Diagnostic reference levels and complexity indices in interventional radiology: a national programme.

Objectives: To propose national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for interventional radiology and to evaluate the impact of the procedural complexity on patient doses.

Methods: Eight interventional radiology units from Spanish hospitals were involved in this project. The participants agreed to undergo common quality control procedures for X-ray systems.

Value of doppler ultrasonography in the study of hemodialysis peripheral vascular access dysfunction.

Objective: The main objectives of this study were to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of duplex Doppler ultrasonography in the study of hemodialysis peripheral vascular access dysfunction and to analyze the resistance index and flow in the afferent artery.

Material And Methods: We prospectively studied 178 patients with 178 peripheral vascular accesses that were dysfunctional in at least three consecutive hemodialysis sessions. Patients underwent duplex Doppler ultrasonography and clinical and laboratory follow-up for three months (provided angiography findings were negative).

[Pancreatic tail pseudoaneurysm: percutaneous treatment by thrombin injection].

Visceral artery pseudoaneurysms secondary to acute and/or chronic pancreatitis are a relatively common and potentially serious complication. Endovascular techniques are the most currently accepted techniques, given the higher morbidity-mortality of surgery. The thrombosis of the pseudoaneurysm using an ultrasound-guided percutaneous thrombin injection is emerging as a useful option in those cases in which endovascular embolisation is not possible.