The vascular anatomy of the ligaments of the liver: gross anatomy, imaging and clinical applications.

The vessels that communicate between the liver and adjacent structures require bridges between them. The bridges comprise the ligaments of the liver as follows: the falciform ligament, right and left coronary ligaments, lesser omentum including the hepatogastric ligament and hepatoduodenal ligament. Each ligament has specific communications between the intrahepatic and extrahapetic vessels. The venous communications called as the portosystemic shunt would become apparent in patients with portal hypertension, intrahepatic portal vein thrombosis and superior vena cava syndrome. The location of the venous communication is related to the pseudolesion or focal enhancement of the liver demonstrated on the CT scan. The arterial communications called collateral vascularization would become apparent in patients with hepatic artery occlusion, especially post-transhepatic arterial embolization, or in patients with the hepatic tumour abutting diaphragm. The knowledge of these collateral arteries is necessary to accomplish the effective transarterial embolization for the hepatic tumours. We reviewed the vessels in these ligaments using contrast-enhanced CT scans and angiography and discussed the clinical applications. Cadaver dissection photos were included as supplementary images for readers to recognize the actual spatial anatomy of the vessel in each ligament.

Air embolism and needle track implantation complicating CT-guided percutaneous thoracic biopsy: single-institution experience.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to present the details and incidence of air embolism and needle track implantation in patients who underwent percutaneous CT-guided thoracic biopsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 1,400 percutaneous CT-guided thoracic biopsies during the period from August 1993 to August 2008. A case with air embolism was considered to be a patient with hypotension during or after biopsy and with an air embolism confirmed on CT. A needle track implantation was considered to be a mass in the needle track on the postbiopsy follow-up CT. RESULTS: There were three (0.21%) cases of air embolism. Air embolisms were confirmed in the left ventricle, coronary artery, ascending aorta, and pulmonary vein. The pulmonary venous wall was pathologically identified in one case. Although there were no fatalities, two patients needed resuscitation. Left hemiplegia occurred in one case, but it gradually disappeared. There were four (0.56%) cases of needle track implantation in 713 pathologically proven malignant thoracic biopsy cases with follow-up CT scans. Two were primary lung cancer and the others were lung metastasis (renal cell carcinoma and osteosarcoma). Implantation was found 4-7 months (mean, 5.6 months) after the biopsy, and size was 2.5-5.6 cm (mean, 3.5 cm). CONCLUSION: The incidence of air embolism with clinical symptoms and needle track implantation complicating percutaneous thoracic biopsy is more frequent than the previously reported rate.

Anatomical variants of the lateral femoral circumflex artery: an angiographic study.

The descending branch of the lateral femoral circumflex artery (LFCA) has found recent use as a new arterial graft for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Anatomical variants of the LFCA were assessed on femoral arteriograms obtained before CABG in 131 adult patients. The most common pattern, found in 78.6% of extremities, consisted of the LFCA arising from the deep femoral artery, and the arterial graft was selected from this pattern in 92.3% of patients in whom the descending branch of the LFCA was used for CABG.

CT-guided transthoracic core biopsy for pulmonary tuberculosis: diagnostic value of the histopathological findings in the specimen.

We evaluated the value of CT-guided transthoracic core biopsy for the diagnosis of mycobacterial pulmonary nodules. The 30 subjects in this study had pulmonary nodules that had been either diagnosed histopathologically as tuberculosis or were suspected as tuberculosis based on a specimen obtained by CT-guided transthoracic core biopsy. The histopathological findings, the existence of acid-fast bacilli in the biopsy specimens, and the clinical course of the patients after the biopsy were reviewed retrospectively. Two of the three histological findings for tuberculosis that included epithelioid cells, multinucleated giant cells and caseous necrosis were observed in 21 of the nodules which were therefore diagnosed as histological tuberculosis. Six of these 21 nodules were positive for acid-fast bacilli, confirming the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Thirteen of the 21 nodules did not contain acid-fast bacilli but decreased in size in response to antituberculous treatment and were therefore diagnosed as clinical tuberculosis. Seven nodules with only caseous necrosis were diagnosed as suspected tuberculosis, with a final diagnosis of tuberculosis being made in 4 of the nodules and a diagnosis of old tuberculosis in 2 nodules. Two nodules with only multinucleated giant cells were diagnosed as suspected tuberculosis with 1 of these nodules being diagnosed finally as tuberculosis and the other nodule as a nonspecific granuloma. When any two of the three following histopathological findings--epithelioid cells, multinucleated giant cells or caseous necrosis--are observed in a specimen obtained by CT-guided transthoracic core biopsy, the diagnosis of tuberculosis can be established without the detection of acid-fast bacilli or Mycobacterium tuberculosis.