Background: Celiac plexus neurolysis and block are considered safe but provide limited pain relief. Standard techniques target the region of the celiac plexus but do not attempt injections directly into celiac ganglia. The recent recognition that celiac ganglia can be visualized by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) now allows direct injection into celiac ganglia for neurolysis (CGN) and block (CGB).
Aims: To determine the safety and initial efficacy (at 2-4 wk) of direct ganglia injection in patients with moderate to severe pain secondary to unresectable pancreatic carcinoma or chronic pancreatitis.
Methods: An EUS database was reviewed to identify patients undergoing CGN and CGB. Data were retrieved from the medical records and phone follow-up.
Results: Thirty-three patients underwent 36 direct celiac ganglia injections for unresectable pancreatic cancer (CGN N = 17, CGB N = 1) or chronic pancreatitis (CGN N = 5, CGB N = 13) with bupivacaine (0.25%) and alcohol (99%) for CGN, or Depo-Medrol (80 mg/2 cc) for CGB. Cancer patients reported pain relief in 16/17 (94%) when alcohol was injected and 0/1 (00%) when steroid was injected. For chronic pancreatitis, 4/5 (80%) who received alcohol reported pain relief versus 5/13 (38%) receiving steroids. Thirteen (34%) patients experienced initial pain exacerbation, which correlated with improved therapeutic response (P < 0.05). Transient hypotension and diarrhea developed in 12 and 6 patients, respectively.
Conclusions: Initial experience suggests that EUS-guided direct celiac ganglion block or neurolysis is safe. Alcohol injection into ganglia appears to be effective in both cancer and chronic pancreatitis. Prospective trials are needed to confirm the efficacy of this new approach.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1572-0241.2007.01607.x | DOI Listing |
A A Pract
January 2025
Integrated Anesthesia Associates, Department of Anesthesia, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut.
Inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST) presents challenges in diagnosis and treatment due to its unclear etiology and limited therapeutic options. This case report explores the use of continuous stellate ganglion block (CSGB) as a potential treatment avenue. A 23-year-old woman with refractory IST underwent several CSGB placements, resulting in prolonged symptom relief and decreased median heart rate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypertension
December 2024
Vanderbilt Autonomic Dysfunction Center, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN. (L.E.O., A.D., C.A.S., A.G., B.K.B., S.P., I.B.).
Background: The cholinesterase inhibitor pyridostigmine is used to treat orthostatic hypotension by facilitating cholinergic neurotransmission in autonomic ganglia, thereby harnessing residual sympathetic tone to increase blood pressure (BP) preferentially in the upright posture. We hypothesized that less severe autonomic impairment was associated with greater pressor responses to pyridostigmine.
Methods: To identify predictors of pressor response, linear regression analyses between the effect of pyridostigmine on upright BP and markers of autonomic impairment were retrospectively conducted on 38 patients who had a medication trial with pyridostigmine (60 mg single dose).
Ann Pathol
December 2024
Institute of Tissue Medicine and Pathology, University of Bern, 3008 Bern, Suisse.
Neuroblastoma is a rare tumour originating from neural crest cells, primarily occurring in the adrenal glands and sympathetic ganglia, with prenatal diagnosis often complicated by the difficulty in distinguishing it from other foetal abdominal or paraspinal masses. We present a case of foetal neuroblastoma in a 26-year old woman who, at 36 weeks of gestation, experienced absent foetal movements, leading to ultrasound confirmation of foetal demise with associated effusions. An emergency caesarean section revealed a stillborn male foetus with a previously undetected encapsulated mass in the posterior mediastinum, which was confirmed as neuroblastoma through histopathological analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Integr Med
December 2024
College of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, Anhui Province, China; Institute of Health and Medicine, Hefei Comprehensive National Scicence Center, Hefei 230051, Anhui Province, China. Electronic address:
Objective: Acupuncture therapies are known for their effectiveness in treating a variety of gastric diseases, although the mechanisms underlying these effects are not fully understood. This study tested the effectiveness of electroacupuncture (EA) at acupoints Zhongwan (RN12) and Weishu (BL21) for managing gastric motility disorder (GMD) and investigated the underlying mechanisms involved.
Methods: A GMD model was used to evaluate the impact of EA on various aspects of gastric function including the amplitude of gastric motility, electrogastrogram, food intake, and the rate of gastric emptying.
Radiology
December 2024
From the Department of Radiology, Division of Interventional Radiology (N.L., N.J.R.), Department of Medicine, Division of Interventional Cardiology (Y.R.), and Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (Y.R., G.S., M.G.), UMass Memorial Medical Center and Chan Medical School, 55 Lake Ave N, S2-817A, Worcester, MA 01655; Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Division of Interventional Radiology and Image-Guided Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga (J.K.); Division of Cardiology, Division of Electrophysiology, Emory Heart & Vascular Center at Saint Joseph's Hospital, Atlanta, Ga (A.M.P., C.M.T.); Department of Heart Failure/Transplant Cardiology, Piedmont Heart Institute, Piedmont Healthcare, Atlanta, Ga (D.W.M.); and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga (F.J.P.).
Background Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs), including ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, present substantial therapeutic challenges due to their high morbidity, mortality, and increasing prevalence. Current treatments often prove infeasible or inadequate in patients with refractory VAs. Purpose To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of CT-guided left stellate ganglion cryoneurolysis (SGC) in the treatment of refractory VAs.
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