Digital subtraction pulmonary arteriography versus multidetector CT in the detection of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations.

Purpose: To compare digital subtraction pulmonary arteriography (PA) with 16-detector row computed tomography (CT) in the detection of suspected pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).

Materials And Methods: Eighteen nonconsecutive patients (median age, 47.5 years; range, 26-78 y) with a total of 42 PAVMs were included over a period of 2.

Predicting infected bile among patients undergoing percutaneous cholecystostomy.

Purpose: Patients may not achieve a clinical benefit after percutaneous cholecystostomy due to the inherent difficulty in identifying patients who truly have infected gallbladders. We attempted to identify imaging and biochemical parameters which would help to predict which patients have infected gallbladders.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of 52 patients undergoing percutaneous cholecystostomy for clinical suspicion of acute cholecystitis in whom bile culture results were available.

Relationship between chest port catheter tip position and port malfunction after interventional radiologic placement.

Purpose: The relationship between catheter tip position of implanted subcutaneous chest ports and subsequent port malfunction was investigated. Tip movement from initial supine position to subsequent erect position was also evaluated.

Materials And Methods: Patients who underwent imaging-guided internal jugular chest port placement between July 2001 and May 2003 were identified with use of a quality-assurance database.

Do simultaneous bilateral tunneled infusion catheters in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation increase catheter-related complications?

Purpose: Secure venous access with multiple lumens is necessary for the care of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. The outcomes associated with simultaneous bilateral tunneled internal jugular infusion catheter placement in the HSCT recipient population were investigated in an attempt to determine whether simultaneous introduction of these catheters compounds or magnifies the risks (infection, venous thrombosis) associated with tunneled catheters.

Materials And Methods: Patients undergoing HSCT and receiving bilateral tunneled infusion catheters in a single procedure were identified using a quality assurance data base.

Physical examination versus normalized pressure ratio for predicting outcomes of hemodialysis access interventions.

Purpose: The ratio of intragraft venous limb pressure (VLP) to systemic pressure (S) has been proposed to help determine the endpoint of hemodialysis access interventions. It was hypothesized that physical examination of the access could be used in the same way and these techniques were compared as predictors of outcome.

Patients And Methods: With use of a quality-assurance database, records from 117 hemodialysis access interventions were retrospectively reviewed.