Fluoroscopically guided Norplant removal.

The Norplant contraceptive implant system is a commonly used method of contraception worldwide. Implant placement and removal are usually simple office-based outpatient procedures. Norplant removal can occasionally become difficult, usually secondary to improper insertion.

Expandable intravascular catheter: percutaneous use for endoluminal retrievals.

Percutaneous use of an expandable vascular access catheter that can be deployed to temporarily occlude the entry vessel during retrieval of embolic material is described. The catheter was used to facilitate removal of two intraarterial objects, a postangioplasty free atheroma fragment and a displaced Gianturco coil. The expanded catheter end was equal to the arterial lumen, thus preventing distal embolization.

Transnasogastric drainage of a perforated duodenal ulcer: technical note.

Perforated peptic ulcers are usually managed surgically after failure of more conservative medical treatment of ulcer disease. This case illustrates transnasogastric placement of a drainage catheter through a perforated ulcer, which was successful as definitive therapy.

Fluoroscopically guided retrograde brush biopsy in the diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract: results in 45 patients.

This is a retrospective review of 45 patients suspected of having transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract who underwent fluoroscopically guided retrograde brush biopsy at our institution during a recent 3-year period. All patients evaluated had an abnormal IV urogram or retrograde pyelogram in which the diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma of the kidney or ureter was suspected or could not be excluded. The results of the brush biopsy were compared with the final diagnosis established at surgery or through clinical and surgical follow-up.

The diagnosis of pulmonary nodules: comparison between standard and inverse digitized images and conventional chest radiographs.

We compared plain chest radiographs, standard (bones white) digitized images, and inverse-intensity (bones black) images to determine their ability to identify pathologically confirmed malignant pulmonary nodules. The images were digitized by using a photo-optical laser scanner and were displayed on a 1024 x 1024 x 8 bit system capable of operator-controlled magnification (2x or 4x) and nonlinear (logarithmic/exponential) contrast transformation in both standard and inverse-intensity modes. Receiver-operator curve analysis was used to study the detection performance of six observers who viewed 40 images obtained in 15 normal subjects and 25 abnormal subjects.