Embolization procedures have become an integral part of modern interventional therapies, witnessing a remarkable surge primarily driven by improvement in microcatheter and imaging technologies and new embolic materials such as detachable coils, plugs, particles, and drug-eluting beads. In this issue of Endovascular Today, we have invited an esteemed group of physicians to contribute their thoughts on some of the hot topics in embolization.

Emiel J. Sturm, MD, and Luc Defreyne, MD, PhD, open our feature, exploring the use of CTA and contrast-enhanced cone-beam CT in treating acute nonvariceal gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Riccardo Lencioni, MD, then compares treatment using drug-eluting beads to conventional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

I then review the literature on uterine fibroid embolization and share evidence that it is a safe and reliable alternative treatment to surgery. Mahmood Razavi, MD, offers a review of the proper embolization technique using N-butyl cyanoacrylate and further discusses methods to minimize complications. Saher S. Sabri, MD; Ulku C. Turba, MD; Wael E. A. Saad, MD; Auh Whan Park, MD; and John F. Angle, MD, discuss balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration for treating and preventing gastric variceal bleeding. Finally, James Caridi, MD, FSIR; Jeffrey D. Vogel, MD; Darren Postoak, MD; Scott Peterson, MD; Brian S. Geller, MD; Irvin Hawkins, MD; and Sean Wiley, RPA, present the benefits and technical advantages of using CO2 angiography instead of liquid contrast in interventional oncology patients.

We have two challenging cases this month as well. James L. Guzzo, MD, and Heitham T. Hassoun, MD, FACS, share a potentially less-invasive treatment for Nutcracker syndrome. They describe a case in which percutaneous angioplasty and stenting for symptomatic left renal vein compression is used in a 26-year-old patient. Bibombe P. Mwipatayi, MMed (Surg), FCS (SA), Cert Vasc Surg (SA), FRACS; Shannon Thomas, BMedSc (Hons), MBBS (Hons); Sarah Norton, MBBS; and Vikram Vijayan, MBChB, MRCS, FRCS, present a case in which a custom- made graft is used to manage an aortic pseudoaneurysm caused by metastatic choriocarcinoma.

In our Perspectives column, we present an interview with interventional cardiologist Chris Cates, MD, who discusses his decision to run for Congress and his stance on health care reform. We conclude this issue with an interview with Lawrence A. Garcia, MD, who shares how he determines which therapy is right for each patient when treating SFA disease. I hope you enjoy the interesting and timely articles in this issue of Endovascular Today.