Effectiveness of transcatheter embolization in the control of hepatic vascular injuries

The authors describe their 11-year experience with transcatheter embolization (TCE) in the treatment of patients with hemorrhagic hepatic injuries.

Twenty-eight TCE procedures were performed in 24 patients between 1980 and 1991. Injuries in 21 patients were due to vehicular or criminal trauma; in three patients, injuries were iatrogenic. There were 21 male and three female patients (age range, 6-64 years). All patients underwent angiography and had evidence of active hemorrhage, pseudoaneurysm, or arteriovenous fistula (AVF). All embolizations were performed with use of Gianturco coils, microcoils, or gelatin sponge.

TCE was technically successful in occluding hepatic vascular lesions in 21 of 24 patients (88%). Technical failures were due to the inability to select the appropriate vessel for embolization in two cases and due to a persistent AVF that did not occlude despite further attempts at embolization. Lesions recurred in two patients who underwent initially successful TCE. Both patients were treated effectively with repeated TCE. Only two catheter-related complications were encountered, both after successful TCE. Twenty-one patients survived to be discharged from the hospital. Two patients among the group treated successfully and one from the group in whom treatment failed died.

This experience demonstrates that TCE is effective in the management of hepatic vascular injuries due to trauma.