Interventional radiology (IR) is an invasive speciality with the potential for complications as with other invasive specialities. The World Health Organization (WHO) produced a surgical safety checklist to decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with surgery. The Cardiovascular and Interventional Society of Europe (CIRSE) set up a task force to produce a checklist for IR. Use of the checklist will, we hope, reduce the incidence of complications after IR procedures. It has been modified from the WHO surgical safety checklist and the RAD PASS from Holland.

The palliative treatment of malignant biliary tract obstructions using a metal stent is now an established procedure in clinical practice. An endoscopic, transpapillary approach is the first choice for implantation of the stent. If it is not possible to insert the stent in this way, which is often the case with high obstructions, a percutaneous approach is chosen. It appears to be beneficial to use a metal stent with a fine-meshed net such as, for example, the Wall stent. Metal stents have a higher patency rate than plastic stents so that the primary choice of a metal stent is justified. Coated stents have not yet shown any major advantages. In cases of stent occlusion, the coaxial implantation of a plastic stent seems to be the most efficient. In cases of benign biliary tract stenoses, a metal stent should only be implanted after a careful evaluation of all possible surgical modalities and exploitation of balloon dilatation and long-term splinting methods.

No abstract

Mukofalk can be used as a negative oral contrast medium in PET/CT studies.

A case of congenital arterioportal fistulas in a girl of 4 months of age is presented. Clinical signs of necrotising enteritis developed due to portal hypertension. The diagnosis was established via Doppler-duplex ultrasound showing a pulse-synchronous bidirectional flow pattern in the portal vein and its major branches. The diagnosis was confirmed by angiography.