Pharmacist-facilitated enrollment in medication assistance programs in a private ambulatory care clinic.

Purpose: Efforts to reduce patients' out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs by incorporating pharmaceutical manufacturer assistance programs (PMAPs) into a private ambulatory care facility's pharmaceutical services are described.

Summary: From March 2001 through March 2002, the clinic's pharmacist prospectively evaluated patients for PMAP enrollment. The pharmacist completed the pharmaceutical manufacturer's application forms for patients identified as candidates for PMAP assistance and helped them obtain documentation.

Intra-arterial tissue adhesive for medical splenectomy in humans.

Bucrylate (isobutyl 2-cyanoacrylate) was used for the transcatheter embolization of the splenic artery in 4 patients with bleeding gastric varices secondary to splenic vein thrombosis, 3 patients with symptoms of hypersplenism, and 8 patients with bleeding esophageal varices secondary to portal hypertension. The splenic artery was completely occluded in 13 patients and partially occluded in 2. In all but one of the patients, functioning splenic tissue was preserved and no abscess developed.

Bucrylate embolization of abdominal aortic aneurysms: an adjunct to nonresective therapy.

Abdominal aneurysmectomy in a patient with an abdominal aortic aneurysm who has cardiac, renal, or pulmonary disease is associated with a high surgical mortality. Fifteen such patients underwent nonresective therapy of an abdominal aortic aneurysm consisting of an axillobifemoral bypass graft which maintains blood flow to the lower extremities. At the time of the graft the iliac vessels were ligated, occluding the outflow tract from the aneurysm, and resulting in retrograde thrombosis.

Percutaneous transhepatic T-tube placement for antegrade biliary drainage: a new technique.

The authors describe a method involving percutaneous transhepatic placement of T tubes for patients with jaundice due to a malignant obstruction. These rubber tubes have a larger caliber than standard polyethylene catheters and consequently, provide better drainage, thus minimizing the the occurrence of cholangitis due to debris obstructing the drainage tube.