A Case of Life-Threatening Bleeding Due to a Locally Advanced Breast Carcinoma Successfully Treated with Transcatheter Arterial Embolization.

Locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) may rarely present with acute severe bleeding. A case report dealing with transcatheter arterial embolization to control acute bleeding in a patient with a voluminous ulcerated breast mass is described. Our findings confirm that the endovascular approach is effective in such patients in order to stabilize the patient whenever conventional treatments have failed or bleeding may be life-threatening.

Abdominal Aorta Anastomotic False Aneurysm Leading to Double Focal Vertebral Body Erosion.

Anastomotic aortic false aneurysm with consequent erosion of vertebral bodies is a very rare event that needs prompt treatment. We report the case of a 71-year-old man with an aortobifemoral graft that was complicated by an uninfected proximal anastomotic pseudoaneurysm with double focal vertebral body erosion.

Ruptured Popliteal Artery Aneurysm.

Rupture of a popliteal artery aneurysm is an uncommon event in an uncommon disease. We present the case of an 88-year-old female with a ruptured popliteal artery aneurysm that was diagnosed by multidetector computed tomography and treated by an endovascular approach.

Hepatic artery aneurysms: Endovascular therapeutic techniques.

Hepatic Artery Aneurysm (HAA) is a rare disease, but it can be a life-threatening pathology if it is ruptured. Multi-Detector Computed Tomography has to be considered the "gold standard" diagnostic imaging in detecting HAA and it is essential for treatment planning. Treatment for HAA can be surgical or endovascular. Endovascular approaches in HAA, compare to conventional abdominal surgery, benefit in less invasive treatments. The aim of our paper is to emphasize the three possible endovascular therapeutic techniques in HAA: packing embolization, isolation embolization and stenting deployment.

Endovascular Aspiration Thrombectomy in the Management of Kidney Ischemia: A Case Report.

Renal artery occlusion is a serious event that can result in significant impairment or loss of renal function, leading to dialysis dependency. The nonspecific signs and symptoms of its presentation frequently result in a delay in diagnosis, thus contributing to delay in treatment. We report the case of a 53-year old woman who suffered renal artery occlusion, in which the renal perfusion was restored after three days of ischemia, by endovascular aspiration thrombectomy.

Varicocele Due to Post-traumatic Arteriovenous Fistula.

Varicocele consists of abnormally dilated and tortuous veins within the pampiniform plexus, usually in the left scrotum. We reported a rare case of right varicocele due to post-traumatic arteriovenous fistula successfully treated by percutaneous embolization.

What is the Best Revascularization Strategy for Acute Occlusive Arterial Mesenteric Ischemia: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) is a life-threatening disease that leads to bowel infarction and death. The optimal management of AMI remains controversial. The present meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prognostic impact of surgical (SG) versus endovascular or hybrid intervention (EV) as the first-line treatment for acute arterial occlusive mesenteric ischemia and to assess whether endovascular strategy was actually effective in reducing bowel resection. METHODS: MEDLINE, Scopus and the Cochrane Library databases were searched. There have been no randomized controlled trials comparing SG versus EV for the treatment of AMI. We undertook this systematic review and meta-analysis according to MOOSE (Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) guidelines, assessing the included study quality with the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. RESULTS: Seven studies comparing EV versus SG as first strategy for the treatment of AMI were selected for the analyses, reporting of 3020 patients. EV was associated with a reduced risk of in-hospital mortality (RR 0.68; 95% CI 0.59-0.79; fixed-effects analysis; p < 0.0001; I 2 = 4.9%; τ 2 = 0.025). Pooled prevalence of mortality was 19% for EV and 34% for SG. EV also showed a benefit impact on risk of bowel resection and second-look laparotomy. CONCLUSIONS: The present meta-analysis outlines that endovascular revascularization strategy seems to offer advantages in terms of in-hospital mortality and morbidity in case of arterial occlusive AMI. A multidisciplinary team consisting of radiologists, interventional radiologists, cardiovascular and general surgeons comes out to be essential to tailor the right procedure to the patient and improve the outcomes associated with AMI.

Radiologic Percutaneous Gastrostomy in Nondistended Stomach: A Modified Approach.

INTRODUCTION: Gastrostomy tube placement for patients requiring long-term nutritional support may be performed using different techniques including endoscopic, surgical, and percutaneous radiologically guided methods. Radiologically inserted gastrostomy (RIG), typically performed when percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is not possible, requires proper gastric distension that is achieved by insufflating air through a nasogastric tube. We describe a simple technique to prevent air escape from the stomach during gastrostomy tube placement. To the best of our knowledge, this technique has not yet been described in the literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four patients with unsuccessful percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy were referred for fluoroscopic-guided gastrostomy. One patient had a pyriform sinus tumor and three had an ischemic stroke causing dysphagia. Gastric distention was not achieved in the patients due to air escaping into the bowel during the standard RIG procedure. A modified approach using a balloon catheter inflated in the pylorus to avoid air passing into the duodenum permitted successful RIG. RESULTS: The modified RIG procedure was successfully carried out in all cases without complications. DISCUSSION: Inadequate air distension of the stomach is an unusual event that causes a failure of gastrostomy tube placement and an increased risk of both major and minor complications. The use of a balloon catheter inflated in the first part of the duodenum prevents the air passage into the bowel allowing the correct positioning of the gastrostomy.

Subclavian artery pseudoaneurysm complicating central venous catheterization: endovascular treatment with Amplatzer Vascular Plug 4 and covered stent.

Central venous catheterization is a routine vascular access procedure; however, it may be associated with life-threatening complications such as arterial puncture, leading to pseudoaneurysm formation. We report a case of a 41-year-old female that developed an iatrogenic left subclavian pseudoaneurysm complicating the attempt of left internal jugular vein cannulation for temporary hemodialysis therapy. The patient underwent urgent endovascular treatment with deployment of covered stent into the left subclavian artery (SCA) after embolization of the origin of the left internal mammary artery with Amplatzer Vascular Plug 4. The patient's recovery was unremarkable. Follow-up till 24 months reveals total exclusion of the pseudoaneurysm of the left SCA with patency of the distal branches.

Recurrent acute Budd-Chiari syndrome after right hepatectomy: US color-Doppler vascular pattern and left hepatic vein stenting for treatment.

After extended right hepatectomy remnant liver can be affected by outflow obstruction due to torsion of the inferior vena cava or kinking of the left hepatic vein. Remnant liver fixation is therefore suggested to avoid postoperative acute Budd-Chiari syndrome. Despite remnant liver reposition during surgery, a 76-years-old woman developed complete outflow obstruction. This clinical situation, due to left hepatic vein kinking, was suspected by US examination and confirmed by CT scan that showed a pathological intrahepatic vascular pattern. Patient required urgent relaparotomy and the liver was replaced in normal position. However, recurrence of outflow obstruction occurred and it was ultimately treated by inferior vena cava angiogram with left hepatic vein stenting.

Nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia in a dialysis patient with extensive vascular calcification.

We describe a case of nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia in a 37-year-old man with hemodialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease due to diabetes who was admitted to our hospital with abdominal pain. A plain radiograph of the abdomen showed distended loops of small bowel and gas in the hepatic portal vein. Multidetector computed tomography showed massive wall calcification of the superior mesenteric artery and its collaterals, pneumatosis intestinalis of a segment of the jejunum, and porto-mesenteric vein gas. Urgent laparotomy confirmed segmental necrosis of the jejunum, which was resected. Pathologic examination showed whole-layer necrosis of the resected bowel without arterial or venous thrombosis. Nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia is an increasingly recognized and potentially lethal complication in hemodialysis patients. In the present case, critical factors for the development of nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia may have included prolonged hypotension during hemodialysis treatments that reduced blood flow to the small bowel and massive vascular calcification that negatively affected compliance of the superior mesenteric artery and its branches.

Penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer of the abdominal aorta involving the celiac trunk origin and superior mesenteric artery occlusion: endovascular treatment.

We describe a case of endovascular treatment in a 64-year-old woman affected by a penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer (PAU) of the abdominal aorta with a 26-mm pseudoaneurysm involving the celiac trunk (CT) origin and with superior mesenteric artery (SMA) occlusion in the first 30 mm. The patient underwent stenting to treat the SMA occlusion and subsequent deployment of a custom-designed fenestrated endovascular stent-graft to treat the PAU involving the CT origin. Follow-up at 6 months after device placement demonstrated no complications, and there was complete thrombosis of the PAU and patency of the two branch vessels.