OBJECTIVE To evaluate the usefulness of newly designed sheaths for gastroduodenal intervention in a gastric phantom and dogs. MATERIALS AND METHODS A regular sheath was made using a polytetrafluoroethylene tube (4 mm in diameter, 90 cm long) with a bent tip (4 cm long, 100 degree angle). For the supported type of sheath, a 5 Fr catheter was attached to a regular sheath to act as a side lumen....

a tortuous pancreatic duct: the through-the-stent and flipped “U-wire” techniques A 52-year-old man with a history of renal transplantation, immunosuppression, and valvular heart disease developed severe acute pancreatitis with a pancreatic pseudocyst. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) performed 6 weeks previously had revealed a large pancreatic duct leak requiring the place...

atic duct stents is a recognized complication that occurs in up to 5.2% of patients [1], and stent retrieval is important to prevent long-term serious ductal damage. Reported techniques to remove proximally migrated pancreatic duct stents include balloon extraction, direct snare or forceps grasp, and wire cannulation with snare capture. We report a novel technique using the SpyGlass Direct Visu...

cluder (Amplatzer septal occluder [ASO]; AGA Corporation, Plymouth, Minnesota, USA), which is commonly adopted to close cardiac septal defects [1], but was used in the present case to treat an 83-year-old patient with a benign tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF). The TEF, which was caused by the accidental ingestion of dental amalgam, was previously treated unsuccessfully by the placement of a plas...

Endoscopic therapy by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), stricture dilation, and sequential multiple stent placement is the standard treatment option for benign biliary strictures, and has favorable results [1]. Occasionally, tight biliary stricture can pose a technical challenge by not allowing the guide wire to pass. Recently, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided biliary acc...

We describe the development, design, fabrication, and testing of an optical wire to assist in the surgical removal of small lesions during breast-conserving surgery. We modify a standard localization wire by adding a 200-μm optical fiber alongside it; the resulting optical wire fit through an 18 gauge needle for insertion in the breast. The optical wire is anchored in the lesion by a radiologis...

The use of ultrasound-guided wire localisation of lesions is not well described in the orthopaedic literature. We describe a case of an impalpable schwannoma of the femoral nerve and another of sacroiliitis with an associated pelvic abscess. In both, surgical localisation was difficult. Peri-operative ultrasound-guided wire localisation was used to guide surgery and minimise tissue damage, ther...

Dear Editor: Chronic total occlusions (CTOs) of the coronary artery are commonly encountered complex lesions [1] . Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for CTO is technically challenging due to low procedural success rates [2] . Microcatheter is one of the important devices for treatment of CTO [3] . It has been widely used attributed to the excellent crossability whenever angulation and to...

but serious complication of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). Although a variety of nonoperative techniques have been used to manage the syndrome [1, 2, 3], surgical intervention is necessary to rectify the problem in most cases [4]. We report on an endoscopic method for treating the buried bumper syndrome, using a Savary dilator over a guide wire. Between January 2001 and May 2005, 12...