The Usefulness of C-arm CBCT-guided Abscess Drainage with A Flat-panel Detector

Abstract

: Herein we report our experience with a C-arm cone beam computed tomography CBCT -guided abscess drainage procedure. We retrospectively examined the medical records and imaging results of patients whose abscesses were drained between 2005 and 2010 employing this system. We analyzed the technical success rate and incidence of procedure-related complications. Percutaneous abscess drainage using C-arm CBCT was performed using a atpanel detector digital subtraction angiography DSA system on 104 lesions in 97 patients 55 men, 42 women with a mean age of 64.7 30-88 years. The drainage procedure was performed twice in 6 patients and 3 times in 2 patients, and 6 patients received 2 or more punctures at the same time. The technical success rate with this procedure was 98.1 102 of 104 lesions . Placement of the drainage tube was abandoned in 2 patients due to dif culty in inserting a wire into the abscess cavity in 1 case and difficulty looping the wire in the other. The incidence of procedure-related complications was 3.85 4 of 104 lesions . Our retrospective study and review of the relevant literature revealed that the C-arm CBCT-guided abscess drainage procedure examined was generally safe for patient use, showed a high technical success rate and low incidence of procedure-related complications, and was useful for abscesses that were inaccessible using other instruments. Although C-arm CBCT has limited contrast resolution, this disadvantage is easily overcome by comparing images with those obtained using other modalities.