Race-based outcomes of thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections in the Global Registry for Endovascular Aortic Treatment.

Objective: This study characterizes racial differences in presentation, as well as short- and long-term outcomes after endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) and type B aortic dissection (TBAD).

Methods: We queried the Gore Global Registry for Endovascular Aortic Treatment for thoracic endovascular aortic repairs (TEVARs) performed between 2010 and 2016 and followed through 2022. Pathologies represented were descending TAA, complicated TBAD, and uncomplicated TBAD.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO): Can we do it ourselves?

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a selectively available therapeutic option, generally available in a large-size referral healthcare system. In a single-center experience of the use of venovenous ECMO for COVID-19 ARDS in a medium-size healthcare system during the pandemic, West et al. in their study have convincingly demonstrated that ECMO can become a broadly available therapeutic option without compromising quality.

Radial Long Sheath Angioplasty for Proximal Severe Flow-Limiting Radial Artery Spasm Using the Dotter Technique.

Background: Although studies have continued to demonstrate the advantages of transradial access (TRA) for neurointervention, radial artery spasm (RAS) has remained a frequent cause of TRA failure. Dotter and Judkins initially described a technique to dilate areas of peripheral vascular stenosis by advancing sequentially larger catheters across the lesion over a guidewire. We have presented our institutional experience with the use of a modified Dotter technique with long radial sheaths to dilate areas of proximal flow-limiting RAS.

The Genetic Basis of Adaptation following Plastic Changes in Coloration in a Novel Environment.

Phenotypic plasticity has been hypothesized to precede and facilitate adaptation to novel environments [1-8], but examples of plasticity preceding adaptation in wild populations are rare (but see [9, 10]). We studied a population of side-blotched lizards, Uta stansburiana, living on a lava flow that formed 22,500 years ago [11] to understand the origin of their novel melanic phenotype that makes them cryptic on the black lava. We found that lizards living on and off of the lava flow exhibited phenotypic plasticity in coloration but also appeared to have heritable differences in pigmentation.