Repeated femoral vein puncturing for maintenance haemodialysis vascular access.

Background: When access cannot be achieved using a native arteriovenous fistula or a synthetic prosthetic graft, central venous catheters are usually placed. This mode of access is short-lived, prone to infection, stenosis and thrombosis of central veins. To overcome access problems, we developed a new native vascular access ('femoral vein access') and devices.

A case of jugular foramen chordoma with extension to the neck: CT and MR findings.

We describe a case of jugular foramen chordoma with extracranial extension into the carotid, parapharyngeal, and perivertebral spaces through the jugular foramen. Although this type of extension is unusual, the differential diagnosis of head and neck tumors includes unusual extension of chordoma as well as extension of meningioma and neurinoma from the posterior skull base.

Local recurrence of breast cancer demonstrated on 99mTc-MIBI scintigraphy.

We present a postmastectomy patient in whom a mass was palpated in the chest wall. It appeared to be difficult to determine whether the chest wall mass was local recurrence of breast cancer or granulation induced by mastectomy on computed tomography (CT). The mass was successfully demonstrated on 99mTc-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (99mTc-MIBI) scintigraphy as an area of increased accumulation, and was considered to be a recurrent tumor.

Fundamentals of transarterial embolization technique by drug-delivery embolic emulsion.

We developed new embolic drug delivery emulsions to be utilized for malignant neoplasms. We combined additional water-soluble contrast materials (Ioxaglic acid, Iopamidol) with Glyceol, Poloxamer-188, or D-Mannitol to antitumor agent Lipiodol ultrafluid in order to generate stable emulsions. Some of these emulsions have been shown to cause pulmonary embolism in rabbits and to allow gradual diffusion of the antitumor agent in vitro.

[The use of high concentration ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) solution as a negative bowel contrast agent: application in MR cholangiography].

Ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) can be used as a negative contrast agent on T2- weighted images, with the use of a high concentration resulting in a significant T2 shortening effect. Ten healthy volunteers underwent MR cholangiography (MRC) using Turbo Spin Echo. High-concentration FAC was administered at a normal dosage, but was diluted in a smaller amount of water than usual.

[High concentration ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) solution as a negative bowel contrast agent].

Various concentrations of ferric ammonium citrate (FAC) solution were scanned with conventional SE, Turbo SE (TSE) and STIR sequences on a 0.5-T MR unit. High-concentration FAC solution showed significant signal loss on T2-weighted images.