Social circus program (Cirque du Soleil) promoting social participation of young people living with physical disabilities in transition to adulthood: a qualitative pilot study.

Purpose: To explore the perceived impact of a social circus program on the participation level of young adults' living with physical disabilities from their own and their parents' perspective.

Method: Exploratory phenomenological qualitative design. A social circus program was offered for nine months.

The transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt in the treatment of portal hypertension: current status.

The transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) represents a major advance in the treatment of complications of portal hypertension. Technical improvements and increased experience over the past 24 years led to improved clinical results and a better definition of the indications for TIPS. Randomized clinical trials indicate that the TIPS procedure is not a first-line therapy for variceal bleeding, but can be used when medical treatment fails, both in the acute situation or to prevent variceal rebleeding.

Chest tube drainage under radiological guidance for pleural effusion and pneumothorax in a tertiary care university teaching hospital: Review of 51 cases.

Background: Chest tube drainage under radiological guidance has been used with increasing frequency as a treatment option for pleural effusions and pneumothoraxes.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and usefulness of pleural drainage under radiological guidance for pleural effusion and pneumothorax in a tertiary care university teaching hospital.

Methods: A retrospective study of cases of chest tube placement under radiological guidance over a 12-month period in a university hospital.

Octreotide in hepatorenal syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

The hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is related to vasoconstriction of the renal cortex induced by systemic hypovolemia that follows splanchnic vasodilatation as the primary event in the cascade of hemodynamic changes associated with portal hypertension. We evaluated the effects of octreotide, a splanchnic vasoconstrictor, on HRS in cirrhotic patients. We compared the effects of octreotide infusion (50 microg/h) to placebo using a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design over 2, 4-day periods.

Improved detection of hepatic metastases with pulse-inversion US during the liver-specific phase of SHU 508A: multicenter study.

Purpose: To compare conventional B-mode ultrasonography (US) alone with the combination of conventional B-mode US and contrast material-enhanced (SHU 508A) late-phase pulse-inversion US for the detection of hepatic metastases by using dual-phase spiral computed tomography (CT) as the standard of reference.

Materials And Methods: One hundred twenty-three patients underwent conventional US, US in the liver-specific phase of SHU 508A, and single-section spiral CT. US and CT images were assessed by blinded readers.

Economic impact of an ultrasonographic contrast agent on the diagnosis and initial management of patients with suspected renal artery stenosis.

Objectives: To determine resource use in the diagnosis and management of Canadian hypertensive patients with suspected renal artery stenosis and to estimate the impact of diagnosis with contrast-enhanced duplex Doppler ultrasonography (US) on resource use.

Subjects And Methods: Seventy-eight patients with suspected renal artery stenosis underwent usual diagnostic tests (captopril-enhanced renal scintigraphy or duplex Doppler US) and contrast-enhanced US. A management pathway ("planned") describing the medical resources required for further patient care was outlined on the basis of results from each test (separately), and a modified management pathway ("recommended"), which considered data from both diagnostic methods, was also outlined.

Impact of Levovist ultrasonographic contrast agent on the diagnosis and management of hypertensive patients with suspected renal artery stenosis: a Canadian multicentre pilot study.

Objectives: To compare the diagnoses obtained with unenhanced ultrasonography (US), contrast-enhanced US and captopril-enhanced renal scintigraphy and to determine whether use of a contrast agent improves ability to assess the renal arteries with duplex Doppler US.

Subjects And Methods: The study was an open-label controlled trial involving 78 patients with hypertension suspected to have a renovascular cause. The patients underwent captopril-enhanced scintigraphy or routine unenhanced US (the usual diagnostic methods at the centres where the study was conducted) and contrast-enhanced US (with Levovist, Berlex Canada, Lachine, Que.