Association of aortic wall thickness on contrast-enhanced chest CT with major cerebro-cardiac events.

Background: There is a significant association between aortic atherosclerosis and previous major cardiovascular events. Particularly, thoracic aortic atherosclerosis is closely related to the degree of coronary and carotid artery disease. Thus, there is a rationale for screening the thoracic aorta in patients who undergo a chest computed tomography (CT) for any clinical question, in order to detect patients at increased risk of cerebro-cardiovascular (CCV) events.

Percutaneous ultrasound-guided central venous catheters: the lateral in-plane technique for internal jugular vein access.

Purpose: To describe the possible ultrasound guidance techniques for the insertion of central venous catheters (CVCs), with emphasis particularly to the lateral short axis in-plane technique.

Methods: Numerous articles have shown significant benefits of using ultrasound guidance for venous access. Two main approaches to vein puncture are available, when considering visualization of the needle during its entry into the vein under the ultrasound beam: in-plane and out-of-plane, which can be combined with two types of vein visualization, placing the ultrasound probe on the vein long axis or short axis.