Inferior vena cava filter - comprehensive overview of current indications, techniques, complications and retrieval rates.

Inferior vena cava (IVC) filter has been used to manage patients with pulmonary embolism and deep venous thrombosis. Its ease of use and the expansion of relative indications have led to a dramatic increase in IVC filter placement. However, IVC filters have been associated with a platitude of complications.

Gastrointestinal Malignancies and Venous Thromboembolic Disease: Clinical Significance and Endovascular Interventions.

Gastrointestinal malignancy encompasses a wide range of disease processes. Its incidence and mortality rate rank among the highest of all cancers. Venous thromboembolic disease is a common complication of gastrointestinal malignancy.

Preparation of Radiopaque Drug-Eluting Beads for Transcatheter Chemoembolization.

Purpose: To develop a simple method to produce radiopaque drug-eluting microspheres (drug-eluting beads [DEBs]) that could be incorporated into the current clinical transcatheter arterial chemoembolization workflow and evaluate their performance in vitro and in vivo.

Materials And Methods: An ethiodized oil (Lipiodol; Guerbet, Villepinte, France) and ethanol solution was added to a lyophilized 100-300 µm bead before loading with doxorubicin. These radiopaque drug-eluting beads (DEBs; Biocompatibles UK Ltd, Farnham, United Kingdom) were evaluated in vitro for x-ray attenuation, composition, size, drug loading and elution, and correlation between attenuation and doxorubicin concentration.

Image-guided adrenal and renal biopsy.

Image-guided biopsy is a safe and well-established technique that is familiar to most interventional radiologists. Improvements in image guidance, biopsy tools, and biopsy techniques now routinely allow for safe biopsy of renal and adrenal lesions that traditionally were considered difficult to reach or technically challenging. Image-guided biopsy is used to establish the definitive tissue diagnosis in adrenal mass lesions that cannot be fully characterized with imaging or laboratory tests alone.

Optic canal diameter in infantile osteopetrosis.

Infants with osteopetrosis may present early for ophthalmologic examination because of threatened visual impairment, primarily related to optic nerve compression. The authors describe two children with osteopetrosis who had narrow optic canals on orbital computed tomography. These canals were statistically narrower than those of newly developed, age-matched controls.

Leiomyoma infarction after uterine artery embolization: a prospective randomized study comparing tris-acryl gelatin microspheres versus polyvinyl alcohol microspheres.

Purpose: To determine the degree of leiomyoma infarction after uterine artery embolization (UAE) performed with tris-acryl gelatin microspheres or polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) microspheres.

Materials And Methods: Patients determined to be candidates and scheduled for UAE were randomized prospectively to receive tris-acryl gelatin microspheres or PVA microspheres. The manufacturers' recommended technique was used for both products during the UAE procedures (including the recently described refined protocol for PVA microspheres).

Transcatheter closure of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations with amplatzer devices.

Objective: To review the authors' experience with transcatheter closure of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) using amplatzer duct occluder (ADO) devices and vascular plugs (AGA Medical, Golden Valley, MN) and present a novel technique for delivery sheath placement and device delivery.

Background: PAVMs can cause cyanosis, fatigue, polycythemia, and thromboembolic phenomena. Transcatheter closure using coils, detachable balloons, and various devices has replaced surgery as the preferred therapy.

Stent implantation for coarctation of aorta caused by a Rashkind patent ductus arteriosus umbrella.

This case demonstrates a novel use of stent implantation for relief of coarctation of the aorta caused by protrusion of a Rashkind patent ductus arteriosus umbrella. Follow-up 3 years after stent implantation shows complete relief of obstruction.