Utility of a Suture-Mediated Closure System for Large Bore Arterial Access During Challenging Liver Intra-Arterial Catheters Implantation.

Purpose: To describe and study the utility of vascular suture-mediated closure systems for large bore arterial access during challenging implantation of liver intra-arterial catheters taking as a reference the conventional procedure involving patients without challenging anatomy.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2017 and January 2019, 61 consecutive patients underwent 65 intra-arterial catheter IAC implantations for colorectal cancer. Twenty-three procedures (35%) considered by the operators with challenging coeliac trunk angulations were treated using a vascular suture technique where a 6-F introducer was used, the other patients were treated with a conventional 4F access technique.

In Vivo Feasibility of Arterial Embolization with Permanent and Absorbable Suture: The FAIR-Embo Concept.

Purpose: Arterial embolization has been shown to be effective and safe for the management of bleeding, especially for postpartum and pelvic traumatic bleeding. We propose to evaluate the proof of concept of feasibility and effectiveness of arterial embolization with absorbable and non-absorbable sutures in a porcine model.

Materials And Methods: In the acute setting (n = 1), several different arteries (mesenteric, splenic, pharyngeal, kidney) were embolized using non-absorbable sutures (NAS): Mersutures™ braided sutures (polyethylene terephthalate).

Virtual reconstruction of paranasal sinuses from CT data: A feasibility study for forensic application.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report the feasibility of computed modelization and reconstitution of the paranasal sinuses, before and after trauma, from CT data.

Materials And Methods: We modeled and reconstructed the paranasal sinuses of two patients (A and B), before and after trauma, using two different softwares (3DSlicer and Blender). Both patients had different numbers and locations of fractures.

Tangential cranial ballistic impact: An illustration of the limitations of post-mortem CT scan?

Post-mortem imaging has become more frequently used in forensic procedures, notably in a ballistic context. Despite many advances in this field, the interpretation of computed tomography (CT) can be a very complex matter. Our case illustrates the difficulties of interpretation after quasi-tangential cranial ballistic impact and keyhole wounds.

Diagnostic value of unenhanced postmortem computed tomography in the detection of traumatic abdominal injuries.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic capabilities of unenhanced postmortem computed tomography (UPMCT) in detecting traumatic abdominal injuries.

Material And Methods: Cases of traumatic death with both UPMCT and classical autopsy were collected retrospectively from our institution "virtopsy" database in a period of 5 years. Cadavers with gunshot injuries were excluded.

Droplet microfluidics for synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology is an interdisciplinary field that aims to engineer biological systems for useful purposes. Organism engineering often requires the optimization of individual genes and/or entire biological pathways (consisting of multiple genes). Advances in DNA sequencing and synthesis have recently begun to enable the possibility of evaluating thousands of gene variants and hundreds of thousands of gene combinations.

[Segmental approach to congenital heart diseases: Principles and applications to prenatal imaging].

This pictorial essay will initially present the origin, definitions, objectives and main principles of the segmental approach to congenital heart diseases. Then, through ultrasound scans iconography we will consider its practical applications to prenatal screening. Eventually, through both ultrasound and MRI cases, we will discuss its potential use in fetal diagnostic evaluation.

Multimodality imaging of aortic coarctation: From the fetus to the adolescent.

Aortic coarctation is a local narrowing of the aortic lumen, which is located at the level of the isthmus in 95% of patients. Aortic coarctation accounts for 5 to 8% of all congenital heart diseases. It may have an acute presentation in the form of heart failure in the neonate or may be discovered incidentally in adult because of severe treatment-resistant hypertension.

Detection of pulmonary and coronary artery anomalies in tetralogy of Fallot using non-ECG-gated CT angiography.

Objectives: To evaluate the use of non-ECG-gated computed tomography (CT) angiography to describe pulmonary and coronary defects in patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).

Patients And Methods: This retrospective study was carried out on TOF patients having undergone pre-operative non-ECG-gated CT angiography between February 2007 and September 2012. The following clinical parameters were recorded: mean age at CT angiography, sex, the existence of genetic disease and the need to sedate the patient prior to CT angiography.

Cardiac CT or MRI in pediatric practice: Which one to choose?

The different factors involved in the choice of the best cardiovascular imaging examination for pediatric patients are justification, radiation protection, sedation, resolutions (spatial and contrast), morphology or function, intervention and contrast enhancement. Computed tomography is preferable for all coronary artery conditions, any arterial or venous abnormalities in newborns and infants and in the preoperative assessment for tetralogy of Fallot. Magnetic resonance imaging is used for any tumoral or functional assessment, cardiomyopathy or arrhythmia or if the child's participation and/or size of the structures being examined allows using this technique.

A Droplet Microfluidic Platform for Automating Genetic Engineering.

We present a water-in-oil droplet microfluidic platform for transformation, culture and expression of recombinant proteins in multiple host organisms including bacteria, yeast and fungi. The platform consists of a hybrid digital microfluidic/channel-based droplet chip with integrated temperature control to allow complete automation and integration of plasmid addition, heat-shock transformation, addition of selection medium, culture, and protein expression. The microfluidic format permitted significant reduction in consumption (100-fold) of expensive reagents such as DNA and enzymes compared to the benchtop method.

A droplet-to-digital (D2D) microfluidic device for single cell assays.

We have developed a new hybrid droplet-to-digital microfluidic platform (D2D) that integrates droplet-in-channel microfluidics with digital microfluidics (DMF) for performing multi-step assays. This D2D platform combines the strengths of the two formats-droplets-in-channel for facile generation of droplets containing single cells, and DMF for on-demand manipulation of droplets including control of different droplet volumes (pL-μL), creation of a dilution series of ionic liquid (IL), and parallel single cell culturing and analysis for IL toxicity screening. This D2D device also allows for automated analysis that includes a feedback-controlled system for merging and splitting of droplets to add reagents, an integrated Peltier element for parallel cell culture at optimum temperature, and an impedance sensing mechanism to control the flow rate for droplet generation and preventing droplet evaporation.

Micropallet arrays for the capture, isolation and culture of circulating tumor cells from whole blood of mice engrafted with primary human pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are important biomarkers of cancer progression and metastatic potential. The rarity of CTCs in peripheral blood has driven the development of technologies to isolate these tumor cells with high specificity; however, there are limited techniques available for isolating target CTCs following enumeration. A strategy is described to capture and isolate viable tumor cells from whole blood using an array of releasable microstructures termed micropallets.

Isolation and in vitro culture of rare cancer stem cells from patient-derived xenografts of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Described is the construction of a large array of releasable microstructures (micropallets) along with screening and isolation protocols for sorting rare, approximately 1 in 10,000, cancer stem cells (CSCs) from a heterogeneous cell population. A 10.1 × 7.

Microfabricated arrays for splitting and assay of clonal colonies.

A microfabricated platform was developed for highly parallel and efficient colony picking, splitting, and clone identification. A pallet array provided patterned cell colonies which mated to a second printing array composed of bridging microstructures formed by a supporting base and attached post. The posts enabled mammalian cells from colonies initially cultured on the pallet array to migrate to corresponding sites on the printing array.

Isolation and manipulation of living adherent cells by micromolded magnetic rafts.

A new strategy for magnetically manipulating and isolating adherent cells with extremely high post-collection purity and viability is reported. Micromolded magnetic elements (termed microrafts) were fabricated in an array format and used as culture surfaces and carriers for living, adherent cells. A poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) polymer containing well dispersed magnetic nanoparticles was developed for creating the microstructures by molding.

Transparent magnetic photoresists for bioanalytical applications.

Microfabricated devices possessing magnetic properties are of great utility in bioanalytical microdevices due to their controlled manipulation with external magnets. Current methods for creating magnetic microdevices yield a low-transparency material preventing light microscopy-based inspection of biological specimens on the structures. Uniformly transparent magnetic photoresists were developed for microdevices that require high transparency as well as consistent magnetism across the structure.