Treatment strategies and clinical aspects of lower limb edema following peripheral bypass surgery.

In selected patients who suffer from severe peripheral artery disease (PAD) a revascularization with a peripheral bypass might be considered. Postoperative edema is a well-known phenomenon following peripheral bypass surgery and is probably caused by multiple factors. Although postoperative edema causes discomfort to patients, the effects on the quality of life are unknown.

Fasciitis necroticans after elective hernia inguinal surgery.

Necrotising fasciitis is a rare but disastrous complication after elective surgery. We present two patients (both male, 58 and 18 years old) who developed necrotising fasciitis following elective inguinal hernia repair according to Lichtenstein. The importance of both recognition and time interval between symptom occurrence and surgical intervention is illustrated, emphasising the need for immediate action when necrotising fasciitis is suspected.

Minimally invasive vein harvesting in femoropopliteal bypass surgery: does using an old technique give new perspectives? Short report of five patients.

Background: Femoropopliteal bypass surgery is the most commonly performed type of peripheral bypass in vascular surgery. The great saphenous vein (GSV) is the preferred bypass conduit. Commonly used methods of GVS harvesting are related to morbidity, such as wound infection, skin necrosis, hematoma, and edema.

Anterior tibial artery aneurysm: Case report and literature review.

Introduction: We present a patient with a true anterior tibial artery aneurysm without any causative history.

Presentation Of Case: A 59 year old male was referred with a swelling on his left lateral ankle which he noticed 2 months ago, with symptoms of soaring pain. Additional radiological research showed a true arterial tibialis anterior aneurysm.

[A woman with a painful ulcer on the finger].

A 77-year-old woman was referred for recurrent infections of the fingertips. At the time of presentation, she had developed a painful ulcer on the right index finger due to onychotillomania, which is a compulsive picking or tearing at the nails.

Quality of life in perspective to treatment of postoperative edema after peripheral bypass surgery.

Background: To examine the effects of peripheral bypass surgery on patients' quality of life (QoL) as well as to compare two treatment modalities to reduce postoperative edema with regard to patients' QoL.

Methods: This was a randomized controlled trial set in the department of vascular surgery in a nonacademic teaching hospital. Ninety-three patients (mean age, 70 years; 33% Rutherford 5-6), enrolled between August 2006 and September 2009, who underwent peripheral bypass surgery (autologous 57, polytetrafluoroethylene 36).

Delayed primary closure of the septic open abdomen with a dynamic closure system.

Background: The major challenge in the management of patients with an infected open abdomen (OA) is to control septic peritonitis and intra-abdominal fluid secretion, and to facilitate repeated abdominal exploration, while preserving the fascia for delayed primary closure. We here present a novel method for closure of the infected OA, based on continuous dynamic tension, in order to achieve re-approximation of the fascial edges of the abdominal wall.

Methods: Eighteen cases with severe peritonitis of various origin (e.

[Time lost between stroke and carotid endarterectomy].

Objective: To establish whether measures taken to shorten the interval of time between a stroke and carotid endarterectomy (CEA) procedure at two Dutch hospitals had any effect.

Design: Retrospective and descriptive.

Method: Data were gathered on all patients with symptomatic narrowing of the carotid artery from a non-academic teaching hospital (Amphia Ziekenhuis in Breda) as well as from a university clinic dedicated to carotid abnormalities (University Medical Center Utrecht, UMCU).

Prospective randomized controlled trial to analyze the effects of intermittent pneumatic compression on edema following autologous femoropopliteal bypass surgery.

Background: Patients who undergo autologous femoropopliteal bypass surgery develop postoperative edema in the revascularized leg. The effects of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) to treat and to prevent postreconstructive edema were examined in this study.

Methods: In a prospective randomized trial, patients were assigned to one of two groups.

The role of plain radiographs in patients with acute abdominal pain at the ED.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the added value of plain radiographs on top of clinical assessment in unselected patients presenting with acute abdominal pain at the emergency department (ED).

Methods: In a multicenter prospective trial, patients with abdominal pain more than 2 hours and less than 5 days presented at the ED were evaluated clinically, and a diagnosis was made by the treating physician. Subsequently, all patients underwent supine abdominal and upright chest radiographs, after which the diagnosis was reassessed by the treating physician.

Endovascular Treatment of an Axillary Pseudoaneurysm Following a Traumatic Shoulder Dislocation.

A pseudoaneurysm following a shoulder dislocation is considered rare. We report here a case of an 82-yearold man who suffered from vascular and neurological injury due to an axillary pseudoaneurysm following anterior dislocation of the left shoulder. An emerging swelling in the shoulder region was caused by a hematoma and a slowly bleeding pseudoaneurysm in combination with reactive swelling of the soft tissues.

Pneumocephalus Following Severe Head Trauma.

It is important to be alert to the possibility of pneumocephalus in patients with head injury. Pneumocephalus is a potentially lethal complication in patients with craniofacial fractures following severe head trauma. A patient presented with intracranial air after he fell down from a height of 4 m.

Photodynamic therapy for cancer.

The therapeutic properties of light have been known for thousands of years, but it was only in the last century that photodynamic therapy (PDT) was developed. At present, PDT is being tested in the clinic for use in oncology--to treat cancers of the head and neck, brain, lung, pancreas, intraperitoneal cavity, breast, prostate and skin. How does PDT work, and how can it be used to treat cancer and other diseases?

Targeting tumor vasculature and cancer cells in orthotopic breast tumor by fractionated photosensitizer dosing photodynamic therapy.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a locally administered therapy currently being investigated in various clinical and preclinical settings. Tumor-host interaction is an important determinant of tumor biology and response to treatments. Here we report for the first time the effects of PDT on an orthotopic, murine mammary tumor model.

Vascular accumulation of a novel photosensitizer, MV6401, causes selective thrombosis in tumor vessels after photodynamic therapy.

The antivascular effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and their mechanisms are not clearly understood. Here, we examined the effects of PDT with a novel photosensitizer MV6401 on the microvasculature in a mammary tumor (MCaIV) grown in a murine dorsal skinfold chamber and in normal tissue controls. The mice were irradiated with light 15 min after i.