Interstitial laser therapy of breast fibroadenomas with 6 and 8 year follow-up.

Fibroadenomas are non-cancerous breast tumors commonly seen in teenagers but also found in women at the time of first mammogram. They have distinct physical findings and imaging features but the definitive diagnosis is made by ultrasound or stereotactic guided needle biopsy. Treatment options are observation or surgical removal. Recently, removal by ultrasound-guided technique has been reported. Alternatively, the tumor may be ablated within the breast by cold (cryotherapy) or by heat (laser, radiofrequency, focused ultrasound and microwave). In this paper the laser treatment in two patients, one with bilateral fibroadenomas, with 6 and 8 year follow-up is presented.

Gastric restrictive surgery for obesity: early radiologic evaluation.

This study was undertaken to determine the optimal radiologic examination techniques for the period immediately following gastric restrictive surgery to control obesity. Review of 450 examinations performed on 275 patients who underwent varied gastric restrictive procedures indicates that accurate evaluation requires prompt filming of the first swallow of contrast material in a specific initial patient position with only minimal fluoroscopic monitoring. It was found that the optimal patient position can be predicted, before contrast material is administered, by the orientation of the staples on an abdominal radiograph. Right posterior oblique (RPO) is the optimal starting position when vertical staple lines follow gastroplasty with a lesser curvature channel. Left posterior oblique (LPO) is optimal when horizontal staple lines follow gastroplasty. LPO is usually optimal when complex or confusing staple patterns follow gastric bypass operations and revisions of previous procedures to control obesity. However, RPO is the optimal orientation when the revision procedure is a vertical gastroplasty.