Integrated Capecitabine-Temozolomide with Radioembolization for Liver-Dominant G2 NETs: Long-Term Outcomes of a Single-Institution Retrospective Study.

Purpose: Capecitabine-Temozolomide (CapTem) is an oral chemotherapy regimen for NETs. Both drugs are radiosensitizers. Integrating CapTem and Y90 transarterial radioembolization (TARE) in patients with grade 2 neuroendocrine tumor (NET) liver metastases achieved an encouraging objective response rate (ORR) and progression-free survival (PFS) in a feasibility study.

Impact of PTFE-covered stent position and extension on TIPS patency.

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)-covered stent location and TIPS extension on primary patency.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study examined patients with PTFE-covered TIPS creation between 07/2002 and 06/2016. Clinical information and patency outcomes at 24 months were extracted.

Giant Iliac Artery Pseudoaneurysm Mimicking Postoperative Fluid Collection and Diskitis.

Background: In this report, we describe an extremely rare case of a giant pseudoaneurysm of the internal iliac artery causing marked destructive changes at a disk space and mimicking diskitis-osteomyelitis. Only 2 other cases of pseudoaneurysms extending into the disk space have been reported, and those arose from the aorta and were relatively straightforward to diagnose.

Case Description: Our case is unique because the pseudoaneurysm arose from the internal iliac artery, an artery that is not usually included in the field of view of lumbar magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography.

Impact of a Monthly Compliance Review on Interventional Radiology Adverse Event Reporting.

Purpose: Our aims were to analyze the change in interventional radiology physician major adverse event (AE) reporting after initiation of a monthly morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference compliance review and to describe the association of procedure class and potentially preventable errors with major AE occurrence.

Methods: In late 2010, to motivate timely reporting, we instituted a structured monthly M&M conference review confirming whether each complication warranted institutional AE reporting and whether timely reporting had occurred. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the M&M conference minutes over the subsequent 5 years.

Perspectives from Human Interventional Radiology.

Interventional radiology is a subspecialty of diagnostic radiology that uses minimally invasive techniques performed under imaging guidance. Interventional radiology has its roots in angiography, which is the radiologic examination of blood vessels after the introduction of a contrast medium that allows them to be imaged. Going forward, the collaboration between human and veterinary interventional radiologists will persist as a two-way street and will continue to innovate together and learn from each other and from the patients.

Combined chemoembolization and thermal ablation for the treatment of metastases to the liver.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate safety, time to recurrence, and overall survival (OS) in patients with liver metastases (LM), treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) followed by ablation.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included all patients with LM treated with combined TACE and ablation from August 1998 to September 2015. Forty-two patients (12 women, 30 men; age 62.

The Impact of Bridging LRT on Survival in Patients Listed for Liver Transplantation.

Purpose: Locoregional therapy (LRT) is recommended for certain groups of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) listed for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) with expected wait times greater than 6 months. A retrospective single-center study was performed to evaluate the effect of LRT on the outcomes of patients with HCC listed for OLT.

Methods: Institutional database was reviewed to identify the patients listed for OLT with HCC (March 1998-December 2010).

Effect of Substituting 50% Isovue for Sterile Water as the Delivery Medium for SIR-Spheres: Improved Dose Delivery and Decreased Incidence of Stasis.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of substituting 50% Isovue (Bracco Diagnostics Inc, Monroe Township, NJ) for sterile water on the delivery of Y resin microspheres (SIR-Spheres [Sirtex Medical Limited, Sydney, Australia]).

Materials And Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed all SIR-Spheres radioembolizations at the authors' institution from January 1, 2011, to February 10, 2014. From January 1, 2011, to April 30, 2013, all users performed SIR-Spheres radioembolization per the manufacturer's original instructions using sterile water in the B and D lines and intermittently checking the progress of the embolization by injecting contrast via the B line.

Percutaneous biliary drainage effectively lowers serum bilirubin to permit chemotherapy treatment.

Purpose: For digestive tract cancers, the bilirubin threshold for administration of systemic chemotherapy can be 5 or 2 mg/dL (85.5 or 34.2 μmol/L) depending upon the regimen.

Recurrent Bleeding, Survival, and Longitudinal Pulmonary Function following Bronchial Artery Embolization for Hemoptysis in a U.S. Adult Population.

Purpose: To report outcomes of bronchial artery embolization (BAE) for hemoptysis, including recurrent bleeding, survival, and longitudinal pulmonary function.

Materials And Methods: A prospective database identified 69 patients who underwent 97 BAE procedures (n = 1-7 per patient) at a tertiary academic medical center over a period of 11 years. Technical and clinical success were determined.

Initial Clinical Experience: Symmetric-Tip Dialysis Catheter with Helical Flow Characteristics Improves Patient Outcomes.

Purpose: To report preliminary clinical experience with a new symmetric-tip dialysis catheter compared with a conventional split-tip catheter.

Materials And Methods: Over a 5-month period, patients requiring a tunneled catheter for hemodialysis or undergoing exchange of a dysfunctional dialysis catheter at a tertiary academic medical center were retrospectively analyzed. Patients underwent placement of a VectorFlow or Ash Split Cath catheter at the discretion of the inserting interventional radiologist.

Long-Term Patency and Clinical Analysis of Expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene-Covered Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt Stent Grafts.

Purpose: To evaluate long-term patency and symptomatic recurrence rates following transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation with expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE)-covered stent grafts and to determine the necessity of extended clinical follow-up beyond 2 years after TIPS creation.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review including 262 TIPSs created with ePTFE-covered stent grafts between July 2002 and October 2012 was performed. Primary, primary assisted, and secondary patency rates were calculated.

Long-term outcomes of a benign biliary stricture protocol.

Purpose: To evaluate long-term outcomes of a structured protocol for percutaneous treatment of benign biliary stricture.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-one patients (37 men, 34 women; mean age, 54 y; age range, 23-84 y) entered the protocol, which consisted of staged upsizing of internal/external biliary catheters, balloon dilation (nominally 8 mm), and prolonged stent treatment (6 mo) at maximal catheter size (nominally 18 F). It concluded with a capping trial and catheter removal if the stricture remained patent.

Effect of central venous angioplasty on hemodialysis access circuit flow: prospective study of 25 symptomatic patients.

Purpose: To quantify the effect of central venous percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) on blood flow within hemodialysis access circuits in patients with symptomatic central venous stenosis (CVS).

Materials And Methods: This prospective study enrolled 30 adults with symptoms attributable to CVS ipsilateral to their access. Five subjects were deregistered because of a lack of CVS (n = 1), untreatable lesion (n = 1), or improper flow measurement timing (n = 3); 25 completed the study (15 men and 10 women; mean age, 62 y; age range, 33-87 y).

Retrieval of Tip-embedded Inferior Vena Cava Filters by Using the Endobronchial Forceps Technique: Experience at a Single Institution.

Purpose: To evaluate the use of endobronchial forceps to retrieve tip-embedded inferior vena cava (IVC) filters.

Materials And Methods: This institutional review board-approved, HIPAA-compliant retrospective study included 114 patients who presented with tip-embedded IVC filters for removal from January 2005 to April 2014. The included patients consisted of 77 women and 37 men with a mean age of 43 years (range, 18-79 years).

Risk of liver abscess formation in patients with prior biliary intervention following yttrium-90 radioembolization.

Purpose: Patients without a competent sphincter of Oddi due to prior surgical or endoscopic therapy are at high risk for liver abscess following chemoembolization despite aggressive antimicrobial prophylaxis. We examined a cohort of such patients undergoing Y-90 resin radioembolization and compared them to a cohort of chemoembolized patients.

Methods: Review of our quality-assurance database identified 24 radioembolizations performed in 16 patients with prior biliary intervention.

Comparison of polyvinyl alcohol microspheres and tris-acryl gelatin microspheres for uterine fibroid embolization: results of a single-center randomized study.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of two embolic agents in the treatment of symptomatic uterine leiomyomas.

Materials And Methods: A randomized, prospective, single-center study enrolled 60 women with symptomatic uterine leiomyomas. Uterine artery embolization (UAE) with spherical polyvinyl alcohol (SPVA) microspheres (n = 30; 700-900 μm and 900-1,200 μm; near-stasis or stasis endpoint) and tris-acryl gelatin (TAG) microspheres (n = 30; 500-700 μm; "pruned-tree" endpoint) was performed.

Should all inflow stenoses be treated in failing autogenous hemodialysis fistulae?

Purpose: To determine whether angioplasty of inflow stenosis in malfunctioning but patent autogenous hemodialysis fistulae has an impact on postintervention primary patency in patients without a clinical indicator of inflow-related access malfunction.

Materials And Methods: Medical records for 76 procedures in 62 patients with inflow stenoses undergoing fistulography in nonthrombosed mature autogenous fistulae without an inflow-related indication of access malfunction over a 5-year period were reviewed retrospectively. Control and treatment arms were defined as patients with untreated (26 procedures in 23 patients) and treated (50 procedures in 39 patients) inflow stenoses, respectively.

Outcomes of percutaneous interventions in transposed hemodialysis fistulas compared with nontransposed fistulas and grafts.

Purpose: To compare postpercutaneous intervention outcomes of autogenous venous-transposition arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) versus those of autogenous nontransposed AVFs (nAVFs) and prosthetic arteriovenous grafts (AVGs).

Materials And Methods: A total of 591 hemodialysis accesses (195 transposed AVFs [tAVFs], 205 nAVFs, 191 AVGs) in 522 patients (278 male; mean age, 57 y; range, 15–91 y) underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and/or mechanical thrombectomy (ie, declotting). Access characteristics, surgical history, percutaneous interventions, postinterventional primary and secondary access patency, and follow-up data were collected.

Diagnostic yield of transjugular liver biopsy samples to evaluate for infectious etiology of liver dysfunction in bone marrow transplant recipients.

Purpose: To determine the diagnostic yield of transjugular liver biopsy (TJLBx) samples to evaluate for infectious etiology (immunosuppressed protocol [ISP] of TJLBx) in bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients.

Methods: A retrospective review of 78 TJLBx in 61 patients who had undergone BMT was undertaken. Biopsy was performed with an automated 19-gauge needle set.

Catheter-based intraaccess blood flow measurement as a problem-solving tool in hemodialysis access intervention.

Purpose: To investigate retrospectively the use of catheter-based intraaccess blood flow measurements as an adjunct to physical examination and fistulography in hemodialysis access interventions.

Materials And Methods: Among 1,540 dialysis interventions performed at a single institution in a 2.5-year period, 104 qualifying catheter-based flow measurements were made in 70 mature native fistula interventions in 55 patients and 34 graft interventions in 31 patients.

Objective and subjective assessment of physician labor and resource utilization in maintenance percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of nonthrombosed hemodialysis arteriovenous fistulas versus arteriovenous grafts.

Purpose: To complement prior studies that have shown that arteriovenous fistula (AVF) thrombectomies require more time and equipment than arteriovenous graft (AVG) thrombectomies by measuring work via established instruments to determine whether there is also a difference in maintenance percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) of nonthrombosed AVFs versus AVGs.

Materials And Methods: PTA procedures performed on a consecutive cohort of 42 patients with AVFs and 27 patients with AVGs were prospectively compared. To quantify resource utilization, procedure time and disposable equipment were measured.

Percutaneous computed tomography-guided renal mass radiofrequency ablation versus cryoablation: doses of sedation medication used.

Purpose: To compare the amount of sedation medication administered during radiofrequency (RF) ablation versus cryoablation of small renal masses.

Materials And Methods: Records were retrospectively reviewed in patients who underwent percutaneous computed tomography-guided RF ablation and cryoablation of small renal masses from January 2002 to June 2011 for patient and tumor characteristics, amount of medications used for moderate sedation, and complications. Sedation was performed by giving patients titrated doses of midazolam and fentanyl.

Impact on renal function of percutaneous thermal ablation of renal masses in patients with preexisting chronic kidney disease.

Purpose: To examine the effect of percutaneous thermal ablation of renal masses on renal function among patients with baseline chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Materials And Methods: Patients with baseline CKD (initial glomerular filtration rate [GFR] < 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2)) who underwent percutaneous cryoablation or radiofrequency (RF) ablation of renal masses were reviewed.