Common iliac vein stenosis: a risk factor for oral contraceptive-induced deep vein thrombosis.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to determine whether women with significant left common iliac vein stenosis who also use combined oral contraceptives (COCs) have a combined likelihood of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) greater than each independent risk. STUDY DESIGN: This was a case-control study comparing 35 women with DVT against 35 age-matched controls. Common iliac vein diameters were measured from computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Logistic regression modeling was used with adjustment for risk factors. RESULTS: DVT was associated with COC use (P = .022) and with increasing degrees of common iliac vein stenosis (P = .004). Compared with women without venous stenosis or COC use, the odds of DVT in women with a 70% venous stenosis who also use COCs was associated with a 17-fold increase (P = .01). CONCLUSION: Venous stenosis and COC use are independent risk factors for DVT. Women concurrently exposed to both have a multiplicative effect resulting in an increased risk of DVT. We recommend further studies to investigate this effect and its potential clinical implications.

Hypervascular liver lesions.

Hypervascular hepatocellular lesions include both benign and malignant etiologies. In the benign category, focal nodular hyperplasia and adenoma are typically hypervascular. In addition, some regenerative nodules in cirrhosis may be hypervascular. Malignant hypervascular primary hepatocellular lesions include hepatocellular carcinoma, fibrolamellar carcinoma, and peripheral cholangiocarcinoma. Vascular liver lesions often appear hypervascular because they tend to follow the enhancement of the blood pool; these include hemangiomas, arteriovenous malformations, angiosarcomas, and peliosis. While most gastrointestinal malignancies that metastasize to the liver will appear hypovascular on arterial and portal-venous phase imaging, certain cancers such as metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (including pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, carcinoid, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors) tend to produce hypervascular metastases due to the greater recruitment of arterial blood supply. Finally, rare hepatic lesions such as glomus tumor and inflammatory pseudotumor may have a hypervascular appearance.