Vertebroplasty versus sham procedure for painful acute osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (VERTOS IV): randomised sham controlled clinical trial.

Objective: To assess whether percutaneous vertebroplasty results in more pain relief than a sham procedure in patients with acute osteoporotic compression fractures of the vertebral body.

Design: Randomised, double blind, sham controlled clinical trial.

Setting: Four community hospitals in the Netherlands, 2011-15.

Time to Reperfusion and Treatment Effect for Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Intra-arterial treatment (IAT) for acute ischemic stroke caused by intracranial arterial occlusion leads to improved functional outcome in patients treated within 6 hours after onset. The influence of treatment delay on treatment effect is not yet known.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of time from stroke onset to the start of treatment and from stroke onset to reperfusion on the effect of IAT.

A randomized trial of intraarterial treatment for acute ischemic stroke.

Background: In patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by a proximal intracranial arterial occlusion, intraarterial treatment is highly effective for emergency revascularization. However, proof of a beneficial effect on functional outcome is lacking.

Methods: We randomly assigned eligible patients to either intraarterial treatment plus usual care or usual care alone.

Peripheral arterial occlusive disease: 3.0-T versus 1.5-T MR angiography compared with digital subtraction angiography.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 3-T versus 1.5-T contrast material-enhanced (CE) magnetic resonance (MR) angiography with high spatial resolution in patients who have peripheral arterial occlusive disease, with conventional digital subtraction angiography (DSA) serving as the reference standard.

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval and written informed consent were obtained.

Malpractice claims following screening mammography in The Netherlands.

Although malpractice lawsuits are frequently related to a delayed breast cancer diagnosis in symptomatic patients, information on claims at European screening mammography programs is lacking. We determined the type and frequency of malpractice claims at a Dutch breast cancer screening region. We included all 85,274 women (351,009 screens) who underwent biennial screening mammography at a southern breast screening region in The Netherlands between 1997 and 2009.

A simulator for teaching transrectal ultrasound procedures: how useful and realistic is it?

Introduction: : We describe a new simulator for teaching transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) and present the results of a preliminary evaluation of the simulator's realism and usefulness for training.

Methods: : A simulator for abdominal ultrasound was adjusted by the developer to enable simulation of TRUS by providing an opening for inserting a dummy rectal probe. To enable TRUS simulation, data from ultrasound prostate imaging of eight real patients obtained with our regular ultrasound machine were transferred to the simulator by connecting the computer of the simulator to the ultrasound machine.

Vertebroplasty versus conservative treatment in acute osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (Vertos II): an open-label randomised trial.

Background: Percutaneous vertebroplasty is increasingly used for treatment of pain in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, but the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and safety of the procedure remain uncertain. We aimed to clarify whether vertebroplasty has additional value compared with optimum pain treatment in patients with acute vertebral fractures.

Methods: Patients were recruited to this open-label prospective randomised trial from the radiology departments of six hospitals in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Multicenter randomized controlled trial of the costs and effects of noninvasive diagnostic imaging in patients with peripheral arterial disease: the DIPAD trial.

Objective: The purpose of our study was to compare the costs and effects of three noninvasive imaging tests as the initial imaging test in the diagnostic workup of patients with peripheral arterial disease.

Materials And Methods: Of 984 patients assessed for eligibility, 514 patients with peripheral arterial disease were randomized to MR angiography (MRA) or duplex sonography in three hospitals and to MRA or CT angiography (CTA) in one hospital. The outcome measures included the clinical utility, functional patient outcomes, quality of life, and actual diagnostic and therapeutic costs related to the initial imaging test during 6 months of follow-up.

Outpatient treatment of arterial inflow stenoses of dysfunctional hemodialysis access fistulas by retrograde venous access puncture and catheterization.

Objective: To determine the feasibility of endovascular treatment of inflow stenoses in arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs) through retrograde venous access catheterization.

Methods: We included all 22 dysfunctional AVFs with arterial inflow stenoses at access imaging between January 2002 and September 2006. Following retrograde venous access puncture, an interventional radiologist intended to cross the arteriovenous anastomosis and advance a catheter into the aortic arch.

Inflow stenoses in dysfunctional hemodialysis access fistulae and grafts.

Background: The aim of the study is to prospectively determine the incidence of inflow stenoses in dysfunctional hemodialysis access arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs) and grafts (AVGs).

Methods: Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) was performed of 66 dysfunctional AVFs and 35 AVGs in 56 men and 45 women (mean age, 62 years; age range, 31 to 86 years). Complete inflow (from the subclavian artery), shunt region, and complete outflow (including subclavian vein) were shown at CE-MRA.

Stenosis detection in failing hemodialysis access fistulas and grafts: comparison of color Doppler ultrasonography, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography, and digital subtraction angiography.

Objective: Several imaging modalities are available for the evaluation of dysfunctional hemodialysis shunts. Color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) are most widely used for the detection of access stenoses, and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) of shunts has recently been introduced. To date, no study has compared the value of these three modalities for stenosis detection in dysfunctional shunts.

Stenosis detection with MR angiography and digital subtraction angiography in dysfunctional hemodialysis access fistulas and grafts.

Purpose: To prospectively assess three-dimensional contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography for stenosis depiction in malfunctioning hemodialysis arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) and grafts (AVGs), as compared with digital subtraction angiography (DSA).

Materials And Methods: Ethical review board approval and written informed consent were obtained. MR angiography and DSA were performed in 51 dysfunctional hemodialysis fistulas and grafts in 48 consecutive patients.

Peripheral arterial disease: sensitivity-encoded multiposition MR angiography compared with intraarterial angiography and conventional multiposition MR angiography.

A sensitivity-encoded magnetic resonance (MR) angiography protocol was developed in which imaging times in the pelvic and upper-leg positions were reduced and isotropic submillimeter voxel volumes were acquired in the lower-leg position. To achieve this, sensitivity encoding and random central-k-space segmentation in a centric filling order were applied. Results with this technique were compared with those with midstream aortic digital subtraction angiography (DSA) (as the reference standard) and conventional MR angiography in 15 patients with peripheral vascular disease.

Failing hemodialysis access grafts: evaluation of complete vascular tree with 3D contrast-enhanced MR angiography with high spatial resolution: initial results in 10 patients.

Ten patients with failing hemodialysis access underwent contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography within 7 days before digital subtraction angiography (DSA). MR angiography was performed at 1.5 T by using a multistation multiinjection three-dimensional technique, and contrast material was injected via intravenous cannula.

Emergency treatment of symptomatic or ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms: the role of endovascular repair.

Purpose: To report the initial experience with endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) in patients with ruptured or symptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) and to compare the results with conventional open surgery.

Methods: Between May 1999 and December 2001, 24 patients (21 men; mean age 75 years, range 56-89) with ruptured or symptomatic AAA underwent EVAR using a specially designed aortomonoiliac endograft. Six patients were selected based on device and operator availability; the subsequent 18 patients were treated under a modified management protocol that offered stent-graft repair to all symptomatic AAA patients.