Interventional Radiology in Splenic Trauma: If Not Now, Then When?

Introduction: The treatment of blunt splenic injuries showed major evolutionary changes, from fundamental/ basic splenectomy to nonoperative and endovascular treatment, "catheter surgery". Currently, in Trauma Centers, splenic angioembolization is considered the first-line intervention in trauma. This article presents the Bucharest Emergency Clinical Hospital experience in the use of splenic angioembolization, a therapeutic solution in accordance with contemporary practice and literature. Methods: This retrospective study includes patients with splenic trauma by blunt mechanism, in which diagnostic / therapeutic angiography was performed, hospitalized in the Clinical Emergency Hospital Bucharest between January 2006 and December 2019. The main endpoints of the study were: post-traumatic mortality, the need for surgery (laparoscopic/classic) to resolve splenic bleeding, the number of days of hospitalization, the need for hospitalization for more than 1 day in the intensive care unit, the day when the platelet count began to increase, the evolution of laboratory parameters (hospitalization, preangiography, postangiography/embolization, discharge). A secondary endpoint of the study was the frequency of complications that did not require surgery. Results: During the mentioned period in 64 patients treated nonoperatively, diagnostic angiography was performed (27 cases, group B) or therapeutic angiography (37 cases, group A). 26.56% of cases were 55 years old (55-81 years old), the predominance of males being obvious (62.5%). The mean value of the ISS was 21.7 +- 10.4, and 71.87% of cases presented ISS 16. The mean value of the ISS was 21.7 +- 10.4, and 71.87% of cases presented ISS 16. The degree of splenic injury (American Association for the Surgery of Trauma-Organ Injury Scale) presented the mean value 2.95. The degree of splenic lesion was statistically significantly more severe in group A (p 0.001) and preangiography hemoglobin values were significantly lower compared to hospitalization values (p 0.001) indicating the persistence of hemorrhage. Procedural failures occurred in 4.68% of cases, with zero mortality. Conclusions: Splenic interventional radiology is a safe, effective and rational procedure. The development of therapeutic protocols is necessary to allow maximum use of this procedure.

Highlighted Steps of the Management Algorithm in Acute Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding - Case Reports and Literature Review.

Acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding is a major problem worldwide, being a rare and life threatening condition, with a mortality rate situated between 2 and 4%. Acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding is solvent for 1 - 2% of the entire hospital emergencies, 15% presenting as massive bleeding and up to 5% requiring surgery. Lower gastrointestinal bleeding can be classified depending on their location in the small or large intestine. The small bowel is the rarest site of lower gastrointestinal bleeding, at the same time being the commonest cause of obscure bleeding. 5% of total lower GI bleeding appears in the small bowel. When endoscopic therapy associated with medical treatment are insufficient, endovascular intervention can be lifesaving. Unfortunately in some rare cases of acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding with hemo-dynamic instability and the angiography performed being unable to locate the source of bleeding, the last therapeutic resource remains surgery. In the following we exemplify two cases of acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding which were resolved in different ways, followed by a thorough description of the different types of available treatment and finally, in the conclusions, we systematize the most important stages of the management algorithm in acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding.

Endovascular treatment of primary hepatic tumours.

First transcatheter embolization of hepatic artery has been materializing in 1974, in France, for unresectable hepatic tumours. Then, this treatment has become use enough in many countries, especially in Japan, where primary hepatic tumours are very frequent. In this article, we present procedures of interventional endovascular treatment for primary hepatic tumours: chemoembolization, intra-arterial chemotherapy. The study comprises patients with primary hepatic tumours investigated by hepatic-ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT or MRI. DSA-hepatic angiography is very important to verify the accessory hepatic supply. It has been performed selective catheterization of right/left hepatic branches followed by cytostatics injection. Most of the patients have benefit by hepatic chemoembolization (cytostatics, Lipiodol and embolic materials). The selective intra-arterial chemotherapy (cytostatics without Lipiodol) was performing in cases with contraindications for Lipiodol or embolic materials injection (cirrhosis-Child C, thrombosis of portal vein, hepatic insufficiency). For treatment of primary hepatic tumours we use 5-F-Uracil, Farmarubicin and Mytomicin C. Less numbers of the reservoirs were placed because financial causes. Chemoembolization was better than procedures without Lipiodol or embolic materials. Lipiodol reached in tumoural tissue and the distribution of Lipiodol harmonises with degree of vascularisation. After the chemoembolization procedure, the diameter of tumours decreased gradually depending on the size of tumour. Effective alternative for unresectable primary hepatic tumours (big size, hepatic dysfunction, and other surgical risk factors) is endovascular interventional treatment.