Genicular Artery Embolization: A New Tool for the Management of Refractory Osteoarthritis-Related Knee Pain.

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a prevalent cause of chronic pain and disability, particularly affecting women. While traditionally attributed to chronic wear and tear, recent evidence highlights multifactorial pathogenesis involving low-grade inflammation and neoangiogenesis. Current therapeutic options include physical therapy, pharmacotherapy, and total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Pancreatic fistula: interventional radiological treatment by collection. Jejunal loop internal drainage.

Pancreaticoduodenectomy is a major surgical procedure associated with various and important complications, often difficult to be managed. Pancreatic fistula is due to leakage of pancreatic juice in the abdominal cavity and is the main and most frequent complication after pancreatic surgery. The treatment of pancreatic fistula may change according to degree.

Cornerstones of CT urography: a shared document by the Italian board of urogenital radiology.

CT urography is a single term used to refer to different scanning protocols that can be applied for a number of clinical indications. If, on the one hand, this highlights the role of the radiologist in deciding the most suitable technique to perform according to the patient's needs, on the other hand, a certain confusion may arise due to the different technical and clinical variables that have to be taken into account. This has been well demonstrated by a previous work based on an online questionnaire administered to a population of Italian radiologists that brought out similarities as well as differences across the national country.

CT-urography: a nationwide survey by the Italian Board of Urogenital Radiology.

Computed tomography-urography is currently the imaging modality of choice for the assessment of the whole urinary tract, giving the possibility to detect and characterize benign and malignant conditions. In particular, computed tomography-urography takes advantage from an improved visualization of the urinary collecting system due to acquisition of delayed scan obtained after excretion of intravenous contrast medium from the kidneys. Nevertheless, the remaining scans are of great help for identification, characterization, and staging of urological tumors.

A Prospective Observational Study on the Efficacy and Safety of Infliximab-Biosimilar (CT-P13) in Patients With Takayasu Arteritis (TAKASIM).

Infliximab (IFX) is widely used in patients with refractory Takayasu arteritis (TAK). Recently, the IFX-biosimilar CT-P13 has been introduced for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of CT-P13 in patients with refractory TAK.

Cooled radiofrequency ablation technology for painful bone tumors.

Bone metastases are a common cause of cancer-related debilitating pain, especially when -localized in the vertebral column and not responsive to standard treatment. In such cases, various treatment options are available; among these is Radiofrequency, whose role has been rapidly growing over the past few years. In this study, we used the innovative Osteocool RF Ablation System (Medtronic) on a patient with a painful bone metastasis localized in the 5th lumbar vertebra, with encouraging results.

Interventional radiology management of high flow priapism: review of the literature.

Introduction: High-flow priapism is a persistent partial penile tumescence, related to high flow arterial blood into the corpora. In the treatment of high flow priapism, super-selective embolization is considered treatment of choice when conservative treatment fails as reported in the "EAU Guidelines on Priapism", but there are only few series reporting the outcome, the efficacy of different embolic materials and these studies are uncontrolled and relatively small.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to review the literature to outline the state of the art of this interventional treatment and to analyse the outcome of the different embolic agents.

ABLATE: a score to predict complications and recurrence rate in percutaneous treatments of renal lesions.

RENAL score has been validated on predicting adverse events and relapses in percutaneous treatments of renal lesions. To better fit interventional issues a modified score (mRENAL) has been introduced, but the only difference from the RENAL score is on the dimensional parameter. However, it remains of surgical derivation while a specific interventional score is missing.

Percutaneous Microwave Ablation Versus Cryoablation in the Treatment of T1a Renal Tumors.

Purpose: Radiofrequency and cryoablation (Cryo) are the most widely used techniques for the treatment of T1a renal tumors in non-surgical candidates, yet microwave ablation (MWA) has been gaining popularity. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that MWA has comparable safety and efficacy to Cryo in the treatment of selected T1a renal masses.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective comparative analysis of two patient cohorts was carried out on 83 nodules in 72 consecutive patients treated using image-guided percutaneous ablation with either Cryo or MWA.

F-FDG PET reveals unique features of large vessel inflammation in patients with Takayasu's arteritis.

Purpose: The object of this study was to assess whether F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT (FDG PET/CT) provides novel information in patients with Takayasu's arteritis (TA) in addition to that provided by current activity assessment, to analyse the effects of possible confounders, such as arterial grafts, and to verify whether PET/CT could be informative in lesions <4 mm thick.

Methods: We studied 30 patients with TA, evaluated from October 2010 to April 2014 by both PET/CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). All arterial lesions were evaluated by PET both qualitatively (positive/negative) and semiquantitatively (maximum standardized uptake value, SUV), and the thickness of lesions in the MRI field of view was evaluated.

FDG Uptake by Prosthetic Arterial Grafts in Large Vessel Vasculitis Is Not Specific for Active Disease.

Objectives: This study investigated the incidence and clinical significance of arterial graft-associated uptake of fluorodeoxyglucose in large-vessel vasculitis (LVV).

Background: The role of F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([F]FDG-PET/CT) in the management of LVV remains to be defined. Although [F]FDG uptake at arterial graft sites raises concerns regarding active arteritis or infection, its clinical significance in LVV has never been formally studied.

Chromogranin-A production and fragmentation in patients with Takayasu arteritis.

Background: Chromogranin-A (CgA) is a secretory protein processed into peptides that regulate angiogenesis and vascular cells activation, migration and proliferation. These processes may influence arterial inflammation and remodelling in Takayasu arteritis (TA).

Methods: Plasma levels of full-length CgA (CgA439), CgA fragments lacking the C-terminal region (CgA-FRs) and the N-terminal fragment, CgA1-76 (vasostatin-1, VS-1) were analysed in 42 patients with TA and 20 healthy age-matched controls.

Systemic pentraxin-3 levels reflect vascular enhancement and progression in Takayasu arteritis.

Introduction: Progression of arterial involvement is often observed in patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA) thought to be in remission. This reflects the failure of currently used biomarkers and activity criteria to detect smouldering inflammation occurring within arterial wall. Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is a soluble pattern recognition receptor produced at sites of inflammation and could reveal systemic as well as localized inflammatory processes.

Treatment of refractory Takayasu arteritis with tocilizumab: 7 Italian patients from a single referral center.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the safety and the efficacy of tocilizumab (TCZ) for refractory Takayasu arteritis (TA).

Methods: We retrospectively assessed the outcome of blocking interleukin (IL)-6 with TCZ in 7 consecutive patients with refractory TA using a combination of clinical and imaging assessment.

Results: During a median followup visit at 14 months, 4 patients taking TCZ [including 2 nonresponders to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors] achieved clinical response, suggesting a nonredundant role for IL-6 in TA.

Takayasu arteritis: intravascular contrast medium for MR angiography in the evaluation of disease activity.

Objective: Takayasu arteritis is difficult to diagnose, and the evaluation of disease activity is even more challenging. Laboratory, clinical, and radiologic criteria are limited indicators of disease activity. Gadofosveset trisodium is a recently introduced intravascular contrast agent.

A true posterior tibial artery aneurysm--a case report.

Aneurysms of infrapopliteal arteries are rare. The etiology is usually traumatic, and most aneurysms are false. The English-language literature reports only 33 cases of infrapopliteal arterial true aneurysms, of which 8 involve the posterior tibial artery.

Antalgic flexion of the lower limb: an unusual presentation of aortoiliac infection with psoas muscle abscess-four case reports.

Psoas abscess with aortoiliac infection is rare. Patients are often symptomatic for a long time before the correct diagnosis is made. The authors report 4 cases in which the presenting symptom was an antalgic flexion of the left thigh.