Up to now, the studies in the world have demonstrated that CT-guided percutaneous neurolytic celiac plexus block (PNCPB) is an invaluable therapeutic modality in the treatment of refractory abdominal pain caused by cancer. Its efficacy of pain relief varied in reported studies. The main technical considerations which would affect the analgesic effects on abdominal pain included the patients' cooperation, needle entry approaches, combined use of blocking approaches, localization of the target area, dosage of the blocker, and so on. A success of PNCPB depends greatly on close cooperation with patients. The patient should be educated about the purpose and steps of the procedure, and trained of breathing in and breathing hold. The needle entry can be divided into the posterior approach and the anterior approach. The former one is the most commonly used in clinical practice, but the latter one is rarely used except in the cases that the posterior approach becomes technically difficult. Bilateral multiple blocking of celiac plexus and splanchnic nerves is often required to achieve optimal analgesia. The needle entry site, insertion course, and depth should be preselected and simulated on CT monitor prior to the procedure in order to ensure an accurate and safe celiac plexus block. The magnitude of analgesic effect is closely related to the degree of degeneration and necrosis of the celiac plexus. Maximally filling with blocker in the retropancreatic space is an indication of sufficient blocking. We also provided an overview of indications and contraindications, preoperative preparations, complications and its treatment of PNCPB.

SUMMARY This paper presents behaviors of semi‐precast beams made of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) including flexural and shear performance. Specially, cracking patterns, deflections and bearing capacities of U‐typed and C‐typed beams are intensively examined, analyzed and discussed. In the study of flexural behavior, a main parameter is reinforcement ratio, whereas the shear span‐to‐depth ratio and types of precast section are parameters in the investigation of shear behavior. First, the flexural tests show that the bearing capacity and stiffness of RAC beams are increased with the increase of reinforcement ratio, whereas the ductility is decreased with the reinforcement ratio; the plane section assumption that applies to semi‐precast beam with RAC is possible. Second, the shear tests show that the shear capacity of RAC semi‐precast beam increases with the decrease of the shear span‐to‐depth ratio. The types of semi‐precast section have no significant influence on performances of semi‐precast beam. However, the testing phenomenon of the interface between the precast and cast‐in situ parts is presented in this study and needs further study. Finally, both flexural and shear test results reveal that the formulas in the current Chinese technical code for RAC are feasible for design. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.