Atrial embolism caused by portal vein embolization: Treatment by percutaneous withdrawal and stenting.

Hepatectomy remains the only curative treatment for many primary and secondary liver cancers. Portal vein embolization (PVE) has been used to increase the volume of the future liver remnant and thus lower the risk of small-for-size syndrome and postoperative liver failure. This technique has proven its safety, with a low post-procedure morbidity rate.

Biliary leaks: treatment by means of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage in the treatment of biliary leaks.

Materials And Methods: Sixteen patients with a biliary leak involving either the common bile duct (n = 12), the biliary confluence (n = 2), or a hepaticojejunal anastomosis (n = 2) were treated by means of percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage. The biliary leak was due to severe acute necrotizing pancreatitis in six patients, while 10 patients had postoperative leak.

Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma by transcatheter arterial chemoembolization: comparison of planned periodic chemoembolization and chemoembolization based on tumor response.

Objective: The purpose of our study was to assess the efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma using two different infusion schedules.

Materials And Methods: Chemoembolization with lipiodol-mediated injection of doxorubicin was performed in 160 patients. In the first group of 80 patients, conventional chemoembolization was initially planned to be repeated at least three times at 2-month intervals.

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt in an infant.

A 15-month-old girl, who presented with biliary cirrhosis secondary to cystic fibrosis with refractory ascites and recurrent intestinal bleeding, underwent percutaneous transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunting. Immediately following the procedure the ascites disappeared and no further bleeding occurred. The stent shunt was patent on Doppler ultrasound until the 22nd day.

[Percutaneous biliary prostheses. Type of material and indications].

The results of percutaneous transhepatic endoprosthesis in the treatment of biliary stenosis are discussed on the basis of the reports of the literature and a personal experience of more than 400 patients treated for about 15 years. Advantages and disadvantages of conventional stents as compared with metal endoprosthesis are discussed, the latter being now preferred by most authors. However they do not prove to be more efficient than conventional stents which are suitable for those patients who have a relatively short life expectancy.