Publications by authors named "Apostolos K Tassiopoulos"

Background: The advent of endovascular techniques has revolutionized the care of patients with uncomplicated abdominal aortic aneurysms. This analysis compares the overall survival and the freedom from reintervention rate between open surgical repair (OSR) and endovascular repair (EVAR) in patients undergoing elective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair.

Methods: PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases were searched for studies including patients who underwent either OSR or EVAR for uncomplicated AAA.

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Acute aortic dissection in the immediate postoperative period after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) has been linked to technical factors such as excessive endograft oversizing or aortic wall injuries during the procedure. In contrast, dissections that occur later are more likely to be de novo. Regardless of their etiology, aortic dissection can extend into the abdominal aorta, causing collapse and occlusion of the endograft with devastating complications.

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Background: Thrombosis in COVID-19 worsens mortality. In our study, we sought to investigate how the dose and type of anticoagulation (AC) can influence patient outcomes.

Methods: This is a single-center retrospective analysis of critically ill intubated patients with COVID-19, comparing low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) and unfractionated heparin (UFH) at therapeutic and prophylactic doses.

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Article Synopsis
  • Obesity is a known risk factor for severe COVID-19, and this study investigates how early, aggressive anticoagulation affects survival in obese patients with the virus.
  • The researchers looked at 237 critically ill intubated patients, separating them into obese and non-obese groups to analyze their outcomes and survival rates.
  • Results showed similar overall mortality rates between the two groups, but obese patients receiving early aggressive anticoagulation had significantly better survival compared to those who did not receive this treatment.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been widely reported to be associated with increased risk of Venous Thromboembolism, both deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism. A rare and extreme manifestation of DVT is Phlegmasia cerulea dolens, characterized by poor tissue perfusion due to marked limb swelling which can progress to limb and life-threatening venous gangrene. We report the case of a 53-year-old man with severe SARS-CoV2 pneumonia who developed acute iliofemoral DVT leading to acute limb ischemia due to Phlegmasia cerulea dolens.

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Examine the possible beneficial effects of early, D-dimer driven anticoagulation in preventing thrombotic complications and improving the overall outcomes of COVID-19 intubated patients. To address COVID-19 hypercoagulability, we developed a clinical protocol to escalate anticoagulation based on serum D-dimer levels. We retrospectively reviewed all our first 240 intubated patients with COVID-19.

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Background: A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) erupted in the latter part of 2019. The virus, SARS-CoV-2 can cause a range of symptoms ranging from mild through fulminant respiratory failure. Approximately 25% of hospitalized patients require admission to the intensive care unit, with the majority of those requiring mechanical ventilation.

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Background: Aortic injuries during non-aortic related procedures are rare but potentially catastrophic. Endovascular aortic repair has been described as a viable option in similar circumstances. However, most reports involve aortic injury from orthopaedic hardware after spine surgery or trocar injury during abdominal surgery.

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The ascending aorta is the final segment of the aorta to be explored with endovascular stent grafts. With a patient population of increasingly advanced age and disease, there are situations where traditional open repair for ascending aneurysms or dissections may be prohibitive. However, the ascending aorta has multiple hostile characteristics that make endovascular treatment challenging.

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Intimomedial mucoid degeneration, a rare vascular disorder characterized by mucinous deposition in the intima and media layers, causes aneurysmal degeneration of the vessel wall in young patients. Because of the potential for involvement of multiple vessels, these patients may require full body imaging and long-term follow-up. We describe three patients with intimomedial mucoid degeneration and variable clinical presentations.

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Background: Carotid body tumors (CBTs) are highly vascularized tumors which can render tumor resection surgery challenging. There is evidence suggesting that preoperative selective embolization can reduce blood loss during surgery and decrease the risk of perioperative complications; however, recent reports have questioned the benefits that preoperative embolization provides. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of preoperative embolization on CBT surgical resection.

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Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate potential factors affecting patient non-compliance after endovascular aneurysm repair.

Method: We performed a retrospective review of patients undergoing elective or emergency endovascular repair for thoracic, abdominal aorta, or iliac artery aneurysm at a single institution from November 2007 to March 2014. Compliance to follow-up at 1, 6, and 12 months was assessed.

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Objective: Dilatation of the aorta within the proximal neck after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) can be associated with late endoleaks and migration. This study was designed to identify predictors of early neck dilation in patients undergoing EVAR with Heli-FX EndoAnchors (Medtronic, Santa Rosa, Calif) measured perioperatively to 1 year at different longitudinal levels of neck length.

Methods: The study group of Aneurysm Treatment Using the Heli-FX Aortic Securement System (ANCHOR) comprises 257 consecutive patients prospectively enrolled between April 2012 and September 2014 undergoing EVAR with Heli-FX EndoAnchor implantation at 38 investigational sites.

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. Seal zone failure after EVAR leads to type 1 endoleaks and increases the risk of delayed aortic rupture. Type 1b endoleaks, although rare, represent a true risk to the repair.

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Background: We report a case of endovascular treatment of a complex renal artery aneurysm using the Pipeline Embolization Device, a flow diverting stent which is indicated for the treatment of large and giant cerebral aneurysms.

Methods: A forty-year-old female with medically refractory hypertension and congenital agenesis of the right kidney was found to have a 2.8-cm left superior renal artery branch aneurysm.

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True aneurysms of the tibioperoneal trunk are rare. Given the scarcity of reports, the clinical presentation and treatment is not well defined. This is a case report of a 50-year-old male patient presenting with severe lower extremity swelling and compartment syndrome with neurological compromise secondary to a tibioperoneal trunk aneurysm.

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Aortic thrombus complicated by mesenteric ischemia is a rare but rather challenging entity. With the recent advancements of endovascular techniques, there is a trend to replace the traditional open surgery with an endovascular approach. We report a patient with paravisceral aortic thrombus involving the celiac artery and superior mesenteric artery (SMA).

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Background: Information on ovarian vein thrombosis (OVT) is limited to some retrospective studies. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the natural history and treatment outcomes of OVT.

Methods: Patients with documented symptomatic OVT who were treated with anticoagulation and had at least 3 months of follow-up were included.

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Background: Blunt traumatic aortic injury (BTAI) is of very rare occurrence in adolescents. The purpose of our study was to assess the clinical presentation and treatment outcomes of BTAI in this subset of patients.

Methods: We reviewed prospective data of 18 patients who were 20 years or younger with BTAI among 28,000 trauma patients from January 1993 to December 2011.

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Anastomotic pseudoaneurysms represent an uncommon and challenging complication of open aortic repair with prosthetic graft. First characterized by Clayton et al. in 1956, they affect approximately 1.

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Background: Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) imaging workup algorithms are not well-defined. The purpose of our study is to gauge the impact and accuracy of duplex ultrasound (DU) to assist in the diagnosis of PCS.

Methods: We reviewed the records of 48 patients with PCS seen at a vein center from June 2010 to June 2012.

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Purpose: To describe a hybrid approach for the treatment of a ruptured juxta-innominate artery saccular aneurysm.

Case Report: A 68-year-old smoker male with poor exercise tolerance sustained a contained ruptured saccular aneurysm at the origin of the innominate artery. Although under the femoral-axillary bypass to allow direct brain perfusion, a 36 × 110 mm thoracic endograft was successfully deployed with total coverage of the distal ascending and aortic arch.

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Background: The purpose of our study was to assess whether the trends in management of blunt thoracic aortic injury (BTAI) have changed its outcomes over the years.

Methods: We reviewed data of 88 (0.3%) adult patients with BTAI from January 1993 to December 2010.

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