[Case contribution on intraoperative cholangiography]. / Contributo casistico per la colangiografia intraoperatoria di routine.

An assessment is made of the systematic application of intraoperative cholangiography in the light of a consecutive series gathered over a period of four years. The importance of employing this technique as a routine measure is clearly demonstrated by the results. If properly performed, it greatly reduces unnecessary choledochotomy, diminishes the incidence of overlooked calculi, and leads to the detection of papillo-oddian diseases.

[Evaluation of the micro-histological technique for blood clot paraffin embedding in diagnosis by fine-needle aspiration]. / Valutazione della tecnica microistologica per inclusione in paraffina del coagulo ematico nella diagnostica degli agoaspirati con ago sottile.

Since a certain amount of blood is nearly always present in the material obtained through needle-aspiration, we have considered it helpful to take advantage of this event, in order to increase the information which is drawn from this type of investigation. We have evaluated the material obtained by means of ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration of 287 lesions of superficial and deep sites, and we have used 1) a microhistologic method, which employs formalin fixation and paraffin embedding of blood clot (while the blood acts as a support of cells and tissue fragments), and 2) the classic smear cytologic method. The percentage of diagnostic accuracy was similar using both methods, but the microhistologic method presented a few advantages, i.e. greater diagnostic reliability, and long preservation of the residual material, which can subsequently be used for further special stains. These considerations are particularly true for hepatic lesions, which are more than a half of all cases.

Myelolipoma of the adrenal gland: sonographic and CT features.

The radiologic findings in 13 patients with pathologically proved adrenal myelolipomas were reviewed. All lesions involved the right adrenal gland; they ranged from 2 to 9 cm in diameter. Sonograms showed hyperechoic tumors in 11 cases (five homogeneous, six heterogeneous). Two myelolipomas composed primarily of myeloid tissue were hypoechoic. A propagation speed artifact was seen in seven lesions, all of which were composed primarily of fat and larger than 4 cm. CT identified fat-density tissues in all lesions. Contrast-enhanced CT showed positive attenuation values in the two predominantly myeloid tumors. CT appears to be sensitive for the diagnosis of adrenal myelolipomas. However, precontrast images are required to avoid errors.