Intraluminal brachytherapy of de novo TIPS: a prospective randomized double-blind study.

Objective: The aim of this prospective double-blind and randomized study was to assess whether intraluminal brachytherapy of de novo transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) can prevent significant shunt stenosis.

Subjects And Methods: Forty patients with portal hypertension due to liver cirrhosis were enrolled. In the irradiation group of 20 patients, the gamma radiation source, iridium-192, was introduced into the shunt within a special balloon catheter that allows the radionuclide to be centered within the shunt.

Hepatocellular carcinoma: evaluation with dynamic and static gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging and histopathologic correlation.

Purpose: To analyze the potential of gadobenate dimeglumine-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for the characterization and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by using static and dynamic sequences.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-eight patients with histopathologically proved HCC were evaluated with T1- and T2-weighted spin-echo and static and dynamic gradient-echo sequences before, during, and after intravenous administration of 0.1 mmol/kg gadobenate dimeglumine (0.