Does stent overlap influence the patency rate of aortoiliac kissing stents?

Purpose: To determine if the position of kissing stents in the distal aorta has any influence on the patency rate.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 41 patients (22 men; median age 60.8 years, range 44-86) electively treated for atherosclerotic aortoiliac occlusive disease with angioplasty and kissing stents between January 1997 and January 2005.

Kissing stents for treatment of complex aortoiliac disease.

Objectives: to determine medium term technical and clinical success of kissing stents for aortoiliac occlusive disease.

Design: retrospective study.

Subjects: twenty-five patients presenting with intermittent claudication (IC) or critical limb ischaemia (CLI) due to aortoiliac disease (41 complex stenoses, 8 occlusions).

Revisiting the cardiac versus thoracic pump mechanism during cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The mechanism of forward blood flow due to external chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) remains controversial, with the main theories being based on either a cardiac, or thoracic pump mechanism. Both potential mechanisms are well investigated by echocardiographic assessment. In the present case, a postoperative complication of cardiac tamponade that was detected by a thoracoabdominal CT-scan, led to cardiac arrest with subsequent successful CPR over 15 min until definitive surgical management was performed.

Detection and characterization of intracranial aneurysms with MR angiography: comparison of volume-rendering and maximum-intensity-projection algorithms.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare volume rendering and maximum intensity projection as postprocessing techniques of MR angiography in the detection and characterization of intracranial aneurysms.

Materials And Methods: Three-dimensional time-of-flight MR angiography studies performed in 82 patients were retrospectively evaluated by two independent reviewers who were unaware of digital subtraction angiography findings, the standard of reference. Panoramic maximum-intensity-projection and volume-rendered angiograms were produced from each data set to investigate the presence of underlying aneurysms.

A novel vacuum device for extremity immobilisation during digital angiography: preliminary clinical experiences.

Our objective was to develop and evaluate a non-invasive device for rigid immobilisation during extremity angiography. The patented BodyFix immobilisation device (Medical Intelligence, Schwabmünchen, Germany) consists of a vacuum pump connected to special cushions and a plastic foil that covers the body part to be immobilised. First, the patient's extremity is covered by a thin plastic bag and then wrapped in one of the cushions, placed on the top of the therapy couch, and covered with the plastic foil.

3D MR angiography of renal arteries: comparison of volume rendering and maximum intensity projection algorithms.

Purpose: To compare volume rendering (VR) and maximum intensity projection (MIP) as postprocessing techniques of magnetic resonance (MR) angiography for detection and quantification of renal artery stenosis.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-seven patients underwent three-dimensional contrast material-enhanced MR angiography of the renal arteries with a 1.5-T imager.

Virtual endoscopy for planning neuro-endoscopic intraventricular surgery.

To evaluate the usefulness of virtual endoscopy (VE) in planning neuroendoscopic intraventricular surgeries, the technique was applied in 20 of 22 consecutive procedures. Thirteen endoscopic third ventriculostomies (ETV) in 12 patients, 3 endoscopic colloid cyst removals, 1 third ventricular arachnoidal cyst fenestration, 1 endoscopic ventricul-cysto-cisternostomy (suprasellar arachnoidal cyst), 1 endoscopic tumor biopsy, one third ventricular gross total tumor removal and 2 septostomies at the foramen of Monro due the septal occlusion were performed. Contrast medium-enhanced MR images (3DMPRAGE, Siemens, Germany) were semi-automatically segmented with a surface-rendering technique ("Navigator" software, General Electric Medical, Buc, France) to produce the virtual endoluminal views.

Color and pulsed Doppler ultrasound findings in normally functioning transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts.

Objective: To evaluate blood flow changes inside normally functioning transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS), using color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) and pulsed Doppler ultrasound (PDUS).

Methods: A total of 72 patients (mean age 54, range 36-78 years) underwent TIPS placement, portal angiography, CDUS and PDUS examinations. Measurements inside the stent were taken at the portal side, at the central part and at the venous end of the TIPS.

Treatment of Stanford type B aortic dissection with stent-grafts: preliminary results.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and safety of endovascular stent-graft placement in treating Stanford type B aortic dissection.

Materials And Methods: Seven patients underwent endovascular stent-graft placement for type B aortic dissection. Five patients had acute and two had chronic dissection.

Computer-assisted neurosurgery by using a noninvasive vacuum-affixed dental cast that acts as a reference base: another step toward a unified approach in the treatment of brain tumors.

Object: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of the Vogele-Bale-Hohner (VBH) mouthpiece, which is attached to the patient's upper jaw by negative pressure, for patient-image registration and for tracking the patient's head during image-guided neurosurgery.

Methods: A dynamic reference frame (DRF) is reproducibly mounted on the mouthpiece. Reference points, optimally distributed and attached to the mouthpiece, are used for registration in the patient's absence on the day before surgery.

Virtual endoscopy for planning endoscopic third ventriculostomy procedures.

Virtual endoscopy was used to plan 10 endoscopic third ventriculostomy procedures in 9 patients suffering from occlusive hydrocephalus due to idiopathic aqueductal stenosis and tumors. The patients were 4 children (4-14 years, mean age: 9 years) and 5 adults (21-38 years, mean age: 29 years). The aim of the study was to preoperatively evaluate the individual intraventricular and vascular endoscopic anatomy at the floor of the third ventricle based on virtual endoscopic images.

Virtual neuroendoscopy, a comparative magnetic resonance and anatomical study.

We evaluated the usefulness and reliability of intraventricular virtual neuroendoscopy based on a comparative anatomical study. Virtual intraventricular endoscopic images were calculated from 3D magnetic resonance images in five anatomic specimens. Contiguous 1.

[Ruptures of the medial gastrocnemius muscle: diagnosis with high resolution ultrasound].

Aim: Evaluation of high resolution ultrasound to diagnose rupture of the medial head of gastrocnemius muscle in patients with uncharacteristic calf pain.

Method: 66 patients with clinically unclear calf pain were examined in a prospective study.

Results: Out of 66 patients, 51 showed sonographic criteria of a partial rupture of the medial gastrocnemius head.

Sonographic appearance of an appendix carcinoma.

Malignant appendix tumours are rare entities. Especially adenocarcinomas, which only appear in about 10% of appendix tumours, are very seldom. Preoperative diagnosis is very difficult due to a lack of typical clinical signs and a clinical appearance mimicking perforated appendicitis.

The Austrian Academic Computer Network and its usefulness for teleradiology.

To study the value of the Austrian Academic Computer Network (ACOnet) for teleradiology, 1740 test image data-sets and 620 image data-sets were exchanged between the departments of diagnostic radiology of the Universities of Innsbruck and Graz using the ACOnet service. Data transmission was reliable and fast with an average transfer capacity of 170 kByte/s (range 94-341). During the test phase, no major problems with image transfer occurred.

[ACOnet (Austrian Academic Computer Network) as data carrier for teleradiologic consultations].

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of image transfer for teleradiologic consultations using the Austrian Academic Computer Network (ACOnet). The ACOnet corresponds between the main universities to a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) with a transfer rate of 4 Mbps. Its use is free of charge for university institutions.

MR findings in tibial adamantinoma. A case report.

Adamantinoma of the long bones is a rare skeletal tumor and its MR features have seldom been reported. It is difficult to distinguish from other bone lesions (such as osteofibrous dysplasia or osteosarcoma) by means of conventional radiography and CT. MR imaging, however, may be useful in differentiating adamantinoma from such lesions.

[Virtual CT colonoscopy. Examination technique, limitations and perspectives].

Virtual CT-colonoscopy is a post-processing method which allows for reconstruction of inner bowel surface structures from helical CT datasets. The reconstructed images simulate the views which are known from fiberoptic endoscopy. Since colorectal cancer is the second main cause of death in USA and Europe today and since recent screening recommendations are often ignored by the public, a non-invasive or minimal-invasive procedure for colonic evaluation would offer some benefits.

Virtual computed tomography gastroscopy: a new technique.

Background And Study Aims: The aim of the present study was to establish a suitable method for virtual computed tomography (CT) gastroscopy.

Patients And Methods: Three-millimeter helical CT scans of a pig stomach were obtained after air insufflation and instillation of diluted diatrizoic acid (Gastrografin), and with double contrast. In addition, three patients with gastric tumors were studied after ingestion of an effervescent agent (Duplotrast, 6 g) and intravenous injection of hyoscine butylbromide (Buscopan, 1 ml).

[Open questions on the topic of teleradiology from the current viewpoint].

A review on the theoretical challenges and potential risks of teleradiology is given. Based on the authors two years clinical experience and the current literature unsolved problems are discussed, which are to a smaller extent the technical implementation but much more the still missing regulation of various concomitant circumstances.

[Virtual endoscopy with post-processing helical CT data sets].

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to test a newly developed, post-processing software for virtual CT endoscopic methods. Virtual endoscopic images were generated from helical CT data sets in the region of the shoulder joint (n = 2), the tracheobronchial system (n = 3), the nasal sinuses (n = 2), the colon (n = 2), and the common carotid artery n = 1). Software developed specifically for virtual endoscopy ("Navigator") was used which, after a previous threshold value selection, makes the reconstruction of internal body surfaces possible by an automatic segmentation process.