[Consequences of interventional sonography for abdominal surgery]

The sonographic-radiologically guided puncture and catheter insertion enables certain palliative and curative therapeutic procedures to be performed. Liver abscesses represent the most common examples for this procedure, although interabdominal abscesses as well as pancreatic pseudocysts can also be treated successfully. In our collection of clinical cases various preformed pigtail catheters were employed using either the Seldinger-principle or, with help of a rigid needle, introduced directly into the lesion. Advantages of sonographically guided therapeutic interventions include quick implementation without radiation exposure, immediate recognition of possible complications as well as negligible expenditures. Ultrasonically guided therapeutic interventions should be undertaken only through the close collaboration between intervening radiologists and abdominal surgeons. Only so are they both low-risk and successful.