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Purpose: Ultrasound (US) guidance is currently used for placement of wire-guided thoracic drains, and its use is associated with a decreased risk of complications. However, most studies conducted to date in this field have been performed on adult patients. The aim of this study was to report the technical success and complication rates observed during real-time US-guided placement of a thoracic pigtail catheter in pediatric liver-transplant recipients with symptomatic pleural effusion., Methods: This was a single-center retrospective review of the clinical records and images from pediatric liver-transplant patients with symptomatic pleural effusion who had undergone real-time US-guided pleural-space puncture followed by placement (via the Seldinger technique) of a pigtail catheter for drainage, between May 2006 and June 2014., Results: We identified 25 patients who had undergone 41 pigtail catheter-placement procedures during the study period. The patients' mean age (± SD) was 4.2 ± 3.9 years (range, 2 months to 16 years), and their mean weight was 14.2 ± 7.2 kg (range, 4.5-33 kg). Seventeen procedures had been performed in the intensive care unit, and 8, in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. Twelve of the 41 procedures had been performed in patients with altered hemostasis (ie, platelet count < 50 × 10(3) /μl and/or international normalized ratio > 1.5). The size of the pigtail catheters ranged from 5 F to 8.5 F. The technical success rate was 100%, with no major complications such as pneumothorax or hemothorax. Accidental dislocation of the catheter occurred in four patients (9%) over 3-10 days after the first procedure., Conclusions: In our experience, real-time US-guided pleural-space puncture, performed at bedside, with the patient in the supine position, followed by placement of a pigtail catheter for drainage of effusion, is safe to use and has a high rate of technical success in pediatric patients. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 44:284-289, 2016., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation is considered as being one of the most complex procedures in abdominal interventional radiology. Our aim was twofold: quantification of TIPS-related patient radiation exposure in our center and identification of factors leading to reduced radiation exposure., Materials and Methods: Three hundred and forty seven consecutive patients underwent TIPS in our center between 2007 and 2014. Three main procedure categories were identified: Group I (n = 88)-fluoroscopic-guided portal vein targeting, procedure done in an image intensifier-based angiographic system (IIDS); Group II (n = 48)--ultrasound-guided portal vein puncture, procedure done in an IIDS; and Group III (n = 211)--ultrasound-guided portal vein puncture, procedure done in a flat panel detector-based system (FPDS). Radiation exposure (dose-area product [DAP], in Gy cm(2) and fluoroscopy time [FT] in minutes) was retrospectively analyzed., Results: DAP was significantly higher in Group I (mean ± SD 360 ± 298; median 287; 75th percentile 389 Gy cm(2)) as compared to Group II (217 ± 130; 178; 276 Gy cm(2); p = 0.002) and Group III (129 ± 117; 70; 150 Gy cm(2) p < 0.001). The difference in DAP between Groups II and III was also significant (p < 0.001). Group I had significantly longer FT (25.78 ± 13.52 min) as compared to Group II (20.45 ± 10.87 min; p = 0.02) and Group III (19.76 ± 13.34; p < 0.001). FT was not significantly different between Groups II and III (p = 0.73)., Conclusions: Real-time ultrasound-guided targeting of the portal venous system during TIPS creation results in a significantly lower radiation exposure and reduced FT. Further reduction in radiation exposure can be achieved through the use of modern angiographic units with FPDS.

Current recommendations for the treatment of acute variceal bleeding (AVB) are to combine hemodynamic stabilization, antibiotic prophylaxis, pharmacologic agents, and endoscopic treatment. However, despite the application of the current gold-standard pharmacologic and endoscopic treatment, failure to control bleeding or early rebleed within 5 days still occurs in 15% to 20% of patients with AVB. In case of treatment failure of the acute bleeding episode, if bleeding is mild and the patient is hemodynamically stable, a second endoscopic therapy may be attempted. If this fails, or if bleeding is severe, it is usually controlled temporarily with balloon tamponade until a definitive derivative treatment is applied. Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt is highly effective in this situation; however, despite the control of bleeding, a high proportion of these patients die of liver and multiorgan failure. Strategies intended to improve the prognosis of these patients should focus on identifying those high-risk patients in whom standard therapy is likely to fail, and who are therefore candidates for more aggressive therapies early after the development of AVB., (2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We studied thrombophilic genetic factors (TGFs) MTHFR C677TT, PAI1 4G-4G, V Leiden Q506, prothrombin G20210A as risk factors in 94 patients with HCC with and without portal vein thrombosis (PVT), compared with 214 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) with and without PVT and 94 healthy controls (HC). The OR (95% CI) for MTHFR C677TT with HCC was 3.85 (1.55-7.39) vs. HC. The OR for PAI1 4G-4G in HCC, was 2.87 (1.27-6.55) vs. HC. Also prothrombin G20210A was significantly more frequent among HCC, mainly in patients with PVT, while V Leiden factor was equally distributed among HCC and HC. Differences were more significant in patients with associated PVT. These findings suggest that frequently TGFs are needed for patients to be at risk of HCC and PVT. We conclude that in all patients with chronic liver disease TGF screening should be performed to individuate patients at risk of HCC and PVT.

Background & Aims: Several trials showed that uncovered transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is superior to paracentesis for the control of refractory ascites. However, the results for encephalopathy and mortality were not consistent across trials. We performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials of TIPS for refractory ascites to assess the overall treatment effects and to explore potential reasons of heterogeneity., Methods: Pertinent studies were retrieved trough MEDLINE (1968-2004), EMBASE (1986-2004), the Cochrane Library (2004;4), and reference lists of key articles. Outcome measures were recurrence of ascites, encephalopathy, and mortality. Metaregression analysis was used to explore heterogeneity., Results: Five trials were identified including 330 patients. Successful TIPS placement ranged from 77% to 100% and portosystemic pressure gradient reduction ranged from 6.0 to 14.0 mm Hg. Metaregression analysis showed that bilirubin levels and successful TIPS placement rates were associated significantly with log-odds ratio for death after TIPS, explained heterogeneity of trials for mortality, and suggested an outlier trial. After exclusion of the outlier trial, pooled odds ratios for recurrence of ascites with TIPS was .14 (confidence interval, .07-.27), for encephalopathy was 2.26 (confidence interval, 1.35-3.76), and for mortality was .74 (confidence interval, .40-1.37), without any significant heterogeneity., Conclusions: Uncovered TIPS is significantly better than paracentesis for control of refractory ascites. Although it increases encephalopathy, it also is associated with a trend toward improvement of survival. Future TIPS trials should select patients on the basis of bilirubin levels and predictors of the risk for post-TIPS encephalopathy, and assess costs and quality of life.