Management of open chest and delayed sternal closure with the vacuum assisted closure system: preliminary experience.

The management of open chest with the vacuum assisted closure (VAC) system was evaluated in terms of impact on cardiac hemodynamics, respiratory parameters, complications, incidence of wound infection, overall handling and outcome in 22 patients during 2005 and 2008 after cardiac surgery. The decision to leave the sternum open was made electively in all patients at the time of primary operation or reexploration. In four patients the VAC was implanted during the primary operation.

Inflammation and Carotid Artery--Risk for Atherosclerosis Study (ICARAS).

Background: Compelling evidence suggests that inflammation is fundamentally involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis; however, temporal correlation between inflammation and morphological features of atherosclerosis progression has not been demonstrated unequivocally.

Methods And Results: We prospectively studied 1268 consecutive patients who were initially asymptomatic with respect to carotid artery disease. Patients underwent serial carotid ultrasound investigations at baseline and after a follow-up interval of a median of 7.