Treatment of Nonvariceal Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage by Transcatheter Embolization

Purpose. To investigate the sensitivity of mesenteric angiography, technical success of hemostasis, clinical success rate, and complications of transcatheter embolization for the treatment of acute nonvariceal gastrointestinal hemorrhage.Material and Methods. A retrospective review of 200 consecutive patients who underwent mesenteric arteriography for acute nonvariceal gastrointestinal hemorrhage between February 2004 and February 2011 was done.Results. Of 200 angiographic studies, 114 correctly revealed the bleeding site with mesenteric angiography. 47 (41%) patients had upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage and 67 (59%) patients had lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Out of these 114, in 112 patients (98%) technical success was achieved with immediate cessation of bleeding. 81 patients could be followed for one month. Clinical success was achieved in 72 out of these 81 patients (89%). Seven patients rebled. 2 patients developed bowel ischemia. Four patients underwent surgery for bowel ischemia or rebleeding.Conclusion. The use of therapeutic transcatheter embolization for treatment of acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage is highly successful and relatively safe with 98% technical success and 2.4% postembolization ischemia in our series. In 89% of cases it was definitive without any further intervention.

Duplex ultrasound interpretation criteria for inferior mesenteric arteries

There is no specific duplex ultrasound (DUS) criteria for the diagnosis of inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) stenosis. This study will define the optimal duplex velocity values with the best overall accuracy (OA) in detecting ≥50% stenosis of the IMAs. Eighty-five IMAs with both DUS and mesenteric arteriography were analyzed. Eighty-five IMAs were examined: 45 were normal, 12 with <50% stenosis, eight with ≥50–69% stenosis and 15 with ≥70% stenosis (including occlusion) based on angiography. The mean peak systolic velocities (PSVs) for a normal IMA, <50% and ≥50% stenosis was 105, 215 and 392 cm/second, respectively ( P < 0.0001). The most accurate PSV in detecting ≥50% stenosis was ≥250 cm/second with a sensitivity of 90%, a specificity of 96% and an OA of 95%. The most accurate end-diastolic velocity (EDV) in detecting ≥50% stenosis was ≥80% or ≥90 cm/second, with an OA of 86%, a sensitivity of 60% and a specificity of 100%. The most accurate ratio in detecting ≥50% stenosis was ≥4 or ≥4.5 with an OA of 93%.Receiver operator curves analysis showed that the PSV was not better than EDV and PSV ratio in detecting ≥50% stenosis ( P = 0.1661 and 0.4568, respectively). In conclusion, specific IMA PSVs, EDVs and IMA/aortic systolic ratios can be used in detecting significant IMA stenosis with reasonable accuracy.