Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with refractory ascites (RA) have a very poor prognosis, and there are no effective treatments recommended by the guidelines. TIPS could downgrade the ascites and improve Child-Pugh scores. TIPS has been a common management model for RA for end-stage liver disease. There is no prospective study evaluating TIPS plus thermal ablation. Thus, the investigators carried out this prospective, single-arm study to find out it.
Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) could effectively decrease portal hypertension-related complications. This study intends to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TIPS combined with subsequent microwave ablation in HCC patients with refractory ascites.