Establishing an outpatient clinic for minimally invasive vein care.

Objective: Minimally invasive vein care procedures are less invasive than surgery and have a lower complication rate, are well tolerated by patients, and have good cosmetic results. Because radiologists have expertise in imaging-guided procedures, offering minimally invasive vein care is a logical step.

Conclusion: Starting an effective outpatient vein care clinic involves decisions about space, equipment, and advertising.

Fracture and migration of a suprarenal inferior vena cava filter in a pregnant patient.

Placement of retrievable inferior vena cava (IVC) filters as prophylaxis for pulmonary embolism (PE) is an increasingly attractive option for patients who require temporary IVC filtration. However, experience thus far with retrievable filters in pregnant patients is limited. This report describes a suprarenally placed Recovery IVC filter in a pregnant woman with PE despite therapeutic anticoagulation.

Restoration of patency in failing tunneled hemodialysis catheters: a comparison of catheter exchange, exchange and balloon disruption of the fibrin sheath, and femoral stripping.

Purpose: To compare median patency times after treatment of malfunctioning tunneled hemodialysis catheters by one of three techniques: over-the-wire catheter exchange (CE), fibrin sheath stripping (FSS) from a femoral vein approach, and over-the-wire catheter removal with balloon dilation of fibrin sheath (DFS) followed by catheter replacement with use of the same tract.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective study was conducted of 66 consecutive procedures performed over a period of 47 months for poor flow through tunneled hemodialysis catheters despite tissue plasminogen activator infusion trials (CE, n=33; FSS, n=18; DFS, n=15). Baseline parameters (time since initial catheter placement, number of previous catheter interventions, catheter access site, and patient age and sex) were recorded to identify possible pretreatment differences among groups.