Endovenous obliteration may offer advantages over the conventional stripping operation in terms of reduced postoperative pain, shorter sick leaves, and faster return to normal activities, and it appears to be cost-saving for society, especially among employed patients. Because the procedure is also associated with shorter convalescence, this new method may potentially replace conventional varicose vein surgery.

Arterial embolization is of significant value in treating obstetric hemorrhage. Prophylactic insertion of balloon catheters before cesarean section seems to be a safe and effective method in controlling anticipated bleeding. In patients with persistent bleeding following cesarean section and hysterectomy, embolization could be a primary procedure before re-surgery.

The purpose of this study was to report a single hospital's experience of endovascular treatment of patients with retroperitoneal hemorrhage (RPH) secondary to anticoagulant treatment. Ten consecutive patients treated in an intensive care unit and needing blood transfusions due to RPH secondary to anticoagulation were referred for digital subtraction angiography (DSA) to detect the bleeding site(s) and to evaluate the possibilities of treating them by transcatheter embolization. DSA revealed bleeding site(s) in all 10 patients: 1 lumbar artery in 4 patients, 1 branch of internal iliac artery in 3 patients and multiple bleeding sites in 3 patients. Embolization could be performed in 9 of them. Coils, gelatin and/or polyvinyl alcohol were used as embolic agents. Bleeding stopped or markedly decreased after embolization in 8 of the 9 (89%) patients. Four patients were operated on prior to embolization, but surgery failed to control the bleeding in any of these cases. Abdominal compartment syndrome requiring surgical or radiological intervention after embolization developed in 5 patients. One patient died, and 2 had sequelae due to RPH. All 7 patients whose bleeding stopped after embolization had a good clinical outcome. Embolization seems to be an effective and safe method to control the bleeding in patients with RPH secondary to anticoagulant treatment when conservative treatment is insufficient.

The purpose of this study was to report our experience in treating type II endoleaks after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms. Two hundred eighteen patients underwent EVAR with a Zenith stent-graft from January 2000 to December 2005. During a follow-up period of 4.5 + or - 2.3 years, solely type II endoleak was detected in 47 patients (22%), and 14 of them underwent secondary interventions to correct this condition. Ten patients had transarterial embolization, and four patients had translumbar/transabdominal embolization. The embolization materials used were coils, thrombin, gelatin, Onyx (ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer), and glue. Disappearance of the endoleak without enlargement of the aneurysm sac after the first secondary intervention was achieved in only five of these patients (5/13). One patient without surveillance imaging was excluded from analyses of clinical success. After additional interventions in four patients and the spontaneous disappearance of type II endoleak in two patients, overall clinical success was achieved in eight patients (8/12). One patient did not have surveillance imaging after the second secondary intervention. Clinical success after the first secondary intervention was achieved in two patients (2/9) in the transarterial embolization group and three patients (3/4) in the translumbar embolization group. The results of secondary interventions for type II endoleak are unsatisfactory. Although the small number of patients included in this study prevents reliable comparisons between groups, the results seem to favor direct translumbar embolization in comparison to transarterial embolization.

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