Percutaneous Treatment of Simple Hepatic Cysts: The Long-Term Results of PAIR and Catheterization Techniques as Single-Session Procedures

Purpose The purpose of our study is to evaluate results of percutaneous aspiration with alcohol sclerotherapy in symptomatic patients with simple hepatic cysts by employing single-session techniques either by a needle or a catheter. Materials and Methods We retrospectively included 39 simple hepatic cysts in 35 patients treated via percutaneous aspiration and single-session alcohol sclerotherapy between years 1993 and 2012. Indications were pain ( n = 28) or ruling out cystic echinococcus (CE) disease ( n = 7). 29 cysts in 26 patients were treated by needle technique (Group A) and ten cysts in nine patients were treated by single-session catheter technique (Group B). Patients were followed for 4–173 months (median: 38 months). Results All patients were successfully treated. Before procedure, cyst volumes were 21–676 cc (median: 94 cc). Post-procedure cyst volumes at last follow-up were 0-40 cc (median: 1 cc). The mean decrease in cyst volume was 95.92 ± 2.86 % in all patients (95.96 ± 3.26 % in Group A and 95.80 ± 6.20 % in Group B). There was no statistically significant difference between the volume reduction rates of Group A and Group B. Only one patient, in Group B, developed a major complication, an abscess. Hospitalization period was 1 day for all patients. Conclusions For patients with symptomatic simple hepatic cysts smaller than 500 cc in volume by using puncture, aspiration, injection, and reaspiration (PAIR) technique with only needle, single-session alcohol sclerotherapy of 10 min is a safe and effective procedure with high success rate.