[Therapeutic or palliative embolization aimed at analgesia for bone metastases of renal origin]. / L'embolisation thérapeutique ou embolisation palliative à visée antalgique des métastases osseuses d'origine rénale.

In addition to the chemotherapy, surgery and physical treatments usually employed in the treatment of bony secondaries from renal tumours, the authors propose embolization. They have performed this procedure in 4 patients, using a mixture of isobutyl-2-cyanoacrylate and lipiodol. Arteriography is performed before and after the embolization which is carried out under local anaesthesia. Disappearance or relief of pain was obtained in each case. This technique in no way changes the prognosis of the disease, but it can improve the quality of life of these patients. A review of the literature reveals that metastases other than renal have already been embolized, as have primary malignant bone tumours. The authors describe their method, the incidents associated with treatment, the contra-indications and the supposed mechanism of the analgesic action of embolization.

[Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. Non-surgical treatment of vascular stenoses and occlusions with balloon catheters (author's transl)]. / L'angioplastie transluminale percutanée. Traitement non chirurgical des sténoses et occlusions vasculaires par des sondes à ballonnet.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty was invented by Dotter, in 1964, for the treatment of atheromatous stenosis in inoperable patients. But it only became widely used since Gruntzig made it free from risk of major arterial wall damage by developing an inflatable balloon catheter. Trained vascular radiologists can now treat with little danger not only ilio-femoral, popliteal, renal, coronary or even subclavian stenoses, but also a number of local obstructions of leg arteries. The respective indications of angioplasty and vascular surgery are not yet well defined and must be discussed for each patient.