Infection Risk Following Common Femoral Artery Endarterectomy Versus a Hybrid Procedure.

Background: Hybrid revascularization combines open lower extremity surgery and endovascular procedures to simultaneously treat atherosclerotic lesions on multiple levels in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAD). Hybrid surgery appears to be a safe strategy for multilevel stenosis revascularization, though the risk of surgical site infection (SSI) has not been clearly investigated. This study evaluates the development of SSI following common femoral artery endarterectomy (CFE) and hybrid revascularization procedures.

Dementia in Patients Suffering from Critical Limb Ischemia.

Background: Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is a disease that is most prevalent in the elderly population. This group of patients includes patients suffering from comorbidities such as dementia. Mortality rates of both CLI and dementia are higher when compared with the nonaffected population.

Quality of Life in Patients Suffering from Critical Limb Ischemia.

Background: Various treatment options exist for patients suffering from critical limb ischemia (CLI). These options consist of endovascular procedures, surgical revascularization, primary amputation, or conservative therapy. The effect of the treatment is traditionally focused on outcomes, such as primary patency and limb salvage, though quality of life (QoL) is considered an important additional primary end point in a more patient-oriented healthcare system.

Reliability of the Inverse Water Volumetry Method to Measure the Volume of the Upper Limb.

Background: Lymphedema of the upper extremity is a common side effect of lymph node dissection or irradiation of the axilla. Several techniques are being applied in order to examine the presence and severity of lymphedema. Measurement of circumference of the upper extremity is most frequently performed.

Treatment strategies and clinical aspects of lower limb edema following peripheral bypass surgery.

In selected patients who suffer from severe peripheral artery disease (PAD) a revascularization with a peripheral bypass might be considered. Postoperative edema is a well-known phenomenon following peripheral bypass surgery and is probably caused by multiple factors. Although postoperative edema causes discomfort to patients, the effects on the quality of life are unknown.

Midterm follow-up of quality of life following peripheral bypass surgery.

Background: Peripheral bypass surgery is an important treatment option for patients with peripheral arterial disease. Short-term results of quality of life (QoL) after peripheral bypass surgery showed an increase in QoL at 3 months. Little is known about QoL at more than 2 years of follow-up.

Quality of life in perspective to treatment of postoperative edema after peripheral bypass surgery.

Background: To examine the effects of peripheral bypass surgery on patients' quality of life (QoL) as well as to compare two treatment modalities to reduce postoperative edema with regard to patients' QoL.

Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial set in the department of vascular surgery in a nonacademic teaching hospital. Ninety-three patients (mean age, 70 years; 33% Rutherford 5-6), enrolled between August 2006 and September 2009, who underwent peripheral bypass surgery (autologous 57, polytetrafluoroethylene 36).

Magnetic resonance imaging reveals edema-like changes not only subcutaneously, but also in muscle tissue after femoropopliteal bypass surgery.

Background: The pathophysiological mechanisms that induce postrevascularization edema after femoropopliteal bypass surgery are not completely understood. Reperfusion-associated injury to revascularized tissue and damage to lymphatic structures are both likely to play a role. Aim of this study was to study edema formation after peripheral bypass surgery with magnetic resonance imaging.

[Time lost between stroke and carotid endarterectomy].

Objective: To establish whether measures taken to shorten the interval of time between a stroke and carotid endarterectomy (CEA) procedure at two Dutch hospitals had any effect.

Design: Retrospective and descriptive.

Method: Data were gathered on all patients with symptomatic narrowing of the carotid artery from a non-academic teaching hospital (Amphia Ziekenhuis in Breda) as well as from a university clinic dedicated to carotid abnormalities (University Medical Center Utrecht, UMCU).

Prospective randomized controlled trial to analyze the effects of intermittent pneumatic compression on edema following autologous femoropopliteal bypass surgery.

Background: Patients who undergo autologous femoropopliteal bypass surgery develop postoperative edema in the revascularized leg. The effects of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) to treat and to prevent postreconstructive edema were examined in this study.

Methods: In a prospective randomized trial, patients were assigned to one of two groups.

Endovascular Treatment of an Axillary Pseudoaneurysm Following a Traumatic Shoulder Dislocation.

A pseudoaneurysm following a shoulder dislocation is considered rare. We report here a case of an 82-yearold man who suffered from vascular and neurological injury due to an axillary pseudoaneurysm following anterior dislocation of the left shoulder. An emerging swelling in the shoulder region was caused by a hematoma and a slowly bleeding pseudoaneurysm in combination with reactive swelling of the soft tissues.