La Radiologia medica
-
La Radiologia medica · Oct 1998
[Insertion and management of long-term central venous devices: role of radiologic imaging techniques].
Anticancer chemotherapy causes irreversible damage to the endothelial wall of small vessels. This is the reason why long-term (more than 3 months) central venous devices are essential to administer chemotherapy drugs to cancer patients and antibiotics for chronic or severe infections and in patients requiring long-term parenteral nutrition. We report our experience with the percutaneous implantation of central venous devices in a radiology department. ⋯ The percutaneous implantation of--long-term central venous devices is a safe and tolerable procedure. In our experience, the radiology-assisted placement of these devices offers many advantages over surgical implantation. In particular, fluoroscopy allows direct visualization of the catheter position while insertion and positioning are essentially "blind" at surgery, which complicates venous access and increases the risk of catheter malpositioning. Radiologic follow-up is also useful to depict and correct complications.
-
La Radiologia medica · Oct 1998
[Budd-Chiari syndrome: retrospective study of 8 cases assessed with computerized tomography].
Budd-Chiari syndrome is a rare disease due to the obstruction of hepatic veins and, sometimes, of the inferior vena cava. The disease, whose etiopathogenesis is often unproven, may show acute or chronic clinical course with different features at pathology. We carried out a retrospective study of 8 consecutive patients with the Budd-Chiari syndrome to assess the diagnostic role of CT and to define the main patterns of the disease. ⋯ The Budd-Chiari syndrome causes anatomical, morphological and volumetric changes in the hepatic parenchyma which are referrable to difficult venous flow and differ in acute vs chronic forms. CT permits to grade liver involvement by the organ's morphodensitometric changes, which are once again different in the acute vs the chronic disease. Moreover, thrombosis of suprahepatic veins and of the inferior vena cava and portal vein is often demonstrated. Therefore CT can be considered a valid diagnostic tool for use in the patients with suspected Budd-Chiari syndrome together with B-mode and color Doppler US.