Objective To report a simple, minimally invasive method of palliative drainage for symptomatic malignant ascites, in order to avoid repeated trips to hospital for paracentesis.Methods Since July 2000, 57 patients with symptomatic, large volume refractory ascites underwent percutaneous placement of Arrow catheter through a modified Seldinger technique with straight coaxial needles. There were 41 men and 16 women Age ranged from 34～83 years old with an average of 63, including 28 patients of primary liver cancer, 17 metastatic liver cancer, 5 Budd Charri syndrom, 4 pancreatic cancer, 2 peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer and one with overian cancer. All patients underwent ascites drainage with Arrow catheter accompanied by medical treatment. Results The Arrow catheter had detained for 1 19 days with an average of 5.7 days. Draining amount of ascites was 800 12 000 ml, average 7 200 ml. No complication of sepsis, peritonitis, or significant hypotension after catheter placement but with 7 cases of persistent leakage around the catheter, 2 accidentally detached cathere, 2 cases of unfluent drainage and one case of inferior epigastric blood vessel injury.Conclusions Percutaneous placement of Arrow catheter using a modified Seldinger technique with coaxial needles is a safe, simple, and effective method for palliative drainage of malignant ascites that improves patients life quality.

Objective To investigate the safety,effectiveness and prognosis of percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) combined with synchronous transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) to treat of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) with liver metastases (LMs).Methods This retrospective study included 19 cases of GEP-NENs with LMs patients who received percutaneous MWA combined with synchronous TACE treatment from 2013 to 2016.The mRECIST standard was selected to assess the curative effect.SPSS 21.0 software was applied in the statistical analysis of overall survival (OS),progression-free survival (PFS) and factors related to prognosis.Results All patients were capable of curative effect evaluation,including 1 case of complete remission (CR),3 cases of partial remission (PR),7 cases of progressive disease (PD) and 8 cases of stable disease (SD) respectively accounting for 5 ％,16 ％,37 ％,42 ％,which exhibited 21％ of response rate (RR) and 63％ disease control rate (DCR).In the present study,the median OS and median PFS was respectively 25 months and 34 months,and the one-year survival and three-year survival was respectively 95％ and 84％.Serum CA199,the WHO classification of LMs and the tumor burden of LMs were the major risk factors of prognosis through single factor analysis of survival,which showed that G3 of the WHO classification of LMs predicted a poor OS (P＜0.05) and tumor burden of LMs was negatively related to PFS (P＜0.05).It was obviously observed that serum CgA was decreased by the therapy of percutaneous MWA with synchronous TACEfor GEP-NENs (P＜0.05).Conclusions Percutaneous MWA combined with synchronous TACE is a safe and effective method to treat GEP-NENs with LMs.

Objective To evaluated the clinical significance of embolization of arterio-portal venous shunt (APVS) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with main portal vein tumor thrombus (MPVTT) treated by transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and portal vein stenting. Methods Twenty-six HCC patients with MPVTT and marked APVS, who were treated with TACE and portal vein stenting, were enrolled in this study. Portal vein stenting was performed via percutaneous transhepatic approach, which was followed by the embolization of the feeding arteries of APVS by using suitable embolic agents. The portal vein pressure levels were separately measured before, after portal vein stenting and after APVS embolization. The results were statistically analyzed. Results Both the portal vein stenting and APVS embolization were successfully accomplished in all the 26 patients. Hepatic angiography and portal venography performed before portal vein stenting revealed bidirectional portal flow in 16 cases and hepatofugal portal flow in 10 cases. Among the 16 patients with bidirectional portal flow, remarkable improvement of portal vein to liver blood flow after portal vein stenting was seen in 14, and obvious recovery of main portal vein to liver blood flow after APVS embolization in 2. Obvious recovery of main portal vein to liver blood flow after APVS embolization was also demonstrated in 10 cases with hepatofugal portal flow. The portal vein pressure determined before, after portal vein stenting and after APVS embolization was (50.1±6.3) cmH2O,(43.5± 7.5) cmH2O and (36.9 ±8.2) cmH2O respectively. After portal vein stenting the portal vein pressure was significantly decreased when compared with the preoperative pressure, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05); after APVS embolization the portal vein pressure was further decreased (P<0.05). Conclusion For HCC patients with MPVTT and marked APVS, portal vein stenting can effectively restore the portal blood flow and reduce the portal vein pressure; and embolization of APVS can further reduce the pressure of portal vein, thus the bidirectional portal flow or hepatofugal portal flow will return to normal hepatopetal flow.

Objective To discuss the technical skill of super-selective catheterization for “one-way valve occlusion” of the common hepatic artery during transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). Methods A total of 128 patients with “one-way valve occlusion”of the common hepatic artery were enrolled in this study, who were admitted to authors’ department to receive TACE during the period from 2000 to 2011. The lesions included hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 110), cholangiocellular carcinoma (n = 3) and hepatic metastasis (n=15). “One-way valve occlusion”of the common hepatic artery occurred in 90 patients (70.3%, 90/128) after 2-5 times of TACE had been carried out, and in the other 38 patients (29.7%, 39/128) the “one- way valve occlusion” of the common hepatic artery was recognized at the initial TACE procedure. Super-selective hepatic catheterization was performed via the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) approach or celiac artery (CA) approach using coaxial micro-catheter catheterization technique. The success rate and fluoroscopy time of super-selective catheterization were recorded, and the results were compared between the two approaches. Results A total of 337 times of hepatic super-selection catheterization were performed in 128 patients, with a mean of 2.6 times for each case. The success rate was 100%. Of the 337 procedures, the catheterization was via CA approach in 148 (43.9%, 148/337) and via SMA approach in 189 (56.1%, 189/337). The mean fluoroscopy time in CA approach group was 3.2 minutes(ranged 1-6 minutes), and in SMA group was 15.3 minutes(ranged 5-40 minutes). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion Super- selective hepatic catheterization for “one-way valve occlusion” of the common hepatic artery can be achieved through SMA approach or CA approach by using coaxial micro-catheter catheterization. Compared with SMA approach, the technique of hepatic catheterization through CA approach is much simpler and the fluoroscopy time is significantly shorter.

Objective To investigate the clinical features,related risk factors,the efficacy and safety of clinical management about liver abscess formation occurring after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for metastatic liver cancer.Methods Among 1812 patients with metastatic liver tumors who were receiving TACE,23 patients developed liver abscess.The clinical features and risk factors for abscess formation were retrospectively analyzed.The curative effects and safety of percutaneous puncture cavity drainage (PCD),or combined with percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography and drainage (PTCD) were analyzed.Results The incidence of liver abscess after TACE for metastatic liver tumors was 1.3％ (23/1812).Postoperative high fever,chill,elevated white blood cell count and increased neutrophil proportion were the main clinical features of liver abscess.The mean time before the diagnosis of liver abscess was confirmed was (11.3±3.7) days after TACE.The hepatic metastatic malignancy originated from the malignant tumor of digestive tract was seen in 73.9％ of patients,18 patients (78.3％) had a history of gastroenteric surgery,and 12 patients (52.2％) had a history of diabetes mellitus.The number of hepatic metastatic lesions was more than 3 in 19 patients (82.6％).After the formation of liver abscess,the liver functions became worse in all patients (P=0.024).In 19 patients (82.6％),angiography showed that the metastases were hypovascular lesions.Blood and pus cultures revealed that E.coli was the main infectious bacteria of liver abscess.The mean time of using anti-infective drugs before hepatic abscess developed liquefaction was (10.4±3.3) days,and the mean time of abscess liquefaction was (15.9±3.7) days.The mean value of the maximum diameters of abscesses was (9.2±2.0) cm.PCD was employed in all patients,the average times of PCD procedure was (3.7±1.7) times.PCD followed by PTCD was performed in 7 patients as they had biloma associated with obstructive jaundice.The average drainage time for liver abscess was (3.1 ±1.7) months.No infectious peritonitis,tumor rupture,or tumor implantation at puncture point was observed.The median survival time of 23 patients with liver abscess was (8.0±0.7) months.The median survival time in patients who received PCD procedure only was (9.0±1.0) months,while it was (5.0±0.7) months in patients who received PCD together with PTCD,and statistically significant difference in the median survival time existed between the above two groups (P=0.041).Conclusion The risk factors of liver abscess formation after TACE in patients with metastatic liver tumors include the site of primary tumor and gastrointestinal surgery.Diabetes may be one of the risk factors.Clinically,the lesions of liver abscess are usually multiple and they often occur in hypovascular lesions with central necrosis,The nain infectious bacteria are from digestive tract,and biloma is easy to develop.Active and effective antibiotic treatment plus puncture drainage of abscess cavity,or combined with PTCD,are effective treatment measures for this kind of liver abscess.