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As part of the vascular access procedures, venous ports, commonly referred to as catheters, are placed under the skin to enable safe and easy vascular access for administration of repeated drug treatments. 122 patients who had received a venous port catheter insertion procedure in the general surgery department between January 1012 and January 2014 were involved in this study. Patients were divided into two groups: those who had undergone a fluoroscopy (group 1) and those who had not undergone a fluoroscopy (group 2). Complications that emerged during and after the port catheter insertion procedure and successful insertion rates were recorded in the database. Data of these patients were presented in a prospective manner. There were 92 to 30 patients in groups 1 and 2, respectively. In group 1, the mean age was approximately 56.8, total catheter stay time was 20,631 days, and mean time of port use was 224.2 days. In group 2, the mean age was approximately 61.2, total catheter stay time was 13,575 days, and mean time of port use was 452.5 days. Successful insertion rate was 100% and 90% in groups 1 and 2, respectively (P < 0.05). The proper insertion of the port catheter accompanied by monitoring methods can decrease procedure-related complications. Statistical comparisons between the two groups in terms of malposition and successful insertion rates also support this view (P < 0.05). The findings support the view that in cancer patients, a venous port catheter insertion accompanied by a fluoroscopy can be safely performed by general surgeons.

Background: Acute cholecystitis is a common cause of emergency hospital admission. Ultrasonography (US) plays a significant role in the prompt diagnosis of this medical condition. However, it is difficult to find a radiologist in attendance for performing gallbladder US "beyond daytime and on weekends." With this standpoint, we decided to assess prospectively the accuracy of surgeon-performed gallbladder US for identifying acute cholecystitis in patients with cholelithiasis., Materials and Methods: Seventy-one consecutive patients awaiting elective or acute gallbladder surgery were included in this study. The US findings of surgeons and radiologists are compared with the histopathology reports. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV (positive predictive value), and NPV (negative predictive value) for acute cholecystitis by both surgeon-performed ultrasound (SPUS) and radiologist-performed ultrasound (RPUS) were evaluated., Results: Both radiologists and surgeons visualized the gallstones of each patient in all cases. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and NPV for acute cholecystitis by SPUS were 84.2%, 92.1%, 90%, and 94%, respectively, whereas the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and NPV for acute cholecystitis by RPUS were 92.3%, 85.9%, 87.1%, and 98%, respectively., Conclusions: Both SPUS and RPUS had a high accuracy rate in electing the acute cholecystitis. Our data support the fact that the use of US by general surgeons is effective in the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis.