Faculty Bibliography

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:Y radioembolization. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:for women. Survival at 90 days, 180 days, 1 year, and 3 years following initial treatment was assessed using medical and public obituary records. RESULTS:Sarcopenia was identified in 30% (25/82) of patients. Death was reported for 49% (32/65) of males and 71% (8/17) of females (mean follow-up 19.6 months, range 21 days-58 months). Patients with sarcopenia were found to have increased mortality at 180 days (31.8% vs. 8.9%) and 1 year (68.2% vs. 21.2%). Sarcopenia was an independent predictor of mortality adjusted for BCLC stage and sub-analysis demonstrated that sarcopenia independently predicted increased mortality for patients with BCLC stage B disease. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Y radioembolization. Sarcopenia was an independent predictor of survival adjusted for BCLC stage with significant deviation in the survival curves of BCLC stage B patients with and without sarcopenia.

BACKGROUND:There is a lack of consensus in optimal management of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with cirrhosis. The purpose of this study is to compare the safety and thrombosis burden change for cirrhotic patients with non-tumoral PVT managed by transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) only, anticoagulation only, or no treatment. METHODS:This single-center retrospective study evaluated 52 patients with cirrhosis and non-tumoral PVT managed by TIPS only (14), anticoagulation only (11), or no treatment (27). The demographic, clinical, and imaging data for patients were collected. The portomesenteric thrombosis burden and liver function tests at early follow-up (6-9 months) and late follow-up (9-16 months) were compared to the baseline. Adverse events including bleeding and encephalopathy were recorded. RESULTS:= 0.007). No bleeding complications attributable to anticoagulation were observed. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:TIPS decreased portomesenteric thrombus burden compared to anticoagulation or no treatment for cirrhotic patients with PVT. Both TIPS and anticoagulation were safe therapies.

Insulinomas are the most common functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. Most insulinomas can be localized non-invasively with cross-sectional and nuclear imaging. Selective arterial calcium stimulation and hepatic venous sampling is an effective and safe minimally-invasive procedure for insulinoma localization that may be utilized when non-invasive techniques are inconclusive. The procedure's technical success and proper interpretation of its results is dependent on the interventional radiologist's knowledge of normal and variant pancreatic arterial perfusion. Accurate pre-operative localization aids in successful surgical resection. Technical and anatomic considerations of insulinoma localization with selective arterial calcium stimulation and hepatic venous sampling are reviewed.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:To assess the safety and effectiveness of yttrium-90 radioembolization and checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy within a short interval for the treatment of unresectable hepatic metastases. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:This single-institution retrospective study included 22 patients (12 men; median age, 65 y ± 11) with unresectable hepatic metastases and preserved functional status (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0/1) who received immunotherapy and radioembolization within a 15-month period (median, 63.5 d; interquartile range, 19.7-178.2 d) from February 2013 to March 2018. Primary malignancies were uveal melanoma (12 of 22; 54.5%), soft tissue sarcoma (3; 13.6%), cutaneous melanoma (3; 14%), and others (4; 18.2%). Studies were reviewed to March 2019 to assess Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events grade 3/4 toxicities, disease progression, and death. RESULTS:There were no grade 4 toxicities within 6 mo of radioembolization. Grade 3 hepatobiliary toxicities occurred in 3 patients (13.6%) within 6 months, 2 from rapid disease progression and 1 from a biliary stricture. Two patients (9.1%) experienced clinical toxicities, including grade 4 colitis at 6 months and hepatic abscess at 3 months. Median overall survival (OS) from first radioembolization was 20 mo (95% confidence interval [CI], 12.5-27.5 mo), and median OS from first immunotherapy was 23 months (95% CI, 15.9-30.1 mo). Within the uveal melanoma subgroup, the median OS from first radioembolization was 17.0 months (95% CI, 14.2-19.8 mo). Median time to progression was 7.8 months (95% CI, 3.3-12.2 mo), and median progression-free survival was 7.8 mo (95% CI, 3.1-12.4 mo). CONCLUSIONS:Checkpoint immunotherapy around the time of radioembolization is safe, with a low incidence of toxicity independent of primary malignancy.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) to anticoagulation and no treatment in cirrhotic patients with portal vein thrombosis (PVT). Materials: This single-center retrospective study evaluated 64 consecutive cirrhotic patients with imaging diagnosis of PVT between November 2005 and July 2019. 15 patients were excluded due to lack of adequate follow-up imaging. Of the remaining 49 patients, 11 (22%) were female. The median age was 61.5 (range, 24-80) years. 9 (18%) patients were treated with TIPS, 12 (24%) with anticoagulation, and 28 (57%) received no treatment. Demographic and clinical data were collected by reviewing the electronic medical record. PVT was evaluated using contrast-enhanced CT or MRI. Thrombus burden in the main portal (MPV), superior mesenteric (SMV), and splenic (SV) vein was graded as follows: grade 1, < 25%; grade 2, 26-50%; grade 3, 51-75%; and grade 4, > 75% of the luminal diameter. Yerdel scoring system was also used to evaluate the extent of portomesenteric thrombus. Thrombus burden at 6 and 12 months was compared to baseline imaging. Patient survival was estimated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. The extent of baseline thrombus was compared using Kruskal-Wallis test. Treatment response was analyzed by chi square test.
Result(s): There was no statistically significant difference in baseline thrombus burden between the 3 groups (MPV, P = 0.345; SMV, P = 0.244; SV, P = 0.541; Yerdel grade, P = 0.230). At 6 months, 87.5%, 58.3%, and 4.8% patients demonstrated complete or partial recanalization in the TIPS, anticoagulation, and no treatment groups respectively (TIPS/no treatment, P <0.0001; TIPS/anticoagulation, P = 0.163). At 12 months, 100%, 57.1%, 11.1% patients demonstrated complete or partial recanalization in the TIPS, anticoagulation, and no treatment groups respectively (TIPS/no treatment, P <0.0001; TIPS/ anticoagulation, P = 0.051). The overall survival between the 3 groups was not significantly different (P = 0.788) Conclusion(s): TIPS has significantly higher recanalization rate compared to no treatment and has a trend towards higher recanalization rate than that of anticoagulation at 6 and 12 months in cirrhotic patients with PVT.

Purpose: We sought to quantify the total and relative contributions of evaluation and management (E&M), diagnostic imaging, and procedural services to total revenue and work relative value units (wRVU) within an academic interventional prostate artery embolization service line. Additionally, we evaluated the fluctuations in revenue dependent on hospital compared to office-based lab (OBL) procedural setting. Materials: We performed a retrospective review of all prostate artery embolization patients at a single institution with an index procedure between May 2018 and August 2019. Patient charts were reviewed to capture pre- and postprocedural revenue. Patient demographics and current procedural terminology (CPT) codes associated with each IR encounter were collected. The wRVU and total revenue were estimated using the national payment reported in the 2019 Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule database.
Result(s): A total of 18 patients (all male, mean age 73.7 years) underwent a total of 20 prostate artery embolization, most often for treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms related to benign prostatic hypertrophy (94.4%). Of the 27 office visits generated, most were level 3 (10, 37.0%), 4 (12, 44.4%), or 5 (5, 18.5%). Mean office visit length was 36.1 min +/- 14.6 min. A total of 16 imaging studies were generated. The service line generated a total of 611.48 wRVU from procedures (529.49, 86.6%), office visits (51.71, 8.5%), and imaging (30.28, 5.0%). The total corresponding revenue was $116,622.53, of which $110,201.44 (94.5%) was from procedures, $2870.51 (2.5%) was from imaging, and $3550.57 (3.0%) was from office visits. Of the 20 procedures, 7 were performed in an OBL (35.0%) and 13 were performed in the hospital (65.0%). OBL procedures generated $93,013.31 (84.4%), while hospital procedures generated $17,188.13 (15.6%).
Conclusion(s): In an academic interventional prostate artery embolization service line, wRVU and revenue are driven primarily by procedural work. 13% of the RVUs and 6% of the revenue came from non-procedural work. Procedural revenue was higher in the OBL setting when compared to hospital procedures.
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PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:To compare the safety and efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with and without transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS). MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:This single-institution study included a retrospective review of 50 patients who underwent transarterial chemoembolization for HCC between January 2010 and April 2017. Twenty-five patients had preexisting TIPS, and 25 patients were selected to control for age, sex, and target tumor size. Baseline median Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD; 13 TIPS, 9 control; P < .001) and albumin-bilirubin (ALBI; 3 TIPS, 2 control; P < .001) differed between groups. Safety was assessed on the basis of Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) and change in MELD and ALBI grade assessed between 3 and 6 months. Efficacy was assessed by tumor response and time to progression (TTP). RESULTS:There was 1 severe adverse event (CTCAE grade >2) in the TIPS group. There was no difference in the change in MELD or ALBI grade. Although there was no difference in tumor response (P = .19), more patients achieved a complete response in the control group (19/25, 76%) than in the TIPS group (13/25, 52%). There was no difference in TTP (P = .82). At 1 year, 2 patients in the control group and 3 patients in the TIPS group received a liver transplant. Seven patients died in the TIPS group. CONCLUSIONS:Transarterial chemoembolization is as safe and effective in patients with TIPS as in patients without TIPS, despite worse baseline liver function. Severe adverse events are rare and may be transient.