Mimicks of pancreatic malignancy in patients with chronic pancreatitis: correlation of computed tomography imaging features with histopathologic findings.

Differentiation of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic carcinoma can be a clinical and radiologic dilemma. Several patients with chronic pancreatitis can undergo unnecessary major abdominal surgery for benign lesions. This pictorial review illustrates the computed tomographic findings and histopathologic features of lesions mimicking pancreatic neoplasm in patients with chronic pancreatitis. Several benign lesions can simulate pancreatic malignancy in patients with chronic pancreatitis. Knowledge of the computed tomographic appearance of these benign entities is important to prevent unnecessary surgeries.

Transhepatic puncture of portal and hepatic veins for TIPS using a single-needle pass under sonographic guidance.

OBJECTIVE: Creating transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) requires accessing a portal vein branch from a metal cannula wedged in a hepatic vein. This initial step in shunt creation often requires multiple blind intrahepatic punctures and occasionally fails. We describe a method using sonographic guidance to serially puncture the portal vein and hepatic vein with a single transhepatic needle pass, after which the TIPS procedure is completed in the standard transjugular fashion. CONCLUSION: Sonographically guided transhepatic dual puncture of the portal and hepatic veins facilitates portosystemic shunt creation in a single needle pass and allows more controlled selection of the portal vein entry and hepatic vein landing sites in selected patients.