Are bad health and pain making us grumpy? An empirical evaluation of reporting heterogeneity in rating health system responsiveness.

In recent years, the concept of responsiveness has been put forward as one desirable measure of the performance of health systems. Responsiveness can be defined as a system's ability to respond to the legitimate expectations of potential users regarding non-health enhancing aspects of care. However, since responsiveness is evaluated by patients on a categorical scale, their self-evaluation can be affected by the phenomenon of reporting heterogeneity.

Cryopreserved autologous saphenous vein for staged treatment of bilateral popliteal aneurysms: report of three cases.

Popliteal artery aneurysms are the most common aneurysmal disease of the lower extremity. Although endovascular solutions are gaining consensus, open surgery with interposition grafting remains the standard of care. The great saphenous vein (GSV) is the most commonly used conduit and shows the best long-term results.

Comparing outcomes of carotid endarterectomy with international benchmarks: audit from an Italian vascular surgery department.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in the current practice of our department of vascular surgery with international benchmarks.

Methods: In-patient data from 488 CEA performed in both symptomatic 145 (29.7%) and asymptomatic 343 (70.

Effectiveness and safety of carotid endarterectomy under remifentanil.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) with conscious sedation under remifentanil (Remifentanil anesthesia - RA) vs conventional loco-regional anesthesia (Conventional-LRA) in the current practice of a vascular surgery unit.

Methods: We introduced the ''Remifentanil-RA'' in our practice according to a two-step protocol. In the first step we performed a pilot prospective study to assess the procedure's safety and reproducibility in our setting on 60 consecutive patients with symptomatic and/or high-grade (>70%) internal carotid artery stenosis and alternately assigning them either to ''Remifentanil-RA'' or ''Conventional-LRA'' CEA.

Use of dose-volume histograms and biophysical models to compare 2D and 3D irradiation techniques for non-small cell lung cancer.

For non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), unsatisfactory local control (LC) still remains an important cause of failure. It has been suggested that improved LC can be achieved with both higher radiation dosage and adequate target coverage. Modern three-dimensional treatment planning systems (3D-TPSs) offer many tools for planning optimization.