Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage in patients with postsurgical bile leakage and nondilated intrahepatic bile ducts.

Objective And Background: Bile leakage is a serious postoperative complication and percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) may be an option when endoscopic treatment is not feasible. In this retrospective study, we established technical and clinical success rates as well as the complication rates of PTBD in a large group of patients with postoperative bile leakage.

Methods: Data on all patients with nondilated intrahepatic bile ducts who underwent a PTBD procedure for the treatment of bile leakage between January 2000 and August 2012 were retrospectively assessed.

Safety and efficacy of radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular adenoma.

Purpose: To investigate the safety and efficacy of radiofrequency (RF) ablation for the treatment of hepatocellular adenoma (HCA).

Materials And Methods: From 2000 to 2009, 170 patients with HCA were referred to a single tertiary hepatobiliary center. Medical records of 18 patients treated with RF ablation were retrospectively analyzed.

A 3-year old girl with seizures, hypokalemia and metabolic alkalosis.

A 3-year-old girl presented to the emergency department with seizures, low-grade fever and vomiting. She had tachycardia and a slow capillary refill. Blood pressure could not be measured.

Functional effects of renal artery stent placement on treated and contralateral kidneys.

Background: This study examined the effects of stent placement for renal artery stenosis on the function of treated and contralateral kidneys.

Methods: Eighteen patients who underwent stent placement for unilateral renal artery stenosis presenting with hypertension and/or renal failure were studied before angiography and stent placement and at their one-year follow-up. Renal vein blood samples were taken at both sides, at each side simultaneously with a sample from the aorta, to measure the plasma renin concentration and the concentrations of 131I-hippuran and 125I-thalamate during constant systemic infusion of these radiochemicals.

Incidental renal artery stenosis in peripheral vascular disease: a case for treatment?

Background: Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is frequently encountered as an incidental finding in peripheral vascular disease. We assessed whether revascularization is indicated to prevent the practical consequences of end-stage renal failure, that is, the need for renal replacement therapy.

Methods: In a retrospective study, a cohort of consecutive patients was followed who had undergone angiography 8 to 10 years previously for peripheral artery disease.