Patient Dies Of Liver Failure After Delayed Interventional Radiology Treatment

Case Overview

This case involves a middle-aged female patient who presented with abdominal pain and a hepatic lesion. She underwent a CT-guided liver biopsy and was discharged home. Later in the week, the patient began to complain of increased abdominal pain and was taken to the emergency room. A CT abdomen revealed a mass in her liver and she was transferred for a medical course of treatment. The morning after beginning her treatment, the patient was intubated her heart action began to slow. She suffered cardiac arrest. The patient was taken for interventional radiology drainage of the mass and the middle hepatic artery was embolized. The patient passed away a few hours later from liver failure. An expert in interventional radiology was sought to review the records and opine on whether a delay in hepatic artery embolism during the medical management of the liver mass was the likely cause of death.