Atrial hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis after liver transplantation.

Recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma following liver transplantation usually occurs within two years, and atrial metastases are extremely rare. This article examines a case of hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence with atrial metastasis 18 years after a liver transplantation.

Percutaneous and endoscopic ultrasound-guided splenic biopsies are both safe procedures with a high diagnostic accuracy.

Splenic biopsy is a necessary diagnostic procedure. It has been proved that it is a safe procedure with a high diagnostic accuracy. However, the decision of percutaneous or endoscopic ultrasound-guided approach should be assessed taking into consideration patients' characteristics and the experience of each center.

Prospective validation of two models for ultrasonographic diagnosis of cirrhosis.

Objective: To perform a prospective validation and comparative analysis of two ultrasonographic diagnostic scores of cirrhosis in patients with silent liver disease.

Design: cross-sectional study, prospective and blind. ROC curves evaluated the diagnostic utility of: a) Bologna score (BS): assessment of liver surface nodularity and portal flow velocity, and b) Cadiz score (CS): assessment of liver echo structure, portal vein caliber and spleen area.

[Ultrasound-guided biopsy of the pancreas: a multicenter study].

Objective: Members of "Asociación de Ecografía Digestiva" decided to carry out a multicenter retrospective study on fine-needle aspiration biopsy for pancreatic space-occupying lesions under ultrasonographic guidance and via the percutaneous route in order to assess this technique s performance versus endoscopic ultrasound-guided biopsy.

Subjects: 10 hospitals for a total of 222 patients with suspiciously malignant, 8-120-mm pancreatic lesions were included in the study.

Results: The analysis of results shows a sensitivity of 89%, a specificity of 98%, a positive predictive value of 99%, and a negative predictive value of 74%, for an overall diagnostic accuracy of 91%.

[Effectiveness of percutaneous drainage in the treatment of abdominal fluid collections in inflammatory pancreatic disease].

Aims: To assess the effectiveness of ultrasonography-guided percutaneous drainage (UGPD) in the management of fluid collections (FC) in acute and chronic pancreatitis, and to evaluate factors associated with treatment results.

Method: Seventy-two patients with pancreatic fluid collections ranging from 5 to 20 cm (median 9 cm) were studied. There were 27 type I pseudocysts (PC), 12 type II PC, 13 type III PC, 16 abscesses, and 4 acute fluid collections.