5-Lipoxygenase pathway in experimental abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Objective: The impact of leukotriene production by the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) pathway in the pathophysiology of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) has been debated. Moreover, a clear mechanism through which 5-LO influences AAA remains unclear.

Approach And Results: Aneurysm formation was attenuated in 5-LO(-/-) mice, and in lethally irradiated wild-type mice reconstituted with 5-LO(-/-) bone marrow in an elastase perfusion model.

Adenosine 2A receptor modulates inflammation and phenotype in experimental abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Activation of the adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR) reduces inflammation in models of acute injury but contribution in development of chronic abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is unknown. Elastase perfusion to induce AAA formation in A2AR-knockout (A2ARKO) and C57BL6/J wild-type (WT) mice resulted in nearly 100% larger aneurysms in A2ARKO compared to WT at d 14 (P<0.05), with evidence of greater elastin fragmentation, more immune cell infiltration, and increased matrix metallatoproteinase (MMP) 9 expression (P<0.

Experimental abdominal aortic aneurysm formation is mediated by IL-17 and attenuated by mesenchymal stem cell treatment.

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation is characterized by inflammation, smooth muscle activation and matrix degradation. This study tests the hypothesis that CD4+ T-cell-produced IL-17 modulates inflammation and smooth muscle cell activation, leading to the pathogenesis of AAA and that human mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatment can attenuate IL-17 production and AAA formation.

Methods And Results: Human aortic tissue demonstrated a significant increase in IL-17 and IL-23 expression in AAA patients compared with control subjects as analyzed by RT-PCR and ELISA.

Development of a novel murine model of aortic aneurysms using peri-adventitial elastase.

Background: Our aim was to establish a novel model of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) in mice using application of peri-adventitial elastase.

Methods: C57BL/6J male mice underwent infrarenal peri-adventitial application of either (1) sodium chloride (control; n = 7), (2) porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE; n = 14), or (3) PPE and doxycycline (PPE + doxycycline 200 mg/kg; n = 11) for 14 days. Aortas were analyzed by video micrometry, immunohistochemistry, qualitative polymerase chain reaction, and zymography.

Previous percutaneous coronary intervention increases morbidity after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Background: We hypothesized that the incidence of previous percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is increasing and that prior PCI influences patient morbidity and mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods: A total of 34,316 patients underwent isolated CABG operations at 16 different statewide, institutions from 2001 to 2008. Patients were stratified into prior PCI (n = 4346; 12.

Albumin is a better predictor of outcomes than body mass index following coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objective: Body mass index (BMI) influences risk in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients, but albumin level is not collected by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons database. We postulate that preoperative albumin is a better predictor of mortality than BMI following CABG.

Methods: BMI from patients with serum albumin level within 6 months of isolated CABG during 1995-2010 from our institutional databases were identified.

Bone marrow-derived MCP1 required for experimental aortic aneurysm formation and smooth muscle phenotypic modulation.

Objectives: This study tested the hypothesis that monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP1) is required for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and smooth muscle phenotypic modulation in a mouse elastase perfusion model.

Methods: Infrarenal aortas of C57BL/6 (wild type [WT]) and MCP1 knockout (KO) mice were analyzed at 14 days after perfusion. Key cellular sources of MCP1 were identified using bone marrow transplantation.

Have thoracic endografting outcomes improved since US Food and Drug Administration approval?

Background: Thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR) is gaining acceptance since Food and Drug Administration approval in 2005. We hypothesize that, compared with open repair (OPEN), mortality and complication rate after TEVAR have continued to improve.

Methods: All patients who underwent thoracic and (or) thoracoabdominal aneurysm repair from 2005 to 2007 in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample were examined.

Robot-assisted mitral valve repair: a single institution review.

Objective: Mitral valve repair (MVR) is the definitive therapy for mitral myxomatous degeneration. Median sternotomy has been the traditional approach to repair until the advent of the da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA).