Peptic erosion of the cystic artery with massive duodenal hemorrhage: therapeutic embolization.

Two patients with massive upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to duodenal ulceration underwent visceral angiography. In both cases there was extravasation of contrast from the cystic artery directly into the duodenal lumen. Selective transcatheter embolization of the right hepatic artery was performed in each patient, and in both cases, hemorrhage was controlled. Transcatheter embolization is introduced as an effective therapeutic measure in this unusual entity.