The initial experiment of the TIPS was reported during the 1990s with stents of various brands, manufacture and sizes, but all "non covered", thus owing the pseudointimal hyperplasia growing inside the stent, which progressively decreases the diameter of the shunt and thus its efficacy. Since the beginning of the 2000s, appeared stents known as "covered" by polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) designed to reduce the obstruction rate and thus the frequency shunt revisions. However, these stents are, on average, 2.5 times more expensive than the non covered stents and the cost-effectiveness ratio of the TIPS according to the type of stents used has not been assessed.