Methods: 25 patients with pathologically-proven cholangiocarcinoma underwent click here Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI. The visualization of the biliary system during biliary phase (BP) was observed. RSIs of the abdominal aorta (A), portal vein (V), liver (L), and spleen (S) were measured. Results:

On hepatocellular phase (HP), exophytic tumors (n = 10) and infiltrative tumors (n = 10) were hypointense, polypoid tumors (n = 2) were hypointense, and combined type tumors (n = 3) had mixed appearances. While patients with normal TB levels ( bigger than 22 mu mol/L, n = 12) had clear visualization of the biliary tree during BP, those with elevated TB levels ( bigger than 22 mu mol/L, n = 13) had obscured or no visualization. In addition, patients with normal TB levels had higher RSIA, RSIV and RSIS than those with elevated TB levels on all dynamic phases (P smaller than 0.001), and lower RSIA, RSIV and RSIS on HP and BP (P smaller than 0.001). Patients with normal TB levels had higher RSIL than those with elevated TB levels on selleck kinase inhibitor all phases (P smaller than 0.001). Conclusions: RSIs of major abdominal organs reflected underlying biliary

function. Cholangiocarcinoma patients with elevated TB levels had delayed excretion of Gd-EOB-DTPA compared with patients with normal TB levels.”
“Cancer pain management guidelines recommend nondrug interventions as adjuvants to analgesic medications. Although physicians typically are responsible for pharmacologic YM155 mouse pain. treatments, oncology staff nurses, who spend considerable time with patients, are largely responsible

for identifying and implementing nondrug pain treatments. Oncology nurses’ use of nondrug interventions, however, has not been well studied. The purpose of this study was to describe oncology nurses’ use of four nondrug interventions (music, guided, imagery, relaxation, distraction) and to identify factors that, influence their use in practice. A national sample of 724 oncology staff nurses completed a mailed survey regarding use of the nondrug interventions in practice, beliefs about the interventions, and demographic characteristics. The percentages of nurses who reported administering the strategies in practice at least sometimes were 54% for music, 40% for guided, imagery, 82% for relaxation, anal 80% for distraction. Use of each nondrug intervention was predicted by a composite score on beliefs about effectiveness of the. intervention (e.g., perceived benefit; P < 0.025) and a composite score on beliefs about support for carrying out, the intervention (e.g., time; P < 0.025). In addition, use of guided, imagery was predicted by a composite score on beliefs about characteristics of patients who may benefit from the intervention (e.g., cognitive ability; P < 0.05). Some nurse demographic, professional preparation, and, practice environment characteristics also predicted use of individual nondrug interventions.