Journal of vascular and interventional radiology : JVIR
-
J Vasc Interv Radiol · Nov 1996
ReviewPulmonary arteriovenous malformations: diagnosis and transcatheter embolotherapy.
The recent long-term studies from England, France, and the Netherlands, as well as our own, indicate that transcatheter embolotherapy is definitive treatment for PAVM. More recently, Puskas et al have questioned transcatheter embolotherapy as a primary treatment for patients with PAVM (4,56). Their opinion was based on two recurrences among five patients treated with transcatheter embolotherapy. ⋯ Patients with PAVMs require follow-up at 1 month and 1 year. While observations documenting serial growth of small PAVMs are somewhat limited, there is published evidence to support their growth with time (35,36). Because of these reports and our unpublished observations, we believe that patients with treated PAVM need long-term follow-up every 5 years to detect growth of small PAVMs that will ultimately reach a size where they may cause paradoxical embolization and stroke (1).
-
The development of small-diameter flexible endoscopes has expanded the role of biliary endoscopy to include percutaneous interventions. Percutaneous biliary endoscopy is a technique that is easily learned. ⋯ Therefore, the initial capital costs associated with flexible biliary endoscopy are minimal. Percutaneous biliary endoscopy in the interventional radiology suite is an ideal arrangement to facilitate a wide variety of biliary diagnostic and interventional procedures.