Carotid plaque inflammation assessed by 2-deoxy-2-[F]fluoro-D-glucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA) levels are higher in symptomatic patients. The aim of this study was to assess correlations between F-FDG uptake on PET scan of carotid artery plaques, plasma levels of Lp-PLA, and cerebrovascular symptoms. The study included 45 consecutive patients (22 symptomatic, 23 asymptomatic) with >70% carotid stenosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Although the management of carotid disease is well established for symptomatic lesions ⩾70%, carotid revascularization for symptomatic low-grade (⩽50%) stenosis is not actually supported by data from randomized clinical trials. Such patients may occasionally have recurrent neurological symptoms despite optimal medical treatment owing to vulnerable plaques. In such cases, carotid artery stenting (CAS) may represent an option for treatment but this has not been tested in clinical trials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNLRP1 and NLRP3 inflammasomes might differentially mediate the chronic inflammatory response in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and aortic occlusive disease (AOD). We measure differential relative gene expression of NLRP1 and NLRP3 inflammasomes in aortic tissues from 30 patients undergoing AAA open repair compared to aortic biopsies from 30 patients undergoing surgery to treat AOD. Aortic wall samples from autopsy without aortic disease were used as controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNLRP1 and NLRP3 inflammasomes might differentially mediate the chronic inflammatory response in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and aortic occlusive disease (AOD). We measure differential relative gene expression of NLRP1 and NLRP3 inflammasomes in aortic tissues from 30 patients undergoing AAA open repair compared to aortic biopsies from 30 patients undergoing surgery to treat AOD. Aortic wall samples from autopsy without aortic disease were used as controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCarotid stenting (CAS) has been mainly offered to those patients considered at "high risk" for open carotid endarterectomy based on available data from large randomized clinical trials. However, several recent studies have called medical "high risk" into question for CAS indication. The REAL-1 trial evaluated the safety and perioperative and long-term effectiveness in patients with significant carotid artery stenosis with "high-risk" criteria treated with CAS and proximal protection device (MOMA) compared with those with standard surgical-risk features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Noninvasive techniques such as duplex ultrasound (DU) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) are valid alternatives in the preoperative evaluation of such patients. Our aim is to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CE-MRA and DU in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
Methods: Forty consecutive patients underwent DU, hybrid CE-MRA, and digital subtraction angiography (DSA).