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Aim: To evaluate the suitability of percutaneous drainage as a primary and definitive treatment of hydatid disease of the liver., Materials and Methods: Between October 1989 and April 1992, percutaneous drainage was performed on 52 consecutive patients (27 women and 25 men aged 13 to 84 years) with 55 hydatid cysts in the liver. Twenty-five (45%) cysts were type I, 10 (18%) were type II, 14 (25%) were type III, 5 (10%) were type IV and 1 (2%) was type V. All procedures were performed under light sedation and local anaesthetic at the puncture site. The standard Seldinger technique was used. Initial puncture was performed under ultrasound (US) guidance through the liver parenchyma. The rest of the procedure was conducted under fluoroscopic control. Pigtail drainage catheters (size 12-20 Fr) were used, with Betadine (10% povidone iodine; 1% free iodine) being allowed to act within the cyst for 30 min, as a scolicidal agent., Results: All the patients were successfully treated and 6-9 year follow-up involving US, computed tomography (CT) and serology tests showed no local recurrence or spread of the disease. No major (death, cyst rupture, anaphylactic shock) and very few minor complications arose. Two patients had mild skin reaction with nausea requiring no treatment and three patients developed a secondary infection of the cyst, due to prolonged drainage time. These liver abscesses responded successfully to further catheter drainage. Subsequent patients were treated with large bore (18-20 Fr) catheters and none developed secondary infection. Overall drainage time varied from 7-118 days (7-28 days, if we exclude three initial cases who had prolonged drainage)., Conclusion: It is our strong belief that percutaneous drainage using the above method should be considered a first-line treatment for hydatid disease of the liver.Bosanac, Z. B., Lisanin, L. (2000). Clinical Radiology55, 839-848., (Copyright 2000 The Royal College of Radiologists.)

The ultrasonically guided fine needle biopsy is cheap, very sensitive and specific method for the diagnosis of nonpalpable deep-seated lesions. During 1992 in the institute of Radiology of Military Medical Academy in Belgrade 87 biopsies of abdominal and 81 biopsies of retroperitoneal organs were performed for the cytological and histopathologic analysis. Deficient material was obtained in 15.4% of the cases. A good correlation between cytologic and histopathologic findings was observed, with diagnostic concordance in 90.8%. In 9 cases with falsely positive cytological diagnosis at the first examination, the diagnosis of malignancy was later confirmed by other diagnosis procedures. Diagnostic difficulties and the significance of adequate biopsy were particularly stressed.

The indication for the biopsy was the finding of stenosis of uncertain etiology even after the endoscopy and the attempt of endoscopic or brush biopsy. The experiences with needle biopsy in 6 patients were presented in the study. The biopsy was done with the needles with diameter less than 1 mm (Chiba needle 0.6-0.95 mm), Otto-cut 0.8 mm and Vacu-cut 0.8 mm. Percutaneous cholangiography that was firstly performed, showed the site of stenosis of common bile duct distal part and simultaneously the other structures of interest for biopsy performance. The needle was guided under radioscopic control in one attempt. In that way, the precise diagnosis of pathologic process, which induced the obstruction in the early disease stage was made in all six patients. On the basis of cited results, the percutaneous needle biopsy was found to be efficient and safe method to reveal the type of lesion in this region, if necessary conditions existed. Percutaneous needle biopsy is a very valuable method, less invasive and less expensive compared to the surgical biopsies and other methods. It demonstrated reliable results in our conditions.