Cures for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) are rare and difficult. We report a case of pathologically confirmed complete remission of HCC induced by hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC). A 45-year-old male patient had a massive HCC in the right lobe of the liver and tumor thrombus in the right and main portal veins. He achieved a partial response after two cycles of HAIC with 5-fluorouracil (750 mg/m2) and cisplatin (25 mg/m2). After the completion of six cycles he received a curative partial hepatectomy, and histopathology revealed complete necrosis without any viable tumor cell. He was in good health at a 4-month follow-up. These results suggest that this regimen is a promising therapeutic modality for the treatment of advanced HCC with PVTT.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cisplatin ; Fluorouracil ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatectomy ; Humans ; Liver ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Portal Vein ; Thrombosis

A pathologic splenic rupture is rare, occurring primarily in a spleen affected by infective, hematological, and neoplastic disease. To the best of our knowledge, no prior reports of a pathologic splenic rupture due to scrub typhus exist. Intrasplenic pseudoaneurysms and focal infarctions are visible on an initial CT scan. Moreover, the spontaneous splenic rupture occurred a week later. We report a case of nontraumatic-splenic rupture in a patient with scrub typhus.
Aneurysm, False ; Humans ; Infarction ; Rupture ; Scrub Typhus ; Spleen ; Splenic Rupture ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne

PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of an ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy with an 18G cutting needle in patients suspected of having a pancreatic disease by analyzing the diagnostic performance and complication rate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population comprised 35 consecutive patients who underwent an ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy using a high-speed biopsy gun accompanied with an 18G cutting-type needle between May of 2001 and October of 2005. The diagnostic performance (i.e., the acquisition rate and diagnostic accuracy) and complications associated with core needle biopsies were evaluated for its efficacy and safety. RESULTS: Thirty-six sessions of ultrasound-guided core needle biopsies were performed in 35 consecutive patients. All patients, except two (serous cystadenoma and autoimmune pancreatitis) were diagnosed with various subtypes of pancreatic cancer. The acquisition rate and diagnostic accuracy were 97% (35/36) and 94% (34/36), respectively. A complication occurred only in one patient (3%), which further proved to be a delayed complicaton (i.e., needle tract implantation). CONCLUSION: According to our findings, the ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy is a viable and safe method for the dignosis of pancreatic diseases. Moreover, it enables the diagnosis of the pancreatic cancer subtype.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Large-Core Needle ; Biopsy, Needle ; Cystadenoma ; Humans ; Needles ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Diseases ; Pancreatic Neoplasms

A portal vein aneurysm is divided into two groups; an extrahepatic portal vein aneurysm and an intrahepatic portal vein aneurysm. The morphology of an aneurysm can be divided into types such as fusiform, bilobulated and saccular. A saccular aneurysm that arises from the intrahepatic portal branch is extremely rare. We report here a case of a saccular aneurysm of the intrahepatic portal branch mimicking an intrahepatic hypervascular mass, as seen on a dynamic CT scan, with the radiological findings.
Aneurysm ; Portal Vein

Splenic infarction occurs when parenchymal ischemia of the spleen is evoked by an occlusion of the arterial or venous circulation. The most common causes include infiltrative hematological disease and thromboembolic conditions, but a hypotensive splenic infarction may be a rare cause of splenic infarction. A 62-year-old female patient presented with a hypotensive splenic infarction after massive bleeding. CT showed geographic low-density lesions in the central part of the spleen on the tissue equilibrium phase of dynamic CT. Usually, a depressed scar occurs in the course of healing of a splenic infarction. However, in this case recovery of blood flow and regeneration of the infarcted spleen was seen during the follow-up CT scans. We report a case of hypotensive splenic infarction with a review of the literature.
Cicatrix ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hematologic Diseases ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Infarction ; Ischemia ; Middle Aged ; Regeneration ; Spleen ; Splenic Infarction* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

PURPOSE: We attempted to evaluate the relationship between transarteiral chemoembolization (TACE) and injury to the peribiliary plexus by evaluating the number of microvessels in the peribiliary plexus of surgical specimen. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Surgical specimens were obtained from 78 hepatocellular carcinoma patients and 22 patients with liver metastases. They were divided into 4 groups (Group 1; hepatocellular carcinoma without TACE [n=30], Group 2; hepatocellular carcinoma receiving preoperative TACE once [n=37], Group 3; hepatocellular carcinoma receiving preoperative TACE more than two times [n=11] and Group 4; metastatic carcinoma of the liver patients without a history of liver disease [n=22]). Immunohistochemical staining for factor VIII-related antigen was performed in all the specimens and the number of microvessels in the inner capillary layer and the outer venous layer of the bile duct (> 200 micrometer in diameter) was counted. RESULTS: The mean numbers of microvessels in the inner capillary layer were 4.50, 4.08, 1.64 and 2.05, and those in the outer venous layer were 25.23, 20.00, 18.36 and 12.32 for the 4 groups, respectively. The number of microvessels in group 4 was statistically fewer than that of group 1 (p<0.01). In the hepatocellular carcinoma patients, the number of microvessels was decreased as the number of TACE sessions was increased. CONCLUSION: The number of microvessels in the peribiliary plexus is increased in chronic liver disease patients. It may be from the increased portal pressure and flow stagnation in the sinusoidal and portal venules. TACE can have an effect on microvascular injury of the peibiliary plexus, and this can be a cause of bile duct necrosis and biloma.
Bile Ducts ; Capillaries ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Humans ; Liver ; Liver Diseases ; Microvessels ; Necrosis ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Portal Pressure ; Venules ; von Willebrand Factor

PURPOSE: We wanted to evaluate the usefulness of MDCT for localizing a bleeding site and for helping make a decision on further management for acute intestinal bleeding. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of 17 consecutive patients who presented with acute intestinal bleeding and who also underwent MDCT before angiography or surgery. The sensitivity of MDCT for detecting acute intestinal bleeding was assessed and compared with that of conventional angiography. RESULTS: The sensitivity of MDCT for the detection of acute intestinal bleeding was 77% (13 of 17), whereas that of angiography was 46% (6 of 13). All the bleeding points that were subsequently detected on angiography were visualized on MDCT. In three cases, the bleeding focus was detected on MDCT and not on angiography. In four cases, both MDCT and angiogphy did not detect the bleeding focus; for one of these cases, CT during SMA angiography was performed and this detected the active bleeding site. CONCLUSION: In patients with acute intestinal bleeding, MDCT is a useful image modality to detect the bleeding site and to help decide on further management before performing angiography or surgery. When tumorous lesions are detected, invasive angiography can be omitted.
Angiography ; Hemorrhage* ; Humans ; Retrospective Studies