Objective: The present study was undertaken to determine the safety, accuracy and clinical utility of ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis of pancreatic masses. Material and methods: Seventy-five patients with clinical and ultrasound suspicion of pancreatic carcinoma were aspirated using a twenty-two gauge, Teflon coated needle under ultrasound guidance. The masses ranged in size from 2.5 to 4.5 cm. Results: This technique confirmed malignancy in 61 of the 70 cases of malignancy (87.1%). Thirty-nine patients including 14 patients with negative aspiration underwent surgery and out of the 14 aspiration­negative patients, five patients had chronic pancreatitis and nine patients had carcinoma. This was confirmed on histology of the biopsy specimen taken at laparotomy. Four patients developed mild abdominal pain after aspiration; one patient developed acute pancreatitis and recovered with conservative treatment. One patient developed peritonitis after aspiration, had extensive tumor of pancreas involving the duodenum and expired later on, after laparotomy. Conclusion: Ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy of pancreas is a safe, reliable and accurate technique for the diagnosis of malignancy. It has a high diagnostic accuracy of 88%, sensitivity of 73% and a specificity of 100%. The predictive value of positive and negative results, is 100% and 35.71% respectively with a mortality of 1.3%.

Objective : To assess the efficacy of bronchial artery embolization in the control of massive hemoptysis due to the sequelae of pulmonary tuberculosis. Material and Methods : Fifty patients, 28 men and 12 women between the ages of 14 to 58 years with a mean age of 40.5 years, were included in this study. All patients had severe hemoptysis (more than 300ml of blood in 24 hours) at the time of intervention. Pre-procedure bronchoscopy was not done. Bronchial artery embolization was performed on the side with the greater abnormality on the chest radiograph. Gel foam pieces (less than 3mm) were used as embolizing agents. These were introduced through a 4F visceral hook catheter. Pre and post-procedure angiographic films were obtained. Inflammatory hypervascularity, which regressed after embolisation, was seen in all patients. Results : Successful embolization was achieved in 47 patients. Two patients had recurrence and were re-embolised. In one patient the required artery could not be catheterized. Two patients had transient dysphagia. Mild chest pain lasting for 15 minutes was seen in 18 patients. Conclusion : Bronchial artery embolization is an effective procedure for the treatment of massive hemoptysis occurring due to the sequelae of pulmonary tuberculosis.