Efficacy and Validity of Percutaneous Transhepatic Gallbladder Drainage as a Bridge to Surgery for Octogenarian and Older Patients With Acute Cholecystitis: A Single-Center Retrospective Observational Study in Japan.

Background: Japan currently has a super-aged society, with a rapid increase in elderly patients in need of medical care. Determining treatment strategies for acute cholecystitis (AC) in very elderly patients with various comorbidities is often difficult. Although percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) is a less-invasive treatment option, its impact on subsequent surgery remains debatable.

Coils versus gelatin particles with or without intraarterial antibiotics for partial splenic embolization: a comparative evaluation.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy, complications, and inflammatory levels in partial splenic embolization (PSE) with coils or gelatin sponge (GS) particles with or without intraarterial antibiotic agents.

Materials And Methods: Forty-four patients with hypersplenism treated by PSE were assessed. GS particles were used in 31 patients, and coils were used in 13 patients.

Long-term outcome of transcatheter subsegmental and segmental arterial chemoemobolization using lipiodol for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: To clarify the efficacy of transcatheter hepatic sub-subsegmental, subsegmental, and segmental arterial chemoembolization using lipiodol (subseg/seg lip-TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), long-term outcomes of patients who had been treated using subseg/seg lip-TACE alone were retrospectively examined.

Materials And Methods: Subjects comprised 199 patients with HCC (T1/2/≥3=30/108/61; Child-Pugh A/B/C=115/52/32; Japan Integrated Staging [JIS] score≤1/2/≥3=88/64/47) who underwent subseg/seg lip-TACE using lipiodol mixed with an anticancer drug followed by injection of gelatin sponge particles. Each patient was followed-up every 3 months, and repeat subseg/seg lip-TACE and/or conventional lip-TACE was performed in cases showing recurrence.