Technical Approach to Percutaneous Femoropopliteal Bypass and Deep Vein Arterialization.

In the management of patients with critical limb ischemia endovascular revascularization plays a crucial role improving amputation-free survival, ischemic rest pain, and wound healing. Endovascular standard of care of peripheral arterial occlusive disease involves angioplasty and/or stent placement. The following discussion is intended to familiarize interventional physicians with the rationale, physiological concepts, and technical approach to developing endovascular procedures-percutaneous femoropopliteal bypass and percutaneous deep vein arterialization.

Management of Calcification: Rational and Technical Considerations for Intravascular Lithotripsy.

Arterial calcification (AC) is a common complication among patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). AC presents various challenges to PAD treatment including an increased likelihood of vessel rupture and dissection, and by acting as a physical barrier to drug delivery by angioplasty balloons. Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) is a novel intervention that specifically targets AC by emitting sonic pressure waves that introduce microfractures in target calcified lesions to increase arterial compliance.

Analysis of Subjective and Objective Screening Techniques as Predictors of Safety for Radial Artery Intervention.

Background: There is no currently accepted standard in safety evaluation for radial artery intervention. We sought to compare the accuracy of various subjective and objective screening techniques in predicting safety for radial artery intervention.

Methods: Fifty-four patients in a prospective cohort study at a single institution underwent subjective Allen's test, objective Barbeau test, and several objective hand ultrasound techniques to assess safety for radial artery intervention.

Evidence for water-permeable channels in auditory hair cells in the leopard frog.

Auditory hair cells in the amphibian papilla (APHCs) of the leopard frog, Rana pipiens pipiens, have a significantly higher permeability to water than that observed in mammalian hair cells. The insensitivity of water permeability in frog hair cells to extracellular mercury suggests that an amphibian homologue of the water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4) may mediate water transport in these cells. Using immunocytochemistry, we show that an AQP4-like protein is found in APHCs.