Protective STA-MCA bypass to prevent brain ischemia during high-flow bypass surgery: case series of 10 patients.

Background: High-flow extracranial-intracranial bypass is associated with a significant risk of ischemic stroke. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of STA-MCA bypass preceding a high-flow bypass as a means of protecting the brain from ischemia during the high-flow bypass anastomosis in patients with otherwise untreatable aneurysms.

Materials And Method: This prospective study included 10 consecutive patients treated for complex/giant aneurysm using a previous combined STA-MCA bypass and high-flow EC-IC bypass between June 2016 and January 2018 when classical endovascular or microsurgical exclusion was estimated too risky.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound vs. CT angiography in fenestrated EVAR surveillance: a single-center comparison.

Purpose: To evaluate contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) as an effective alternative to computed tomographic angiography (CTA) during follow-up after fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of juxtarenal aortic aneurysms.

Methods: Between January 2008 and April 2011, 62 patients (all men; mean age 72 years) underwent fenestrated EVAR follow-up with both CTA and CEUS. In a retrospective analysis, the first CTA and CEUS postoperative examinations after EVAR were compared for endoleak detection, aneurysm sac diameter, and target vessel patency.

Two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography for atrioventricular accessory pathways persistent ventricular pre-excitation despite successful radiofrequency ablation.

Aims: The present study was undertaken to investigate the concordance between longitudinal two-dimensional (2D)-speckle-tracking data and endocardial mapping for localizing atrioventricular accessory pathways (AP), and whether longitudinal 2D-speckle-tracking imaging accurately identifies the contractile abnormalities associated with AP and the effect of radiofrequency ablation.

Methods And Results: Echocardiograms were repeated twice in 40 patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome (before and early after ablation) and in 40 healthy controls to obtain longitudinal 2D strain and strain rate data. The site of ablation was considered as the gold standard for the AP localization.

Quantitative mass spectrometry analysis using PAcIFIC for the identification of plasma diagnostic biomarkers for abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is characterized by increased aortic vessel wall diameter (>1.5 times normal) and loss of parallelism. This disease is responsible for 1-4% mortality occurring on rupture in males older than 65 years.

Functional mitral regurgitation: a link to pulmonary hypertension in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Background: Patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) may present with Pulmonary hypertension (PH) and functional mitral regurgitation (MR). Whether PH is linked to the presence of functional MR has not been investigated in HFpEF patients.

Methods And Results: Systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) and functional MR were assessed by 2-dimensional Doppler echocardiography in 70 ambulatory HFpEF patients and 70 hypertensive control subjects free of organic mitral valve lesions, significant valve disease, and comorbid conditions associated with PH.

Renal resistance index and its prognostic significance in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Background: Functional renal impairment is a common feature of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The link between functional renal impairment and HFpEF remains incompletely understood. With hypertension and diabetes as frequent co-morbidities, patients with HFpEF are at risk of developing intra-renal vascular hemodynamic alterations that may lead to functional renal impairment and impact on prognosis.

Ultrasonographic assessment of arterial cross-sectional area in the thoracic outlet on postural maneuvers measured with power Doppler ultrasonography in both asymptomatic and symptomatic populations.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and potential usefulness of power Doppler ultrasonography (PDU) in the assessment of changes in arterial cross-sectional area in the thoracic outlet during upper limb elevation.

Methods: Forty-four volunteers and 28 patients with a clinical diagnosis of arterial thoracic outlet syndrome were evaluated by B-mode imaging and PDU. Arterial cross-sectional area was assessed in the 3 compartments of the thoracic outlet with the arm alongside the body and at 90 degrees, 130 degrees, and 170 degrees of abduction.

Changes in renal blood flow reserve after angioplasty of renal artery stenosis in hypertensive patients.

Background: Intra-arterial Doppler is a recent technique which allows assessment of distal vascular disease using measurements of intrarenal blood flow velocities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate intrarenal hemodynamics and renal blood flow reserve before and after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) in hypertensive patients with unilateral atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis using intra-arterial Doppler.

Methods: Intra-arterial Doppler was performed during arteriography in 19 hypertensive patients (12 men; mean age, 64 +/- 8 years) in "normal" and in "stenotic" kidneys at baseline, on isosorbide dinitrate, and after selective intra-renal papaverine injection, before, and after PTA.