Current surgical approaches in Takayasu's arteritis: a single-centre experience.

Objectives: We investigated cardiovascular surgical interventions in a group of patients with Takayasu's arteritis (TAK) diagnosed and followed by a single centre.

Methods: . Twenty patients with TAK (5 males, 15 females, mean current age: 38.

Upregulation of OLR1 and IL17A genes and their association with blood glucose and lipid levels in femoropopliteal artery disease.

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 (OLR1) and interleukin 17A (IL17A) have pro-inflammatory roles in the development of cardiovascular disorders. The present study evaluated the association of OLR1 and IL17A and their polymorphisms with the development of femoropopliteal (FP) artery disease. The mRNA expression of OLR1 and IL17A in peripheral blood mononuclear cells as well as the frequency of OLR1 rs11053646 and IL17A rs8193037 and rs3819025 polymorphisms were assessed by polymerase chain reaction in 70 patients with FP artery disease and 80 age-matched disease-free controls.

Corkscrew Collateral Vessels in Buerger Disease: Vasa Vasorum or Vasa Nervorum.

Purpose: To investigate the origin of "corkscrew" collateral vessels around the occluded popliteal artery in patients with Buerger disease by Doppler ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in tandem with digital subtraction angiography (DSA).

Materials And Methods: Between January 2013 and June 2015, 42 patients diagnosed with Buerger disease were identified retrospectively. Patients in whom occlusion of the popliteal artery was found on DSA of the lower extremity were subjected to Doppler US and MR imaging prospectively.

Increased IL18 mRNA levels in peripheral artery disease and its association with triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels: a pilot study.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) typically refers to lower limb vessel ischemia caused by atherosclerotic stenosis of lower extremity arteries. IL18 is a pleiotropic pro-inflammatory cytokine reported to function as an inflammatory biomarker in cardiovascular diseases. IL18 activity is balanced by high-affinity naturally occurring IL18-binding protein (IL18BP).

The management and the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin.

Prolonged fever presents a challenge for the patient and the physician. Fever with a temperature higher than 38.3°C on several occasions that lasts for at least 3 weeks and lacks a clear diagnosis after 1 week of study in the hospital is called a fever of unknown origin (FUO).

Significance of vitronectin and PAI-1 activity levels in carotid artery disease: comparison of symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.

Aim: Carotid atherosclerosis one of the main risk factors for ischemic stroke. Acute thrombosis after atherosclerotic plaque disruption is a major complication of primary atherosclerosis, leading to acute ischemic syndromes and atherosclerotic progression. PAI-1 is the most important and most rapidly acting physiological inhibitor of tissue-type (t-PA) and urokinase type (u-PA) plasminogen activators.

Calcium dobesilate may improve hemorheology in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

Background: Calcium dobesilate is an angioprotective agent that has positive effects on hemorheological parameters. It is an antioxidant that increases endothelial-derived vasodilator substance secretion, there are none that analyze its effects during the postoperative period of patients undergoing myocardial revascularization.

Objective: We aimed to determine the effects of calcium dobesilate on hemorheological parameters, such as reduced glutathione and malondialdehyde in patients with ischemic heart disease undergoing myocardial revascularization in the postoperative period.

Efficacy of tigecycline and vancomycin in experimental catheter-related Staphylococcus epidermidis infection: microbiological and electron microscopic analysis of biofilm.

Central venous catheters are frequently used. The commonest cause of catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI) is coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) associated with adherent biofilm. Tigecycline, a derivative of tetracycline, acts against strains producing biofilm.

Management and prognosis of nonpulmonary large arterial disease in patients with Behçet disease.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate and report our treatment policies in the management of nonpulmonary arterial aneurysms in Behçet disease and to assess the prognosis in a cohort of 25 patients diagnosed between 1996 and 2007 by formally reassessing their outcome at the present time.

Methods: We identified 25 patients (24 men/1 woman) with Behçet disease with nonpulmonary aneurysms (n = 23) or occlusions (n = 2) between 1996 and 2007. All patients fulfilled the International Study Group Criteria for Behçet disease.

Anatomical variations of the carotid-vertebral arteries: "double-vessel" sign on Doppler ultrasonography.

We describe the "double-vessel" sign and its relevance for the diagnosis of carotid and vertebral arterial anatomical variations in a series of four patients with stroke. In these four patients, two arteries could be seen at the expected location of the common carotid artery (CCA), leading to the diagnosis of anatomical variations including separate origin of internal and external carotid artery from the aortic arch on the left side and from the brachiocephalic trunk and the subclavian artery on the right side, early bifurcation of the CCA on both sides, and an aberrant course of the vertebral artery on the left side. The presence of two arteries at the expected location of the CCA should raise the suspicion of carotid or vertebral arterial variations.

Trace elements and toxic heavy metals play a role in Buerger disease and atherosclerotic peripheral arterial occlusive disease.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to define the roles of trace elements and toxic heavy metals in Buerger disease and atherosclerotic peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD).

Methods: Seventy-five subjects who were identical in demographic charecteristics were selected for the study; 25 with Buerger disease, 25 with PAOD, 25 healthy volunteers. Serum selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe),whole blood cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb), erythrocyte glutathione (GSH), erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), erythrocyte and plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were measured.

The in vitro effects of iloprost with other vasodilators on the human internal thoracic artery.

Purpose: We aimed (a) to analyze the effects of iloprost as a vasodilator on the human internal thoracic artery (ITA) and (b) to compare these effects with the effects of other vasodilators now being used in the clinic.

Methods: Following transfer into only Krebs solution or into Krebs solution containing papaverine or iloprost, human ITA strips were then incubated only in Krebs or in Krebs with vasodilators that are generally used in clinical practice, such as diltiazem or glyceryl trinitrate. Cumulative concentration-contraction curves for noradrenaline (NA) and KCl were then established for these strips.

Nontraditional risk factors in carotid artery disease.

Carotid atherosclerosis (AS) is one of the main risk factors for ischemic stroke. Our aim is to evaluate the nontraditional biochemical markers in asymptomatic and symptomatic patients with carotid artery plaque. This study was conducted on 55 patients: 43 with symptomatic and 12 with asymptomatic carotid artery disease.

The role of oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses in Buerger disease and atherosclerotic peripheral arterial occlusive disease.

The aim of this study was to determine the status and the role of oxidative stress and antioxidant defenses in patients with Buerger disease and atherosclerotic peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). Seventy-three subjects resembling each other in general characteristics were involved in the study: 21 with lower extremity PAOD (mean age 53.05 +/- 10.

Elective shunt use for easy resection of a carotid body tumor.

Carotid body tumor resection has the potential hazards of hemorrhage, cranial nerve palsy, and cerebrovascular accident. The control of intraoperative bleeding during manipulation of the tumor is a critical issue for safe resection. In the presented case with a carotid body tumor, the Shamblin II, a carotid shunt with a dual balloon was used electively.

Pseudocoarctation.

Pseudocoarctation, also known as kinking or buckling of the aorta, is an uncommon anomaly. Its recognition is important, because it may be mistaken for true coarctation, aneurysm or mediastinal neoplasm. A case of pseudocoarctation associated with left cervical aorta is reported.

Effect of combining phosphodiesterase III inhibitors with St Thomas Hospital's solution used as transplantation preservative solution in isolated rat hearts.

Improved preservation of the harvested heart with attenuation of the reperfusion injury is important for successful outcomes of cardiac transplantations. The most commonly used cardioplegic solution, to prevent ischemic changes has been St Thomas' Hospital cardioplegic solution (STHCS). However, it is neither ideal nor sufficient to prevent myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury.

An extraanatomic bypass method alternative to the obturator bypass.

Obturator bypass is the preferred method when infectious groin problems are challenging. However, this method can not be applied either in some special settings including the dissemination of the infection towards retroperitoneum and some technical difficulties in handling obturator bypass area (like fibrosis and inability to expose the obturator foramen). We present an alternative bypass method in two cases.

What are the reactivities of coronary arteries harvested from the hearts exposed to cold ischemic preservation?

This study was designed to determine the effects of pretransplant ischemic hypothermic period on reactivities of major coronary arteries. Eleven pigs were used. Right, left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries harvested from 6 pigs following single dose of cardioplegia and cardiectomy.

Surgical treatment of Buerger's disease.

We aimed to evaluate the characteristics of 198 new patients with Buerger's disease treated surgically in the last decade. We also compared these results with our former series reported in 1993. The records of patients with Buerger's disease who were enrolled in an ongoing investigational protocol between 1991 and 2001 were reviewed.

A case of anthracosis presenting with mediastinal lymph nodes mimicking tuberculous lymphadenitis or malignancy.

Anthracosis is a form of pneumoconiosis caused by coal dust or by a smoky and polluted environment. Anthracosis often presents in pulmonary form; only rarely are extrathoracic, esophageal, and mediastinal anthracoses documented. We report a rare case of anthracosis with multiple mediastinal lymphadenopathy.

Metastatic cardiac myxoma.

A 22-year-old woman who had a history of three cardiac operations and a bilateral femoral embolectomy for recurrent cardiac myxoma and myxoma embolism, respectively, was accepted to our clinic with multiple immobile peripheral masses. One of them was compressing the left common femoral artery. This mass was extirpated.

Cephalic vein and hemodialysis fistula: surgeon's observation versus color Doppler ultrasonographic findings.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether preoperative color Doppler ultrasonography improves immediate success rates of arteriovenous fistulas for dialysis. One hundred twenty-four patients with chronic renal failure underwent color Doppler ultrasonographic examination of both arms, including the cephalic vein, before arteriovenous fistula construction. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: A and B.