Merging medical humanism and technology.

Dr. René Gerónimo Favaloro (12 July 1923 to 29 July 2000) was an Argentinian cardiovascular surgeon who revolutionized the field with his pioneering contributions, the most remarkable being the standardization of the coronary artery bypass surgery, performed for the first time in 1967. This technique, today one of the most commonly performed major operations, improved and saved the lives of countless patients with ischemic heart disease throughout the world and gained him international recognition.

Effects of removing the adventitia on the mechanical properties of ovine femoral arteries in vivo and in vitro.

Background: The aims were to characterize in muscular arteries (a) the passive and active effects of the adventitia on vessel biomechanical properties and conduit function (CF), and (b) potential differences between the adventitial role in elastic and muscular arteries.

Methods And Results: Ovine femoral arteries were studied in vivo and in vitro (reduced smooth muscle-tone) in a circulation mock-up during hemodynamic conditions similar to those found in vivo. Pressure and diameter were assessed before and after removing the adventitia.

Reversal blood flow component as determinant of the arterial functional capability: theoretical implications in physiological and therapeutic conditions.

In several physiological, pathological, and therapeutic circumstances, the arterial blood flow is acutely modified, increasing, in some vascular segments the reversal (SSR) and oscillatory (SSO) components of the shear stress. Recently, in an in vivo model we found a relationship between acute changes in SSR and SSO, and variations in the arterial viscoelasticity. As the arterial viscoelasticity and diameter are the main determinants of the arterial buffering (BF) and conduit (CF) functions, changes in those functions could be expected associated with variations in SSR and SSO.

Effects of intra-aortic counterpulsation on aortic wall energetics and damping: in vivo experiments.

Intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP) could modify the arterial biomechanics; however, its effects on arterial wall properties have not been fully explored. This dynamical study was designed to characterize the pressure-dependent and smooth muscle-dependent effects of IABP on aortic wall energetics in an in vivo animal model. Intra-aortic balloon pumping (1:2) was performed in six anesthetized sheep in which aortic pressure and diameter signals were measured in basal, augmented (during balloon inflation), and assisted (postaugmented) beats.

Acute increase in reversal blood flow during counterpulsation is associated with vasoconstriction and changes in the aortic mechanics.

While the effects of increases in forward blood flow on the arterial diameter and elasticity are known, the effects of reversal flow on the arterial properties remain to be characterized. The intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP), the device most frequently used in circulatory support, acts generating changes in aortic flow (i.e.