Angiograms demonstrated arterio-portal shunts in tumors of the liver in 15 patients. Five patients received symptomatic therapy, all of them died from hemorrhage from varicose esophageal veins in the immediate 2 months. Resection of the liver was performed in 4 patients, 3 of them are alive and in a state of remission. Esophageal hemorrhage developed only in 2 of 6 patients who underwent embolization of the hepatic artery. It is concluded that the prognosis is extremely unfavourable in untreated patients with marked arterio-portal shunting in the hepatic tumor. Such patients must be treated surgically or, if inoperable, by radiologically-guided intervention, which makes it possible to normalize portal hemodynamics in most cases and avoid fatal hemorrhage.