Pulsatile flow and atherogenesis: results from in vivo studies.

Compliance mismatch between prosthetic vascular replacement (possibly stented) and native artery is considered to be an important factor in implant failure due, e.g., to vascular remodeling, tissutal growth or intimal hyperplasia (IH).

Rupture of Dacron aorto-femoral graft. Case report.

A 74-year-old patient was admitted to our department in a serious general condition due to massive bleeding. He had been treated 10 years previously in another hospital with an aorto-bifemoral bypass for obstructive disease using a knitted-Dacron graft. A large pulsating mass was present in the right iliac fossa as well as enormous pulsating enlargement of the scrotum.

Non-atherosclerotic saccular aneurysmal degeneration of a saphenous-vein graft inserted for repair of a popliteal aneurysm.

The Authors describe a case of a saccular aneurysm formation in a femoropopliteal autologous saphenous vein graft, inserted 12 years before. The patient was initially treated for a popliteal aneurysm. The graft revealed no microscopic signs of atherosclerosis.

Inflammatory aneurysm of the abdominal aorta. A prospective clinical study.

Objective: This study was undertaken to investigate a consecutive series of abdominal aortic aneurysm studied with histology to highlight the etiology, the incidence, the value of preoperative studies and intraoperative findings.

Experimental Design: Prospective study.

Setting: University hospital.

Maternally inherited cardiomyopathy: clinical and molecular characterization of a large kindred harboring the A4300G point mutation in mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical and molecular features of a large family with maternally inherited cardiomyopathy (MICM).

Background: Recently, several mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA) point mutations have been associated with MICM. However, the distinctive clinical and morphologic features of MICM are not fully appreciated.

Cross-sectional imaging in a case of adventitial cystic disease of the popliteal artery.

Adventitial cystic disease of the popliteal artery is an unusual condition of uncertain etiology, in which a mucin-containing cyst forms in the wall of the artery and produces lower extremity claudication, typically in young and middle-aged men. A diagnosis of adventitial cystic disease of the popliteal artery was made preoperatively in a 47-year-old man by means of several imaging modalities, including angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound. The pathological findings confirmed the suggested diagnosis.

ET(A)/ET(B) receptor antagonist bosentan inhibits neointimal development in collared carotid arteries of rabbits.

The contribution of endothelin to the genesis of neointimal development in collared rabbit carotid arteries, a widely accepted model of atherosclerosis, was investigated. Three sets of rabbits were studied. In the first group, a non-occlusive, biologically inert silastic collar was positioned around the right carotid artery of the rabbit.

Felodipine protects human atrial muscle from hypoxia-reoxygenation dysfunction: a force-frequency relationship study in an in vitro model of stunning.

Aims: We aimed at investigating contractile changes after hypoxia-reoxygenation and dobutamine challenge in superfused human atrial pectinate muscle to see whether high versus low stimulation rate during hypoxia might account for outcome differences compatible with the definition of an in vitro model of myocardial stunning and whether pretreatment with the dihydropyridine Ca2+ entry blocker felodipine might afford protection.

Methods: Human right atrial trabeculae obtained from adult patients were superfused in an organ bath with oxygenated (O2 content 16 ml/l) and modified (NaHCO3 25.7 mmol/l) Tyrode's solution at 37 degrees C.

Causes of late failure after heart transplantation: a ten-year survey.

Background: Little is known about the causes of death of heart transplant recipients who survive long-term.

Methods: The pathologic and clinical records of 97 patients who underwent heart transplantation in Italy from 1985 to 1995 and died (85 of 97) or underwent retransplantation (12 of 97) at least 2 years after transplantation were surveyed. Graft failures were classified as late (occurring between 2 and 5 years after transplantation) and belated (more than 5 years).

Does cyclosporin A have any effect on accelerated atherosclerosis in absence of graft rejection? Pathologic and morphometric evaluation in an experimental model.

Background: The effects of cyclosporin A on accelerated atherosclerosis were studied in an experimental model of aortic isotransplantation.

Methods: Seventy-six Lewis rats were studied. Forty-one abdominal aortic isografts were performed and divided into five groups: 2-day isografts and 15- and 100-day isografts with and without cyclosporin treatment.

bFGF release is dependent on flow conditions in experimental vein grafts.

Objectives: Basic Fibroblastic Growth Factor (bFGF) is a powerful mitogen for smooth muscle cells and has been implicated in the genesis of Myointimal hyperplasia. The aim of this study was to determine the release of bFGF by veins in different haemodynamic conditions.

Design And Setting: Laboratory animal study.

Aneurysms of the infrapopliteal arteries.

Atherosclerotic aneurysms involving only infrapopliteal arteries are extremely rare. The present report describes a patient with two completely separate aneurysmal dilatations involving the tibioperoneal trunk and the anterior tibial artery. To our knowledge, this condition has not been previously described.

A novel mtDNA point mutation in maternally inherited cardiomyopathy.

A novel mtDNA mutation at position nt. 4300 in the tRNAIle gene is associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy inherited as a maternal trait. Interestingly, this mutation seems to cause a pure heart disease as opposed to most other mtDNA mutations, which are associated with multisystemic disorders.

The pattern of desmin filaments in myocardial disarray.

"Myofiber disarray" defines a nonparallel arrangement of cardiac myocytes. The presence of a sufficient quantity of myocardial fibers showing this change is considered to be a specific histological feature of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, small zones of myofiber disarray are found in both cardiac hypertrophy and other pathological conditions.

Functional significance of myocellular hypertrophy in dilated cardiomyopathy: histomorphometric analysis on 40 endomyocardial biopsies.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is characterized by an increase in myocardial mass. In order to study the functional significance of myocellular hypertrophy in dilated cardiomyopathy, 40 left ventricular endomyocardial biopsies were investigated, by comparing morphometrical data with functional indexes. The extent of myofibril volume fraction was directly associated with a better functional condition, as measured by ejection fraction (p < 0.

Histomorphometric features predict 1-year outcome of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy considered to be at low priority for cardiac transplantation.

Cardiac transplantation for patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) and poor left ventricular function usually is postponed until symptoms have become intolerable. However, the short-term prognosis of this subset of patients has been defined poorly. Accordingly, the 1-year outcome was investigated in 30 patients with IDC with an ejection fraction < or = 25% who showed a stabilized clinical condition at assessment for transplantation and were therefore considered at low priority for surgery.

[Inflammatory aneurysm of the abdominal aorta: anatomo-clinical study on 16 cases and pathogenetic hypothesis].

Background: Inflammatory aneurysms of the abdominal aorta constitute an anatomoclinical entity characterised by prominent thickening and fibrosis of the aneurysmal wall, extending to the adjoining structures. Etiology, pathogenesis and relation with atherosclerosis still remain controversial.

Methods: Sixteen consecutive patients undergoing surgery for inflammatory aneurysm of the abdominal aorta between March 1987 and December 1990 were studied (Group I); as a control, a series of 16 consecutive patients operated on in the same period for atherosclerotic aneurysm of the abdominal aorta was selected (Group II).

Relation of complex ventricular arrhythmias to presenting features and prognosis in dilated cardiomyopathy.

To evaluate whether complex ventricular arrhythmias relate to presenting features and prognosis of dilated cardiomyopathy, 104 patients were studied from 1977 to 1987. At diagnosis, the 19 patients with complex ventricular arrhythmias (18%), as compared to the 85 patients without (82%), had a higher incidence of palpitation (P less than 0.01), severe dyspnea (P less than 0.

[Pigmented livedo. Histologic design and pathogenetic hypothesis].

Pigmented livedo is a frequently encountered disease. It occurs as an ochre reticular membrane which does not disappear when the limb is raised. It is characteristic in persons who already have livido reticularis and who expose themselves for several hours every day to the heat from chimneys or foot-warmers.

Postinflammatory scarring of cardiac valves of rheumatic and nonrheumatic etiology.

In rheumatic heart disease, cardiac valves often display only a nonspecific postinflammatory scarring, without specific features, such as the rheumatic granuloma. Fifty-five native valves excised from 47 patients, exhibiting postinflammatory scarring, were studied. Patients were subdivided into three groups according to their case histories: patients with both streptococcal infection and rheumatic fever (group I), with streptococdal infection without noncardiac major manifestations of rheumatic fever (group II), and without either of these features (group III).

[Predictive value of myocellular hypertrophy in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy].

The role of endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) in assessing of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) is a well-recognised one. On the contrary, the value of correlating histological features, such as myocellular hypertrophy, with functional evaluation and outcome is still controversial. It was the purpose of the present study to appraise the correlation with hemodynamic data and the predictive role of histological features in 32 consecutive patients affected by IDCM who underwent left ventricular EMB between January 1984 and December 1986.