MR-guided percutaneous ethanol ablation of hepatocellular carcinomas before liver transplantation.

It was the objective of this study to evaluate MR-guided, percutaneous ethanol injection of hepatocellular carcinoma in ten patients scheduled for liver transplantation. Using a 0.2 T open MR scanner (Magnetom Open, Siemens Medical Systems, Erlangen, Germany) and percutaneous instillation of ethanol, 12 liver tumors (median tumor volume, 6.

C2C12 skeletal muscle cells adopt cardiac-like sodium current properties in a cardiac cell environment.

Intracardiac transplantation of undifferentiated skeletal muscle cells (myoblasts) has emerged as a promising therapy for myocardial infarct repair and is already undergoing clinical trials. The fact that cells originating from skeletal muscle have different electrophysiological properties than cardiomyocytes, however, may considerably limit the success of this therapy and, in addition, cause side effects. Indeed, a major problem observed after myoblast transplantation is the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias.