Inadvertent catheterization of the hepatic artery during placement of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts.

Inadvertent catheterization of the hepatic artery may occur during placement of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS). The authors treated this complication in three patients (one man, aged 60 years; two women, aged 50 and 52 years) by embolizing the transparenchymal tract leading to the hepatic artery and performing hepatic angiography after completion of TIPS placement. No sequelae were noted at follow-up of any of these patients.