Balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration for gastric varices via the intercostal vein

Figure 2 Micro-balloon-occluded pericardial venography. A: Micro-balloon occluded venography (M-BOV) of the pericardial vein demonstrated the development of the cardio-phrenic vein and phrenic branch veins; B: Embolization of the cardio-phrenic vein using 9 microcoils (#) was conducted in order to reduce the collateral vessels. However, M-BOV of the left subphrenic vein (asterisk) followed by coil embolization demonstrated the narrow outlet of the subphrenic vein (arrow) and the dilated phrenic branches but not gastric varices. Further advancement of the micro-balloon catheter was difficult.