Sleeve valve-sparing procedure in bicuspid aortic valve: early and midterm clinical results.

Background: Patients with aortic root ectasia and bicuspid aortic valve benefit of the treatment with aortic valve sparing procedure, with excellent long-term results. The Sleeve-procedure is one of the options in patients with aortic root diseases and it might be suitable for patients with a bicuspid valve.

Methods: From October 2006 to December 2018, 42 consecutive patients with bicuspid aortic valve and aortic root ectasia/aneurysm, with or without aortic regurgitation, were surgically treated with the Sleeve-procedure.

Inter-observer agreement for the evaluation of bone involvement on Whole Body Low Dose Computed Tomography (WBLDCT) in Multiple Myeloma (MM).

Objective: We aimed to assess inter-observer agreement in bone involvement evaluation and define accuracy and reproducibility of MDCT images analysis in Multiple Myeloma (MM), by comparing two acquisition protocols at two different institutions.

Methods: A total of 100 MM patients underwent whole body low-dose computed tomography (WB-LDCT), with two protocols: Group I (50 patients), 80 kV and 200-230 mAs; Group II, 120 kV-40 mAs. Four readers (two experts) retrospectively reviewed 22 anatomical districts, reporting the following for each patient: 1) osteolytic lesions; 2) cortical bone integrity; 3) fractures; 4) risk of vertebral collapse; 5) hyperattenuating bone lesions; and 6) extraosseous extension.