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The incidence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is increasing worldwide and diagnosis is made in an earlier stage due to increasing use of CT and ultrasound. Patients with a history of RCC have a high risk to develop another RCC within their remaining kidney. Especially, patients after tumor nephrectomy have to undergo follow-up examinations regularly allowing an early detection of new RCCs. Especially in patients with solitary kidney gold standard therapy (nephron-sparing surgery) can often account for consecutive renal failure with the need for hemodialysis. Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) gained worldwide acceptance for the treatment of liver tumors in patients unable to undergo surgery. Furthermore, during the past few years, there is an increasing amount of publications dealing with the effectiveness of minimally invasive therapies like RFA in patients with renal masses. However, in the subgroup of patients with solitary kidney suffering from RCC, there are only case reports regarding safety and midterm outcome available so far. Therefore, the aim of this article is to briefly describe the basic technical principles of RFA and then focus on indications, technique, safety and the midterm outcome after treatment in terms of renal function and relapse.

Since the first description of uterine artery embolization for the treatment of symptomatic fibroids of the uterus in 1994, this minimally invasive procedure has been increasingly performed in many Western countries. The method is characterized by a high technical success rate of about 85%, a highly significant relief of symptoms, and a very low rate of complications that make this method an appealing alternative to classic treatment options of surgical or laparoscopic myomectomy or hysterectomy. These characteristics have made the procedure well accepted by affected women. Nevertheless, indications and potential contraindications have to be evaluated carefully, especially in patients of childbearing age whenever a considerable number of deliveries is reported after uterine fibroid embolization. This article discusses the clinical background, indications and contraindications, angiographic techniques, potential complications and side effects, and the mid-term results known at present.

The aim of this study was to determine if different types of focal hepatic lesions can be differentiated by specific quantitative and qualitative imaging characteristics pre- and post-Mangafodipir trisodium (MnDPDP) administration using a computerized multivariable, discriminant analysis (DA). In a multicenter trial, 151 patients with focal liver disease were studied at 1.5 and 1.0 T using gradient-recalled echo T1 and fast spin-echo T2-weighted images pre and post MnDPDP (0.005 mmol/kg b.w.) i.v. administration. Analysis could be performed in 141 of 151 of the patients. The variables used in both single variable analysis and DA included contrast-to-noise ratios pre and post MnDPDP, presence of rim enhancement, margin, and heterogeneity of a lesion pre and post MnDPDP. The classification of diagnoses using DA was compared with a standard of reference (HCC in 23%, metastases in 25%, cyst in 13%, FNH in 10%, hemangioma in 11%, and other or no lesion in 18% of the patients; histology in 49%, long-term follow-up in 51% of the cases). In the differentiation of the various hepatic lesions, CNR together with the presence of heterogeneity or rim enhancement as variables for DA gave the highest sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy which ranged between 65 and 93, 44 and 83, and 65 and 86%, respectively. The DA models based on post-MnDPDP variables showed better classification results than the models based on pre-MnDPDP variables. An improvement of accuracy was observed when differentiating HCC from FNH lesion groups (48.9-67.4%; p < or = 0.05), and when differentiating HCC from metastasis lesion groups (68.3-84.1%; p < or = 0.01). In all regards there was no difference for T2-weighted images pre and post MnDPDP. By combining quantitative and qualitative variables, DA proved to be a useful tool in lesion discrimination. Due to considerable heterogeneity within some of the lesion type groups, the definite diagnostic impact of MnDPDP cannot be completely established yet, and further investigation is still necessary.

Only 1-2 % of all pediatric tumors occur in the liver. Two thirds of these tumors are malignant and almost all of the tumors cause clinical symptoms due to their mass effects. Besides the poor prognosis in most of the malignant tumors, for further treatment the origin and nature of the neoplasm has to be known. Due to the mostly unimpeded growth into the peritoneal cavity, the origin of the tumors is primarily often unclear and can non-invasively only be determined by advanced imaging techniques. The display of the macro- and microhistological key features of primary pediatric liver neoplasms, including hepatoblastoma (HB), infantile hemangioendothelioma (IHE), mesenchymal hamartoma (MH), undifferentiated (embryonal) sarcoma (UES), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), together with their imaging representation by ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, may deepen the understanding of the underlying pathology and its imaging appearance. Furthermore, in many cases sufficient information may be provided not only to differentiate benign from malignant tumors, but also to guide for adequate treatment.