A novel balloon-assisted technique to secure visceral catheterization during a chimney endovascular repair of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in a centenarian patient.

A 100-year-old male patient was admitted with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm due to type IA endoleak. Given the proximity of the ruptured site to the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and renal arteries, a ChEVAR was indicated. Catheterization of the target visceral vessels was a challenging procedural step because of an intensely tortuous thoracic aorta.

Characteristics of an outpatient chronic hepatitis B virus infection cohort.

Objective: To characterize a chronic hepatitis B cohort based on initial and follow-up clinical evaluations.

Methods: A retrospective and descriptive analysis of clinical and laboratory data from chronic HBsAg adult carriers, without HIV, unexposed to treatment, with at least two outpatient visits, between February 2006 and November 2012. Fisher´s exact test, χ², Wilcoxon, Spearman, multiple comparisons and Kappa tests were applied, the level of significance adopted was 5%, with a 95% confidence interval.

Safety and immunovirologic outcomes with maraviroc combination regimens in patients with a history of past treatment failures and virologic resistance in Brazil: an open-label, multicenter phase 3b study.

Maraviroc is a first-in-class chemokine coreceptor type-5 (CCR5) antagonist with demonstrated immunovirologic activity in treatment-experienced (TE) patients with CCR5 (R5)-tropic HIV-1; however, experience in regimens containing newer antiretroviral agents is limited. The primary objective of this 96-week open-label, noncomparative, multicenter Phase 3b study (NCT00478231) was to assess the safety of maraviroc in combination with optimized background therapy (OBT), which could include recently introduced agents such as darunavir and raltegravir in TE patients in Brazil with R5 HIV-1 and limited therapeutic options. Immunovirologic activity was a secondary endpoint.

Imbalance between endothelial progenitors cells and microparticles in HIV-infected patients naive for antiretroviral therapy.

Background: Cardiovascular events have been reported among HIV-infected patients following antiretroviral therapy. However, the role of HIV itself in determining vascular damage is less described. Chronic inflammatory state might impair some regulatory endothelium properties leading to its activation, apoptosis or erosion.

Nutritional and clinical status, and dietary patterns of people living with HIV/AIDS in ambulatory care in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Introduction: Nutrition currently plays a key role in the treatment of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), especially in the case of metabolic alterations due to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which could be related to cardiovascular diseases (CD).

Objective: to describe the nutritional and clinical status, and the quality of diet of PLHA.

Methods: It is a cross-sectional study involving a network of ambulatory care facilities for PLHA in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Lipid profile, cardiovascular risk factors and metabolic syndrome in a group of AIDS patients.

Background: Since the advent of AIDS, the anti-HIV therapy has developed significantly, including the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and the disease acquired a chronic characteristic. However, after the introduction of HAART, several metabolic alterations were observed, mainly related to the lipid profile.

Objectives: to evaluate and compare lipid profiles, analyze cardiovascular risk, describe the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in AIDS patients with or without HAART.

Primary antiretroviral drug resistance among HIV type 1-infected individuals in Brazil.

Infection with drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has been documented in all countries that have surveyed for it and may result in an unfavorable response to therapy. The prevalence and characteristics of individuals with transmitted resistance to antiretroviral drugs have been scarcely described in Brazil. We performed antiretroviral resistance testing prior to initiation of therapy in 400 subjects enrolled from 20 centers in 13 Brazilian cities between March and September 2007.

Neurotoxoplasmosis diagnosis for HIV-1 patients by real-time PCR of cerebrospinal fluid.

Encephalitis caused by Toxoplasma gondii is the most common cause of central nervous system damage in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Toxoplasma may infect any of the brain cells, thus leading to non-specific neurotoxoplasmosis clinical manifestations including focused or non-focused signs and symptoms of central nervous system malfunction. Clinical development ranges from insidious display during weeks to experiencing acute general confusion or ultimately fatal onset.

Less sensitive HIV-1 enzyme immunoassay as an adjuvant method for monitoring patients receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Viral suppression after antiretroviral therapy is monitored by determining plasma HIV-1 through viral load assays. However, such assays only provide HIV-1 replication rates at the moment samples are drawn and do not reflect any trend in viremia fluctuation preceding sample collection. The objective of this study was to correlate the optical density (OD) of the less sensitive HIV-1 enzyme immunoassay (EIA), used in the serologic testing algorithm for recent HIV seroconversion, with viral loads in a group of HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy.

Ganciclovir-resistant, cytomegalic interstitial lung disease in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

A patient with systemic lupus erythematosus developed interstitial lung disease initially felt to be a manifestation of the disease but that, on further workup, proved to be a manifestation of cytomegalic disease resistant to ganciclovir. Treatment with foscarnet was associated with prompt improvement.