Small renal mass biopsy--how, what and when: report from an international consensus panel.

To discuss the use of renal mass biopsy (RMB) for small renal masses (SRMs), formulate technical aspects, outline potential pitfalls and provide recommendations for the practicing clinician. The meeting was conducted as an informal consensus process and no scoring system was used to measure the levels of agreement on the different topics. A moderated general discussion was used as the basis for consensus and arising issues were resolved at this point.

Fiducial marker placement for intraoperative spine localization.

In recent years, there has been a great increase in the number of cases of image-guided fiducial marker placement for the purposes of stereotactic radiosurgery. At the authors' parent institution, a tertiary referral academic medical center, the placement of fiducial markers has also been used for the purposes of localization before spine surgery. Given the reported prevalence of "wrong-site" surgical intervention documented in the medical literature, particularly involving spinal surgery, the neurosurgical department at the authors' institution has requested the expertise of interventional radiology for assistance in preoperative spine localization.

False aneurysm of a hepatic artery branch complicating intrahepatic islet transplantation.

Islet transplantation, an innovative treatment strategy for type 1 diabetes mellitus, is a relatively safe procedure, with less morbidity than pancreas transplantation. Vascular injuries have not been reported to date. We report a percutaneous transhepatic intraportal islet transplant infusion that was followed by bleeding from a false aneurysm of an intrahepatic branch of the hepatic artery.

Left colic artery pseudoaneurysm from pancreatitis presenting as upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Visceral pseudoaneurysms resulting from pancreatitis occur in approximately 10% of cases. The present report describes a left colic artery pseudoaneurysm from pancreatitis presenting with active duodenal bleeding. Based on the clinical and endoscopic demonstration of duodenal bleeding, celiac and superior mesenteric arteriograms were initially obtained, and their findings were negative.

Hepatocellular carcinoma: management of an increasingly common problem.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common cancer that typically occurs in the setting of cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis virus infections. Hepatitis B and C account for approximately 80% of cases worldwide. HCC is currently the fifth most common malignancy in men and the eighth in women worldwide; its incidence is increasing dramatically in many parts of the world.