Mortality and reoperations in survivors operated on for acute type A aortic dissection and implications for catheter-based or hybrid interventions.

Objective: This study investigated late outcomes (mortality, reoperations) and their associated predictors after operations for acute type A aortic dissection. The role catheter-based and hybrid interventions is discussed.

Methods: All hospital survivors operated on for acute type A aortic dissection from 1990 through 2009 were reviewed, with cross-sectional follow-up.

Mortality in acute type A aortic dissection: validation of the Penn classification.

Background: Intraoperative and in-hospital mortality after surgery for acute type A dissection depends largely on preoperative conditions, specifically the presence of localized or generalized ischemia. Recently, the Penn classification of patients with acute type A aortic dissection has been described. The primary aim was to validate the Penn classification and to investigate preoperative variables related to mortality.

Effects of combined treatment with pravastatin and ursodeoxycholic acid on hepatic cholesterol metabolism.

Background: Treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid and also, to some degree, statins reduces cholesterol saturation of bile. The present study aimed [1] to study the effects of combined treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid and pravastatin on hepatic cholesterol metabolism and [2] to evaluate if the addition of pravastatin to ursodeoxycholic acid treatment has beneficial effects on the lipid composition of gallbladder bile in gallstone patients.

Materials And Methods: Nineteen patients with cholesterol gallstones were subjected to combined treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid (500 mg bid) and pravastatin (20 mg bid) for three weeks before cholecystectomy.