Interventional Radiology Management of Hepatic Encephalopathy

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a clinically severe and devastating complication of decompensated liver disease affecting mortality, quality of life for patients and families, hospital admission rates, and overall health-care costs globally. Depending on the cause of HE, several medical treatment options have been developed and become available. In some refractory HE, such as spontaneous portosystemic shunt-related HE (SPSS-HE) or posttransjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt HE (post-TIPS HE), advanced interventional radiology (IR) procedures have been used, and shown to be effective in these conditions. This review presents 2 effective IR procedures for managing SPSS-HE and post-TIPS HE.