Common bile duct calculi: updated experience with dissolution with methyl tertiary butyl ether.

The authors describe their experience with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in a larger series of patients than previously reported in order to acquaint physicians with both its effectiveness for dissolution of common bile duct calculi and the limitations of its use. Ten patients with 13 biliary calculi underwent percutaneous stone dissolution treatment with the experimental cholesterol solvent, MTBE. Three stones completely dissolved within 30 minutes, seven were reduced in size, and three were visibly unaffected.

Ultrasound of hemobilia: a clinical and experimental study.

Clinical observations on patients with hemobilia secondary to percutaneous biliary procedures and laboratory studies on animals with experimentally induced hemobilia indicate that the presence of fresh blood or clot within the biliary tree may yield an erroneous impression of duct size in ultrasound examinations. Recognition of this potential source of error becomes increasingly important as the use of percutaneous procedures for the relief of biliary obstruction increases.

Percutaneous pancreaticobiliary biopsies in 173 patients using primarily ultrasound or fluoroscopic guidance.

Two hundred and one biopsies of the pancreas and/or extrahepatic bile ducts were performed in 173 patients using primarily ultrasound (US) or fluoroscopic guidance. Computed tomographic (CT) guidance was used twice. The success rate for detecting malignancy was 82.

Refractory afferent loop problems: percutaneous transhepatic management of two cases.

Complications of the afferent loop are traditionally managed only by surgical revision. Transhepatic biliary drainage was used in the palliative treatment of two different afferent loop problems in critically ill patients for whom surgery was unsuccessful. Transcholecystic cholangiography was used to opacify the nondilated bile ducts and proved valuable for the transhepatic biliary catheterization procedure.

Small intestine ischemia simulating primary colonic disease.

Clinical and radiographic findings were reviewed for four patients in whom colonic diverticulitis was suspected clinically but in whom small intestine ischemia was proved surgically. In each patient the initial diagnostic studies--plain abdominal radiography and barium enema examination--revealed generalized small intestine distention and non-specific colonic abnormalities, respectively. The latter findings consisted of an extrinsic impression on the superior or inferior aspect of the sigmoid colon with associated thumbprinting or spiculation.

Percutaneous cholecystostomy in patient at high risk. Treatment of acute acalculous cholecystitis.

Percutaneous cholecystostomy can be a useful technique for the ill, elderly, or high-risk patient, since he or she is spared open surgery. We used it successfully in a medically unstable woman with acute acalculous cholecystitis. Her drainage catheter, often the source of complications with the procedure, may have been removed too early: A small asymptomatic subdiaphragmatic fluid collection and ileus developed.

Monooctanoin infusion and stone removal through the transparenchymal tract: use in 17 patients.

Seventeen patients underwent monooctanoin infusion and biliary stone removal through the percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage tract. In the first five patients, monooctanoin was infused until the stone(s) became smaller or disappeared; basket extraction was not attempted until this reduction was observed. An average of 22 hospital days was required for the procedure.

Celiac plexus block for interventional radiology.

The effectiveness of regional anesthesia for pain control during biliary manipulations was evaluated. Celiac plexus and/or thoracic epidural blockade was used for 48 procedures in 31 patients. All blockades were administered and patients monitored by anesthesiologists in the radiology department.

Common bile duct obstruction: assessment by transcholecystic cholangiography.

Percutaneous transcholecystic cholangiography was performed in 20 patients. Fifteen patients had normal-sized bile ducts on sonograms and computed tomographic scans, and five had partial common bile duct obstruction. Gallbladder pressures were measured in 14 patients.

Biliary stent endoprosthesis: analysis of complications in 113 patients.

Stent endoprosthesis has been advocated as an alternative to internal-external catheter drainage for decompression of biliary obstruction, but drawbacks have never been specifically analyzed, to our knowledge. A retrospective review of 118 biliary stent endoprostheses placed in 113 patients assessed the frequency, nature, and treatability of significant complications. Complications were categorized as early (morbidity or mortality within the first 30 days) or late (after 30 days).

Percutaneous transcholecystic cholangiography: experimental study.

Percutaneous transcholecystic cholangiography was performed in three patients with normal-sized bile ducts and suspected obstructive jaundice, and it was performed 14 times in eight normal dogs. In every instance there was good demonstration of both the intra- and extrahepatic biliary tree. There were no significant clinical complications.

Management of obstructed biliary endoprostheses.

In five patients with bile duct obstruction, a previously inserted endoprosthesis became occluded. After repeat percutaneous biliary drainage, the prostheses were mechanically unclogged, removed, or removed and replaced. No patient required surgery, and no prosthesis reoccluded.

Monooctanoin perfusion for in vivo dissolution of biliary stones. A series of 11 patients.

Monooctanoin, a cholesterol solvent, was infused into the biliary system of 11 patients. Twenty-eight (74%) of 38 total stones responded to monooctanoin: 16 (42%) decreased in size, and 12 (32%) dissolved completely. Ten stones (26%) did not change in size.

Monooctanoin perfusion treatment of intrahepatic calculi.

Seventeen patients who had intrahepatic calculi underwent perfusion with monooctanoin. While five patients responded with a decrease in size or number of calculi, only one had a complete response; 12 showed no response; and one died during the perfusion (however, the perfusion was not believed to have contributed to the death). Fifteen of the 17 patients required further treatment by a combination of basket extraction, oral administration of chenodeoxycholic acid, or surgery.

Percutaneous transhepatic removal of a common bile duct stone after mono-octanoin infusion.

Small biliary calculi discovered after the T-tube track has closed can be removed with a percutaneous transhepatic biliary catheter. Mono-octanoin can be used to reduce the size of large calculi for percutaneous extraction.

The Diagnostic Imaging Information Center.

The authors have developed a Diagnostic Radiology Imaging Information Center, in which the physician can see at a glance, with minimum expenditure of time and maximum emphasis on relevance, a summary of the patient's studies and procedures done in the x-ray department.

Interventional radiology of the biliary system and pancreas.

In recent years, newer techniques have become available to the clinician for the diagnosis and treatment of biliary and pancreatic disease. This article emphasizes interventional procedures through the liver, such as percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography, percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage, and ancillary techniques. Also discussed are the nonsurgical management of bile duct calculi and the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic tumors, abscesses, and pseudocysts.

Normal tracheal bifurcation angle: a reassessment.

The tracheal bifurcation angle was measured in 100 normal adult patients. A wide range of normal values was found. There was no relation of the bifurcation angle to age or gender.