Over 92 % of fluoroscopically guided injections for symptomatic spondylolysis are technically successful with minimum fluoroscopic time, resulting in statistically significant pain reduction immediately post-injection and a trend in pain reduction 1-week post-injection.
Arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) and grafts (AVG) for hemodialysis access generally provide good long-term solutions for the patient with end-stage renal disease. However, complications of both AVGs and AVFs are common and require a multimodality approach to maintain their patency and continued use. Commonly encountered problems include stenosis, thrombosis, aneurysm or pseudoaneurysm formation, rupture, and infection. Each needs to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Outflow stenosis, often occurring within the cephalic arch in patients with a brachiocephalic fistula, may occur alone or be discovered in conjunction with other access problems. Pseudoaneurysm of the venous end generally arises from traumatic weakening of the vessel wall, often from repetitive venipuncture. More rare is the fracture of a previously placed stent. We present a case of stent fracture complicated by pseudoaneurysm formation with concomitant stenosis of the cephalic arch treated successfully with single-procedure placement of endovascular stent grafts.
Bizarre parosteal osteochondromatous proliferation is a rare benign condition of locally aggressive and often recurrent osteochondromatous exostosis arising from the bony cortex. We present a case of a patient who presented with this lesion in her tibia, focusing on imaging findings. Because of the lack of information on the disease's natural history, etiology, and clinical course, a multidisciplinary approach is needed for diagnosis and treatment.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The effectiveness of facet injections is unclear in the literature. Our objective was to determine the immediate and short-term efficacy of intra-articular and periarticular steroid/anesthetic injections for facet-mediated lumbar pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All outpatient fluoroscopically guided facet injections at a single institution during a 54-month period were retrospectively and independently reviewed by 2 musculoskeletal (MSK) trained radiologists. All intra-articular, all periarticular, and partial intra-/periarticular injection locations were determined. Periarticular and partial peri-/intra-articular injections were combined for analysis. Preinjection, immediate, and 1-week postinjection numeric pain scores, patient age, sex, anesthetic/steroid mixture, fluoroscopic time, and physician performing the procedure were recorded. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients (mean age, 51.1 years) had 100 procedures with 205 total facet joints injected. All intra-articular, all periarticular, and partial peri-/intra-articular injections constituted 54%, 20%, and 26% of the cases, respectively. The immediate and 1-week postprocedural change in pain was Ϫ3.7 (95% CI, Ϫ4.5 to Ϫ2.8; P Ͻ .001) and Ϫ1.4 (95% CI, Ϫ2.2 to Ϫ0.6; P ϭ .001) for the all intra-articular and Ϫ3.6 (95% CI, Ϫ4.4 to Ϫ2.9; P Ͻ .001) and Ϫ1.2 (95% CI, Ϫ1.9 to Ϫ0.4; P ϭ .002) for the combined group. Changes in immediate pain were significantly associated with the prepain level (P Ͻ .001) and patient age (P ϭ .024) but not with the anesthetic used. Analyses revealed no significant difference in pain reduction between the groups either immediately or 1 week postinjection. Intra-articular injections required less fluoroscopic time (geometric mean, 39 versus 52 seconds) (P ϭ .005). CONCLUSIONS: Intra-articular and periarticular fluoroscopically guided facet injections provide statistically significant and similar pain relief both immediately and 1 week postinjection.
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