[An autopsy case of hepatic angiosarcoma diagnosed with ultrasonography-guided percutaneous needle biopsy of the liver].

Contrast medium-enhanced computed tomography revealed a mass in the liver of a 65-year-old man. The edge but not the center of the mass was enhanced. Ultrasonography-guided percutaneous needle biopsy revealed the diagnosis of angiosarcoma of the liver, and it was treated with chemotherapy. Angiosarcoma of the liver has various appearances on imaging and is not often diagnosed while patients are alive. If the tumor is difficult to diagnose by imaging and thought to be unresectable, a biopsy can help in guiding treatment, but treatment should be adapted with caution.

Laparoscopic Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Is Useful for Elderly.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, enteral nutrition has become relatively easy to perform through the penetration of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). However, there have been reports of complications, such as mispuncture of other organs at the time of performing PEG. Previously, we had constructed a gastrostomy under the laparotomy for difficult PEG cases, and 2 years ago, we introduced laparoscopically assisted PEG. This study aimed to clarify the feasibility and safety of LAPEG for elderly people over 65 years old. METHODS: We evaluated the perioperative outcomes in 7 elderly patients who underwent LAPEG during these 2 years. In these subjects, the safety of LAPEG was evaluated retrospectively based on the surgical outcomes, perioperative complications, and postoperative course using the clinical archives. RESULTS: The subjects' mean age was 81.1 ± 8.03 years. LAPEG was successful in all 7 patients. The median operation time was 38 minutes (range, 31-71 minutes). Intraoperative and postoperative early or late complications from LAPEG were not observed in our cases. Enteral nutrition was commenced 2 days after PEG placement in all cases without complications. CONCLUSION: We summarized the LAPEG cases performed at our institution for the elderly, and have reported its feasibility and safety. The strongest advantage of LAPEG was that it allowed placement of the PEG without any complication under direct observation of the intraperitoneal cavity to confirm the safety of each organ.

Cystic echinococcosis in immigrant from Peru: first case treated with percutaneous treatment in Japan.

We report a case of cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by Echinococcusgranulosus, for which a modified percutaneous evacuation (PEVAC) treatment was applied. The patient had immigrated from Peru to Japan and had 2 hydatid cystic masses, 1 located in segment (S)5 of the liver and the other in S3 (5.3 and 3.5 cm in diameter, respectively), both of which were visualized as pseudotumors by ultrasound (US) examinations. Albendazole treatment showed no effects and surgical treatment was refused. After punctuation of the S5 cyst under US guidance and S3 with CT guidance, 10- and 12-French gauge catheters, respectively, with multiple side holes were inserted. About 60 ml of the cyst contents was drawn out from the S5 lesion and 2 ml from the S3 lesion. Using repetitive manual injections and aspiration of small amounts of hypertonic saline, the remaining cyst content was removed as much as possible, after which 20 and 10 ml of 98% ethanol was injected into the S5 and S3 lesions, respectively. A short-term evaluation during the 4 month-period following the procedure using US revealed nearly complete evacuation of the S5 lesion, whereas that at S3 remained as a pseudo-solid mass. We consider that percutaneous treatment is a safe therapeutic modality for hydatid cysts. This is the first case report of CE treated percutaneously in Japan.