[Plaque morphology after arterial interventions in the New Zealand white rabbit--which model of restenosis is most suitable?].

Purpose: For evaluation of therapy for possible reduction of restenosis after PTA a suitable animal model is needed. The influence of different interventions on arterial plaque composition was analysed in New Zealand White Rabbits.

Material And Methods: The following interventions were performed in the infrarenal aorta of New Zealand White Rabbits (n = 42): a) Balloon denudation (BD) with and b) without 0.

Insulinoma and islet cell hyperplasia: value of the calcium intraarterial stimulation test when findings of other preoperative studies are negative.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of the intraarterial calcium test in localizing sources of hyperinsulinism that remain undetectable at preoperative morphologic studies.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-four patients with clinically proved endogenous hyperinsulinism due to tumorous insulin production were prospectively enrolled. They underwent ultrasound (US), computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, endoscopic US, abdominal arteriography, and a calcium test, in which insulin concentrations were measured in hepatic venous blood after selective intraarterial calcium stimulation.

[Chronopharmacokinetics of nadolol in patients with arterial hypertension].

The pharmacokinetics of nadolol in blood serum and its excretion in the urine were studied in 6 male patients (aged from 35 to 59 years) with arterial hypertension for 48 h and, respectively, 72 h after a single per os administration of nadolol in a dose of 80 mg in the morning (9.00 a.m.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms: treatment with juxtarenal placement of covered stent-grafts.

Purpose: To determine the technical feasibility and clinical outcome of juxtarenal placement of covered stent-grafts for endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms with a proximal neck less than 15 mm long.

Materials And Methods: In seven patients, abdominal aortic aneurysms with infrarenal necks 3-14 mm long were excluded with juxtarenal implantation of polyester-nitinol coknit stent-grafts. The proximal uncovered portion of the stent-graft (length, 12 mm) was placed across one or both orifices of the renal arteries.

[Contrast-enhanced MR cholangiography in percutaneous bile duct drainage].

Purpose: To evaluate MR-cholangiography after instillation of contrast media via indwelling biliary tubes.

Methods: In 8 patients with stenoses of the central bile ducts, physiological saline solution and diluted contrast media (Gd-DTPA, 5 mmol/l) were consecutively administered via an indwelling biliary tube. MR cholangiograms were obtained before and after saline injection using a HASTE-sequence and after administration of Gd-DTPA using a T1-weighted gradient echo sequence.

Multiplex PCR for simultaneous detection of the most frequent T cell receptor-delta gene rearrangements in childhood ALL.

A rapid and simple multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is described that is capable of identifying the six most frequent rearrangements of the T cell receptor (TCR)-delta gene segments in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The PCR products amplified in a single reaction are of different size for each TCR-delta gene rearrangement. Therefore, they are readily and unambiguously distinguished after agarose gel electrophoresis and assigned to a specific V-D-J gene rearrangement.

[Contrast media-associated nephropathy--pathogenesis and prevention].

Contrast media-associated nephrotoxicity continues to be a relevant cause of acute renal failure, especially in patients with pre-existing renal insufficiency. Alterations in renal hemodynamics and direct tubular toxicity by contrast media are the primary factors believed to be responsible for contrast media-associated nephrotoxicity. We review recent insights into the pathogenesis of this complication and summarize prophylactic strategies focussing on hydration, vasoactive pharmacological agents, and prophylactic hemodialysis'.

[Value of dacryocystography in localization diagnosis of lacrimal duct stenosis].

Purpose: Evaluation of dacryocystography in the preoperative localisation of stenosis of the lacrimal passage.

Method: The lacrimal system of 20 patients (25 eyes) suffering from lacrimal passage obstruction was examined either by conventional (n = 20) or by digital (n = 5) technique. Diagnostic imaging was evaluated concerning topographic Information of the pathologic lacrimal system, localisation of the level and differential diagnosis of the cause of the obstruction.

[Treatment of osteoid osteoma with CT-guided drilling and ethanol instillation].

History And Clinical Findings: For 6 months a 25-year-old man had been suffering from intermittent pain in the left upper leg, alleviated by aspirin. Physical examination was unremarkable: local pain was not elicited.

Investigations: Routine radiology and computed tomography confirmed the clinically suspected diagnosis of intracortical osteoid osteoma of the femur.

[The adjuvant use of the monoclonal antibody c7E3 Fab in peripheral arterial thrombolysis].

Thrombolysis of arterial occlusions has limitations, e.g. it requires extensive time for thrombolysis, occlusions may be resistant to lysis, and the rate of reocclusions may be high.

Phase-contrast MR angiography for detection of arteriosclerotic renal artery stenosis.

Purpose: To compare the accuracy of 3-D phase-contrast (PC) MR imaging with a 2-D time-of-flight (TOF) technique in the detection of arteriosclerotic renal artery stenosis.

Material And Methods: Twenty-two patients with 28 angiographically proven renal artery stenoses were examined in a prospective blinded fashion by using 2-D TOF MR angiography (MRA) with venous saturation (FLASH) and 3-D PC MRA. The renal arteries were subdivided into 3 segments and graded for the presence of stenoses on a scale of 0-4 by 3 radiologists in blind.

Percutaneous transhepatic intraductal biliary sonography for lymph node staging at 12.5 MHz in malignant bile duct obstruction: work in progress.

Purpose: To assess the value of intraductal ultrasound (US) for lymph node staging in malignant biliary obstruction.

Methods: Eighteen patients with malignant extrahepatic obstruction were imaged during percutaneous bile duct drainage with a mechanically rotating US transducer at 12.5 MHz.

Perspectives of coronary excimer laser angioplasty: multiplexing, saline flushing, and acoustic ablation control.

Background And Objective: Bubble formation, pressure wave generation, and cavitations constitute major factors influencing the outcome of clinical Excimer laser angioplasty. Thus, the rationale of this study was to determine the extent of pressure waves occurring during excimer laser ablation and to discuss possibilities that allow a less traumatic plaque removal in the coronary circulation.

Study Design/materials And Methods: Conventional and experimental Xenon-Chlorid-Excimer lasers emitting light at a wave-length of 308 nm and a pulse duration of 115 ns were used for testing of signals.

[The effect of long-term uncontrolled antihypertensive therapy on the echocardiographic signs of left-heart hypertrophy in patients with mild and moderate arterial hypertension].

The data are presented on the absence of a stable positive trend in echocardiographic characteristics of the left heart and intracardiac hemodynamics after 8 months of controlled antihypertensive therapy, 12-month follow-up and uncontrolled outpatient treatment. 12 months after discontinuation of controlled antihypertensive therapy arterial pressure was much higher than it was at the end of the treatment in patients taking antihypertensive drugs irregularly or not taking them at all. Intracardiac hemodynamics returned to the baseline.

Ablation characteristics of arterial vessel walls irradiated with the pulsed dye laser--an analysis of variance.

Background And Objective: Since most clinical laser angioplasties require the use of over-the-wire delivery systems, we studied the effects of pulsed dye laser energy (504 nm, 1.4 microseconds on arterial vessel walls in combination with a multifiber catheter system.

Material And Methods: Postmortem arterial segments (n = 368) were exposed under blood or saline.

[Hypothenar hammer syndrome as a rare cause of Raynaud syndrome].

A 25-year-old carpenter with severe localised Raynaud syndrome of the lateral three fingers of his right hand is described. The patient reported digital ischaemia caused by cold or vibration, and especially when both were present simultaneously. He was initially diagnosed with thrombangitis obliterans, but failed to respond to intravenous prostaglandin therapy, pentoxifyllin or aspirin.

Lipids in bone tumors assessed by magnetic resonance: chemical shift imaging and proton spectroscopy in vivo.

The methods of fat and water selective magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and localized 1H MR spectroscopy were evaluated in the course of 37 examinations on 27 primary bone tumors. These methods are capable of demonstrating small amounts of lipids inside the tumors and subtle edema in the adacent bone marrow, in contrast to the usually applied spin-echo and gradient-echo sequences providing signals dependent on the total proton density and on the relaxation times. The tumor masses of the malignant tumors were free of signals in the fat selective images, whereas in three out of six osteochondroma fat signals could be detected.

Covered stents for prevention of restenosis. Experimental and clinical results with different stent designs.

Rationale And Objectives: Metallic stents in small vessels go along with a significant risk of restenosis and reocclusion. Different models of stents and covering materials have been purported to prevent intraluminal neointimal proliferation by cover-based closure of the spaces in the wire mesh.

Methods: Tantalum stents covered with polyethylacrylate/polymethylmethacrylate (PEM) were implanted in the infrarenal aorta of six New Zealand white rabbits by aortotomy and compared with eight rabbits treated with uncovered tantalum stents.

[The popliteal artery entrapment syndrome in an older patient. Its diagnosis after unsuccessful laser-assisted percutaneous transluminal angioplasty].

History And Findings: A 52-year-old patient complained of progressively increasing pain in his left leg when walking. The pain-free walking distance was 50-100 m. He was smoking about 20 cigarettes daily.

[The Multicenter Captopril and the Quality of Life Study: the effect of antihypertensive agents from the basic groups on the quality of life of patients in different populations. The working group of the Multicenter Captopril and the Quality of Life Study].

This multicenter trial included 205 males aged 30-60 years with stable mild and moderate hypertension. 140 patients were from Moscow (140 patients), St. Petersburg, Kursk, Rostov (Russia); Kharkov, Donetsk (Ukraine); Baku (Azerbaijan).

Treatment of bile duct stones: value of laser lithotripsy delivered via percutaneous endoscopy.

Extraction of stones from the bile ducts via standard endoscopic techniques, a percutaneous transhepatic approach, or a T-tube track can be unsuccessful. We report our preliminary experience with a combination of percutaneous cholangioscopy and dye laser lithotripsy. Flash lamp-excited dye laser (504 nm) lithotripsy delivered by percutaneous cholangioscopy (12 F) was evaluated in 13 patients with stones in the bile ducts.

[Foreign bodies in the digestive tract].

In the past two years time 128 patients-prisoners, who had swallowed foreign bodies, have been observed. Six anchors and crosses, which had been stuck in the esophagus, were immediately and successfully removed endoscopically. Long rods and crosses (60 cases) situated mostly in the stomach or descending part of the duodenum were operated without any complications.

[The pharmacokinetics of propranolol and its conjugated metabolites in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and arterial hypertension with a one-time and course intake of the drug].

Pharmacokinetics of propranolol (P), 4-hydroxy-propranolol sulfate (4HOP-Sulf), and glucoronides of pharmacologically active S-enantiomer P (S-PG) and ballast R-enantiomer of P (R-PG) in the blood serum of 21 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and/or arterial hypertension has been studied at a single and course oral P administration. The values od AUC and T1/2 for potentially active 4HOP-Sulf were significantly higher than those for unchanged P at a single and course administration. The values od AUC and T1/2 for for S-PG were approximately three times higher than those for P-PG after both a single and course administration.

[Inadvertant suture fixation of a Swan-Ganz catheter to the pulmonary artery following heart surgery].

We report a patient undergoing redo cardiac surgery for combined replacement of the aortic and mitral valves. During the course of the operation, a Swan-Ganz catheter - positioned preoperatively - was accidentally fixed to the wall of the pulmonary artery. As this did not interfere with cardiac output measurement or the pulmonary artery pressure wave form, the fixation was not noticed until an attempt was made to remove the catheter.