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Background The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of interventional ultrasound in the treatment of nonvascular complications in liver transplant recipients. Methods Between August 1996 and May 2003, we performed 426 OLTs in 394 patients, 287 men (73%) and 107 women (27%), mean age of 50 ± 9.5 years (range 17 to 68.2). A total of 2556 diagnostic ultrasound examinations were performed, resulting in a mean of 5.9 per patient (range 2 to 21). The interventional maneuvers included: echo-guided biopsies; drainage of abdominal or thoracic effusions; drainage of abdominal, intrahepatic, or splenic collections; positioning of biliary drains; and use of the “rendezvous” technique. Results Six hundred seventy-seven echo-guided interventional maneuvers were performed in 394 OTL patients, comprising 417 (61.6%) biopsies and 260 (38.4%) therapeutic maneuvers. Eighty-one ascite drains were positioned (31.1%); in 73 cases, pleural effusions were drained (28.1%). Sixty-seven abdominal or intrahepatic collections were drained (25.8%), of which 36 (53.7%) were due to bilomas or biliary peritonitis, 15 (22.4%) hematomas, 4 (5.9%) hepatic abscesses, 11 (16.4%) infected abdominal collections, and 1 (1.5%) splenic abscess. Thirty-nine cases (15%) of biliary drainage were performed. In 33 cases (7.9%), the parenchymal biopsies were not diagnostic because of an inadequate specimen. The treatment success rate was 96.1%. No complications related to the therapeutic maneuvers were recorded, but there were 5 biopsy-related complications (1.2%). Conclusions Echo-guided interventional maneuvers are safe, produce a high success rate, and represent an important option in the management of OLT patients.

We treated 79 patients with a neoplastic pathology of the testicle between 1972 and 1993. The average age of patients was 35 (range 17-75). Seminoma were treated with precautional and/or therapeutic cycles of TCT. In the 14 cases (38.8%) of non-seminomatous germ cell tumours (NSGCT) there was a difference between the clinical and the pathological staging after retroperitoneal lymph-node dissection (RPLND). Mortality due to progression of the disease was 3.8%. The 17 patients (47.2%) who underwent RPLND had an andrological follow-up (10 patients with normal ejaculation and 7 with no ejaculation). We confirm the under-staging of preliminary diagnostic investigations. Unlike some authors, we feel that conservative action (orchiectomy alone), is not sufficient even in first stage NSGCT.