood from the portal vein through the liver. This reduction of blood flow due to cirrhosis causes a large difference in the pressure of blood entering the liver and the pressure of blood exiting the liver to return to the heart. This increase in pressure is called portal hypertension.

SYMPTOMS    TREATMENTS