What are the post-discharge considerations for TIPS surgery patients?

  1. Patients need to rest and take sufficient rest, and should not engage in heavy physical work, including not straining to relieve stool.  2. Patients need to take aspirin (100mg/day in one dose) and dipyridamole (75mg/day in three doses) for a long time. Aspirin is recommended to be taken for life, and dipyridamole for at least one year. The function of these two drugs is to maintain a continuous flow of blood to the stent in the liver without blockage. Some patients will have vague stomach discomfort after taking these two drugs. This can be accompanied by a period of omeprazole, such as Oxy (40mg/day in two doses), which will reduce the stomach discomfort. Some patients will also have gum bleeding. If there is only a small amount of bleeding, no special treatment is needed; if there is more bleeding, you can change aspirin and dipyridamole to every other day, i.e. stop for one day and take one day; if there is still more bleeding all the time, it is recommended to come to the clinic for follow-up.  3, patients should continue to treat primary liver diseases, such as patients with hepatitis B should continue antiviral treatment, patients with primary biliary cirrhosis should apply Eusebio, patients with alcoholic cirrhosis should quit drinking, etc.. In this way, the liver function can be protected and the progress of the disease can be delayed.  4, patients for a period of time after surgery, because the surgery will supply the liver blood flow shunt part out, some patients liver function values may be slightly higher than before surgery, especially the bilirubin value, then do not worry too much, you can take a period of time of liver-protective drugs.  5, patients should try to avoid all kinds of infections after discharge, including colds, because infection may induce hepatic encephalopathy; but even if there is infection, do not worry too much, go to the hospital for timely treatment can be.  6.After discharge, within one month after surgery, patients should pay attention to their diet, which should be as light and vegetarian as possible. After one month after surgery, if there is no complication of hepatic encephalopathy, you can start to eat a small amount of non-vegetarian food, and the amount you eat should not make you feel dizzy and drowsy, and on this basis, you can increase the amount slowly every other week, and this process needs to be figured out by patients themselves.  7, patients also need to pay attention to is to keep the stool smooth every day, because the stool is not smooth, can also induce hepatic encephalopathy, which requires patients to drink more water, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, to promote defecation. At the same time, the home can be prepared to laxative drugs, such as “Du secret gram” and so on, in case one day did not solve the stool, need to take laxative drugs to defecate.  8. Patients should go to the outpatient clinic regularly to review liver function, coagulation function, blood routine and stent flow ultrasound after surgery to assess their condition and guide the follow-up treatment. Patients should come to the hospital for follow-up in January, March, June and every other year after surgery.  9.If patients have obvious manifestations of hepatic encephalopathy after surgery (as described in 6), they need to visit the hospital promptly.  In addition, some patients may have swollen hands and legs after surgery, so don’t worry too much. If the swelling is still severe, you can go to the outpatient clinic for follow-up treatment.