Bland embolization

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver cancer and the 3rd leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Treatment options include surgical resection, liver transplantation, imageguided percutaneous locoregional options, external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) and systemic therapies. Treatment choice depends on the stage of the disease and patient's characteristics including performance status and liver function. Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system, with its recent 2022 update, is one of the most widely endorsed staging system...

PURPOSE: During catheter directed intraarterial therapy for liver lesions, challenging hepatic vascular anatomy can sometimes prevent selective administration of treatment delivery to liver tumors leading to increased toxicity to normal liver parenchyma. The objective of this study is to describe a variation of the double balloon technique that isolates the feeding artery to liver tumors proximally and distally to provide treatment delivery in lesions that cannot be otherwise selected...

To our knowledge, there have been no previous reports of biliary injury or bilomas due to microvalve infusion catheters (Trinav Infusion System; Westminster, CO). Here, we describe an interesting case of large hepatic biloma following bland hepatic arterial embolization with an antireflux catheter.

The treatment and management of hepatic malignancies can be complex because it encompasses a variety of primary and metastatic malignancies and an assortment of local and systemic treatment options. When to use each of these treatments is critical to ensure the most appropriate care for patients. Interventional radiologists have a key role to play in the delivery of a variety of liver directed treatments including percutaneous ablation, transarterial embolization with bland embolic particles alone, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with injection of a chemotherapeutic emulsion, and transarterial radioembolization (TARE)...

Introduction: Quantifying the pulmonary vascular obstruction index (PVOI) is essential for the management of patients with pulmonary embolism or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The reference method for quantifying the PVOI with planar lung ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) scintigraphy is the Meyer score, which was validated using pulmonary angiography as a reference standard. However, it is complex to use in daily practice. In contrast, a rapid and fast quantification method consists in estimating the PVOI based on the number of segmental perfusion defects...

This manuscript reports the recent advances in idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis (IPH), a rare cause of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in children and adults. This narrative review of the literature summarizes different aspects of IPH, including proposed pathogenesis, patient demographics, clinical and radiological characteristics, treatment, and prognosis. Additionally, the association between Celiac Disease (CD) and IPH is carefully evaluated. IPH is a frequently misdiagnosed disease. The delay in the diagnosis of IPH is often significant but fortunately, appears to have decreased in recent years...

A 22-year-old right-handed man with recently diagnosed gout and renal insufficiency presented with 3 months of progressive gait instability and cognitive changes. He initially presented to an outside institution and underwent a broad workup, but an etiology for his symptoms was not found. On subsequent presentation to our institution, his examination revealed multidomain cognitive dysfunction, spasticity, hyperreflexia, and clonus. A broad workup was again pursued and was notable for an MRI of the brain, revealing cortical atrophy advanced for his age, bland CSF, and a weakly positive serum acetylcholine receptor ganglionic neuronal antibody of unclear significance...

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) are described by the World Health Organization (WHO) classification by grade (1-3) and degree of differentiation. Grade 1 and 2; well differentiated PNETs are often characterized as relatively "indolent" tumors for which locoregional therapies have been shown to be effective for palliation of symptom control and prolongation of survival even in the setting of advanced disease. The treatment of liver metastases includes surgical and non-surgical modalities with varying degrees of invasiveness; efficacy; and risk...

BACKGROUND: At the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), more than 90% of HCC patients present cirrhosis, a clinical condition often associated to malnutrition. Sarcopenia is an indirect marker of malnutrition assessable on computed tomography (CT). AIM: To evaluate the prognostic value of sarcopenia in patients with HCC treated by trans-arterial (chemo)-embolization. METHODS: Patients with HCC treated by a first session of trans-arterial (chemo)embolization and an available CT scan before treatment were included...

Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) may occur in 30% to 90% of patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1). However, only 1% of GEP-NETs are grade 3 (G3). Given the rarity of these aggressive tumors, treatment of advanced G3 GEP-NETs in MEN1 is based on the treatment guidelines for sporadic GEP-NETs. We report a 43-year-old male with germline MEN1 followed at our institution, with clinical features including hyperparathyroidism, a nonfunctional pancreatic NET, and Zollinger-Ellison syndrome...

This case report presents the management of a 69-year-old gentleman with acute coronary syndrome in the setting of an incidentally detected hepatocellular carcinoma with intra-tumoral bleed. Initially, the patient presented with fever, cough, and sudden onset of dyspnea on rest accompanied by angina, after which he was diagnosed with non-ST segment elevated myocardial infarction complicated with congestive cardiac failure. His laboratory and radiological investigations were suggestive of a possible infective etiology which, in an era of COVID-19, was investigated further with a high-resolution CT scan of the chest, which was suggestive of features of pulmonary edema along with an incidental discovery of liver lesions on the abdominal cuts...

AIM: To provide an overview of techniques for prevention, immediate diagnosis, and treatment strategies of intraoperative pulmonary embolism caused by renal tumor thrombus shedding. METHODS: A total of 290 patients admitted into our medical center from March 2015 to May 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent radical nephrectomy with tumor thrombectomy. Six patients were diagnosed as pulmonary embolism during the perioperative period, of which two patients had tumor thrombus shedding...

Background: Hepatic tumors with complex vascular supply or poor relative perfusion are prone to decreased rates of objective response. This is compounded in the setting of Yttrium-90 (Y90) transarterial radioembolization (TARE), which is minimally embolic and flow-dependent, relying on high threshold dose for complete response. Objective: We describe our experience with intrahepatic flow diversion (FD) prior to TARE of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with challenging vascular supply...

At diagnosis, 21-50% of neuroendocrine tumors already have distant metastases, of which the liver is most commonly affected. Unfortunately, the presence of neuroendocrine liver metastases (NELM) is the most incriminating factor for survival. At NELM diagnosis, 60-70% of patients suffer from bilobar multifocal disease, making them ineligible for surgical resection. With limited systemic options, a clinical need for liver-directed treatments exists. Trans-arterial (bland) embolization, chemoembolization and radioembolization have been increasingly used in the treatment of NELM...

Image-guided locoregional therapies play a crucial role in the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Transarterial therapies consist of a group of catheter-based treatments where embolic agents are delivered directly into the tumor via their supplying arteries. Some of the transarterial therapies available include bland embolization (TAE), transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), drug-eluting beads-transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE), selective internal radioembolization therapy (SIRT), and hepatic artery infusion (HAI)...

BACKGROUND:  Unfractionated heparin is used to prevent coagulation activation in patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. We designed this study to determine the preferable indicator for anticoagulation monitoring. METHODS:  We conducted a retrospective study and divided the patients into an activated coagulation time (ACT)-target group and an activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT)-target group. The correlations between ACT, aPTT, and the heparin dose were explored...

Embolization with microspheres is a therapeutic strategy based on the selective occlusion of the blood vessels feeding a tumor. This procedure is intraarterially performed in the clinical setting for the treatment of liver cancer. The practice has evolved over the last decade through the incorporation of drug loading ability, biodegradability and imageability with the subsequent added functionality for the physicians and improved clinical outcomes for the patients. This review highlights the evolution of the embolization systems developed through the analysis of the marketed embolic microspheres for the treatment of malignant hepatocellular carcinoma, namely the most predominant form of liver cancer...

OBJECTIVE: To report on transvenous detachable coiling in small dogs deemed ineligible for traditional transarterial patent ductus arteriosus occlusion and compare transthoracic echocardiographic and angiographic measurements to determine their equivalence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of 35 dogs that underwent transvenous coiling of a patent ductus arteriosus. Demographic information, echocardiographic and angiographic studies, surgery reports, and follow-up evaluation of residual flow were obtained...

Purpose To determine the variance and correlation with tumor viability of fluorine 18 (18 F) fluoromisonidazole (FMISO) uptake in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prior to and after embolization treatment. Materials and Methods In this single-arm, single-center, prospective pilot study between September 2016 and March 2017, participants with at least one tumor measuring 1.5 cm or larger with imaging or histologic findings diagnostic for HCC were enrolled (five men; mean age, 68 years; age range, 61-76 years)...

A 62-year-old man presented with acute abdominal and flank pain, oligoanuria and severe acute kidney injury. Unenhanced CT imaging did not detect urolithiasis or hydronephrosis. There was an early blood pressure surge followed by an intense inflammatory response, with a rise in peripheral blood leucocytes and C reactive protein. His urinalysis was bland but the serum lactate dehydrogenase was markedly elevated. CT angiograms demonstrated multiple pulmonary emboli and bilateral renal artery thromboembolism, with occlusion of the left main renal artery...