Uterine fibroid embolization for patients with acute urinary retention.

Acute urinary retention due to uterine fibroids is rare. In reported cases, hysterectomy and myomectomy have been the recommended therapies. Herein, the authors describe two patients with acute obstructive urinary retention who experienced immediate improvement and the ability to spontaneously void after uterine fibroid embolization.

N-acetylcysteine use to prevent contrast medium-induced nephropathy: premature phase III trials.

To date there has been no general consensus regarding the effectiveness of N-acetylcysteine as a protective therapy against contrast medium-induced nephropathy. Several phase III clinical trials have been conducted without a proper understanding of N-acetylcysteine pharmacology, particularly with regard to first-pass hepatic metabolism. A review was conducted of the literature concerning contrast medium-induced nephropathy and new studies of human N-acetylcysteine pharmacology were performed.