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Background: Cholecystostomy is commonly performed in high-risk patients with acute cholecystitis. However, internal drainage may be more desirable in patients as it is associated with lower complication rates. This paper describes an image-guided, percutaneous technique for internal gallbladder drainage using a covered lumen-apposing metal stent (LAMS) and assesses its feasibility and safety in a porcine model.Methods: Procedures were performed on 30-kg pigs. Under ultrasound and fluoroscopic guidance, a percutaneous puncture was performed through-and-through the gallbladder into the stomach. A guidewire was placed and a 12Fr sheath was advanced through which a 10-mm LAMS was deployed. Its distal flange was deployed in the gastric lumen, and its proximal flange in the gallbladder. The cholecystoenteric anastomosis was examined by means of endoscopy, laparoscopy, and necropsy.Results: Technical success was 100% (7/7). Procedure times decreased with experience and improvements in technique (median: 22 min). Contrast injection demonstrated free flow through the stent with no leakage. Necropsy confirmed appropriate stent position with good apposition of gallbladder and stomach, and no intraprocedural complications were detected.Conclusions: Image-guided, percutaneous, internal gallbladder drainage using a LAMS is safe and feasible in a porcine model. This technique may be an alternative to endoscopic ultrasound-guided stent placement and external cholecystostomy tube drainage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate initial response and overall survival of neuroendocrine tumor (NET) liver metastases initially treated with transarterial embolization (TAE) using spherical particles of different sizes.Methods: A single-institution retrospective review was performed of 160 patients with NET liver metastases initially treated with TAE using < 100 µm (n = 77) or only ≥ 100 µm (n = 83) spherical particles. For each patient, we evaluated: initial response by mRECIST, time to progression, overall survival, complications, primary site, tumor grade and degree of differentiation, volume of liver disease, extrahepatic disease, NET-related symptoms, comorbidities, Child-Pugh score, performance status, lobar versus selective embolization, and arteriovenous shunting.Results: Initial response was higher for TAE using particles < 100 versus TAE using only particles ≥ 100 μm (64 vs 42%, p = 0.007). Multivariate logistic regression showed that use of particles < 100 μm and liver < 50% replaced with tumor were independent predictors of a better initial response rate. There was no difference in major or minor complications between the two particle size groups. Median overall survival after TAE was 55 months for well- to moderately differentiated NET and 13 months for poorly differentiated or undifferentiated NET. There was no significant difference in survival between TAE patients treated with < 100 versus only ≥ 100-μm particles.Conclusion: NET patients treated with TAE using particles < 100 μm had better initial response, but the same overall survival, compared to TAE using only particles ≥ 100 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of subclavian artery (SA) stenosis is approximately 2%. The exact prevalence of extracranial vertebral artery (VA) stenosis is undetermined, with estimates ranging from 7% to 40%. Nearly 25% of ischaemic strokes involve the vertebrobasilar circulation, and arteriosclerotic disease and narrowing of the proximal VA may be the cause for up to one-fifth of these incidents. The bulk of SA stenoses occur proximally to the ostium of the VA. Vertebrobasilar ischaemia can be caused both by VA and SA stenosis. Surgical and endovascular approaches are potential treatment options for SA/VA stenosis. It has been demonstrated that endovascular intervention is considerably safer for this pathology, and with advances in device technology, angioplasty with stenting has become the preferred treatment option. We present the case of a 76-year- old man who presented with vertebrobasilar ischaemia from coexisting stenosis of the SA/VA which was treated by endovascular methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the prevalence of patients whose anatomy would be potentially amenable to percutaneous cholecystoenteric lumen-apposing metallic stents (LAMS) insertion from a population of acute cholecystitis patients.Methods: Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography images in 100 consecutive adult patients with acute cholecystitis were reviewed retrospectively. Feasibility of LAMS placement percutaneously or with endoscopic ultrasound guidance was defined as the presence of a straight and unobstructed trajectory from the skin to the gallbladder, and between the gallbladder and the gastric antrum, or the proximal duodenum, measuring ≤2 cm, respectively.Results: The gallbladder was within 2 cm of the gastric antrum or proximal duodenum without intervening structures in 95 of 100 patients (95%). Percutaneous LAMS appeared anatomically feasible in 90 of 100 patients (90%). Mean ± SD shortest inner-inner wall distance between the gallbladder and the adjacent proximal gastrointestinal tract was 1.20 ± 0.43 cm. The closest location for percutaneous LAMS was between the gallbladder and duodenum in 87 of the feasible cases (97%). The percutaneous approach was transhepatic in 89.5%, and extrahepatic in 10.5%. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided LAMS appeared feasible in 95 of 100 patients, including 5 of the 10 percutaneously unfeasible cases. The other 5 patients appeared unfeasible due to colonic interposition or other intervening structures.Conclusions: LAMS appeared anatomically feasible percutaneously in 90% of acute cholecystitis patients. The shortest and most direct path for percutaneous LAMS was transhepatic and cholecystoduodenal. Percutaneously placed LAMS may be an attractive alternative to percutaneous cholecystostomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in the field of neurosurgery, specifically those dealing with the modification of mood and affect as part of psychiatric disease, have led some researchers to discuss the ethical implications of surgery to alter personality and personal identity. As knowledge and technology advance, discussions of surgery to alter undesirable traits, or possibly the enhancement of normal traits, will play an increasingly larger role in the ethical literature. So far, identity and enhancement have yet to be explored in a neurosurgical context, despite the fact that 1) neurological disease and treatment both potentially alter identity, and 2) that neurosurgeons will likely be the purveyors of future enhancement implantable technology. Here, we use interviews with neurosurgical patients to shed light on the ethical issues and challenges that surround identity and enhancement in neurosurgery. The results provide insight into how patients approach their identity prior to potentially identity-altering procedures and what future ethical challenges lay ahead for clinicians and researchers in the field of neurotherapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the case of a 67-year-old woman with a history of severe nasal polyposis. Computed tomography was done which found possibility of allergic fungal disease with the patient sent to the operating room to undergo endoscopic sinus surgery. The article discusses ethmoidectomy, frontal trephination treatment and orbital compartment syndrome.

The poem "scribing death" by Rebecca Zener is presented. First Line: glimmers; Last Line: as it passed.