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CT scan- and ultrasound-guided percutaneous drainage of pyogenic liver abscesses were safe and effective methods of treatment. The right lobe of the liver was involved in 95% of cases. Although no one species predominated, gram-negative bacteria were the most common organism cultured, and 60% of the abscesses were polymicrobial. There was no in-house mortality in this review.

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Partial splenic embolization (PSE) has been demonstrated to be an effective alternative to splenectomy for patients with hypersplenism. Splenectomy in these patients can be associated with an increased risk of perioperative complications, overwhelming post-splenectomy sepsis (OPSS) and mortality. Partial splenic embolization has the advantages of non- operative intervention and resolution of the complications of hypersplenism. We report the use of this technique in patients with portal hypertension and hypersplenism awaiting liver transplant and patients that have undergone othotopic liver transplantation (OLTx) with persistent hypersplenism post-transplant. Six patients--three awaiting liver transplantation and three patients with persistent hypersplenism status post-OLTx--were treated during the period of 1993-99 at the LSUHSC/Willis Knighton Regional Transplant Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three patients were male and three female. All six patients had concomitant thrombocytopenia and neutropenia with platelet counts below 50,000. Patients underwent selective arterial catheterization and embolization via a percutaneous approach with Cook microcoils or PVA particles. The lower pole of the spleen was selectively embolized in all patients to achieve a 30-50% reduction in flow as determined by angiography. Patients were followed with routine computed tomography (CT) scans, platelet and WBC counts for a mean of 26 months in the pre-transplant and 37 months in the post-transplant group. In both groups, all patients had persistent resolution of thrombocytopenia and neutropenia after embolization. In the post-transplant group, one patient had persistent splenomegaly and required splenectomy for pain control. No procedure-related complications occurred in any patient. In this limited review, PSE appears to be a safe and effective treatment of persistent hypersplenism in patients with portal hypertension and those who have undergone OLTx.

A revolutionary technique for snapshot imaging spectropolarimetry has been developed because of the recent availability of large focal plane arrays and fast computers. The technique involves the combination of spectropolarimetry with computed tomography imaging spectrometry (CTIS). This spectropolarimeter uses a modulation to encode the spectral dependence of all four Stokes parameters in a single spectrum. CTIS is a snapshot imaging spectrometry method in which both spatial and spectral information is reconstructed using the inverse mathematical technique of medical computed tomography. The combination of these techniques provides the basis for a snapshot imaging complete Stokes spectropolarimeter that can be implemented with no moving parts. This technique is being applied to the SWIR wavelength region to find targets that are camouflaged.