The Intrahepatic Porto-Caval Shunt Summary. The transjugular transhepatie route to the Portal vein has some advantages for the surgeon, if he wants to perform a porto-caval shunt. Different kinds of intrahepatic porto-caval shunts were tested in dogs to show a possible application in man. An operative technique with drilling sharp catheters proved to be specially useful. A rotating catheter with a suctioning device was able to cut a shunt from a hepatic vein to the portal vein.