Publications by authors named "Georgios A Pitoulias"

Objective: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the efficacy of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of pelvic vein insufficiency (PVI).

Results: Seven studies comprised of 802 patients were included. Of these studies, 5 utilised transvaginal ultrasound (TVU), 1 utilised transabdominal ultrasound (TAU) and 1 utilised both ultrasounds as diagnostic tool .

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Article Synopsis
  • This study examines the long-term effects of elective Endovascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR) on the common iliac arteries (CIAs) using various modern aortic endografts in a cohort of 168 patients.* -
  • Over a 5-year follow-up, significant increases in the diameter (11.7% at 24 months, 22.8% at 60 months) and length of CIAs were observed, indicating a concerning progression of aneurysmal disease.* -
  • The research found that increased CIA dilatation significantly predicted long-term EVAR failures, highlighting the need for comprehensive follow-up to ensure ongoing effectiveness of the procedure.*
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Purpose: Regional anaesthesia techniques provide highly effective alternative to general anaesthesia. Existing evidence on the effect of spinal anaesthesia (SA) on cardiac diastolic function is scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a single-injection, low-dose SA on left ventricular end-diastolic pressures (LVEDP) using echocardiography in euvolaemic patients undergoing elective vascular surgery.

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Existing evidence of the effect of spinal anesthesia (SA) on cardiac systolic function is scarce and inconclusive. This study aimed to evaluate the effects induced by a single injection of SA for elective vascular surgery on left (LV) and right (RV) ventricular systolic performance using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). A prospective study.

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Intravascular foreign body embolization is a potential complication of any vascular operation. Placement of a central venous catheter (CVC) is a common procedure, especially during surgery, hemodialysis, or in critically ill patients. The complete loss of the introducing guidewire into the circulation is a rare complication, with the majority of cases identified immediately or shortly after the procedure.

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Purpose: The iliac veins are the least frequent location for venous aneurysms, with only a few cases described globally. The etiology and clinical presentation of this extremely rare entity is diverse and unclear and no treatment consensus has been reached yet. Our purpose is to present an interesting iliac vein aneurysm (IVA) case that we treated in our department, with a brief review of the literature.

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Purpose: This study aims to investigate whether routine screening for silent pulmonary embolism (PE) can be justified in patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 201 patients with lower-extremity DVT admitted to the vascular surgery department of a single tertiary university center between 2019 and 2023. All patients underwent clinical evaluation, basic laboratory exams, a whole-leg colored duplex ultrasound, and a computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA), to screen for an occult, underlying PE.

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The aim of the study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of rotational atherectomy-assisted balloon angioplasty (BTK-RA) for the treatment of isolated below the knee (BTK) atherosclerotic lesions and to compare the outcomes to plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA). Between January 2020 and September 2023, 96 consecutive patients with chronic limb threatening ischemia (CTLI) and isolated BTK-lesions underwent POBA (group A) or BTK-RA (group B). The primary outcome measures were: periprocedural technical success, primary patency, postoperative increase of the ankle branchial index (ABI), target lesion revascularization (TLR), limb salvage, minor amputation and death.

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Endovascular aortic aneurysm sealing (EVAS) with the Nellix endograft was initially considered a groundbreaking and acceptable alternative to conventional endovascular aortic aneurysm repair, with encouraging initial results. However, long-term follow-up has revealed a high incidence of endograft-related complications, such as caudal migration and type Ia endoleaks, indicating the need for reintervention. Managing failed EVAS remains challenging and is an ongoing topic of discussion, especially for high-risk patients.

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Objective: To evaluate in vitro the performance of in vivo published covered or bare metal chimney stents (ChSs) in combination with the Endurant II abdominal endograft (Medtronic) as the only CE approved main graft (MG) in the treatment of juxtarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms with the chimney endovascular aneurysm repair (chEVAR) technique.

Methods: Bench top experimental study. A silicon flow model with adjustable physiological simulating conditions and patient based anatomy was used to test nine different MG-ChS combinations: Advanta V12 (Getinge); BeGraft (Bentley); VBX (Gore & Associates Inc.

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Purpose: A variety of last-generation endografts are currently available for standard endovascular repair (EVAR) of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). The purpose of this study is to report the preliminary clinical outcomes of the Minos trimodular stent-graft system, which was recently introduced to the European market.

Materials And Methods: Between February 2020 and 2022, we treated 41 consecutive AAA patients (mean age 72.

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Purpose: To measure the long-term proximal aortic neck dilatation (AND) after elective endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) with a variety of contemporary, third-generation, endograft devices.

Materials And Methods: This is a noninterventional prospective cohort study of 157 patients that underwent standard EVAR with self-expanding abdominal endografts. Patients' recruitment lasted from 2013 to 2017, and postoperative follow-up was up to 5 years.

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Objective: To provide an updated systematic literature review summarizing current evidence on aortic neck dilatation (AND) after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) in patients with infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Methods: An extensive electronic search in major electronic databases was conducted between January 2000 and December 2021. Eligible for inclusion were observational studies that followed up with patients (n ≥ 20) undergoing EVAR with self-expanding endografts, for 12 or more months, evaluated AND with computed tomography angiography and provided data on relevant outcomes.

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Renal artery aneurysms (RAAs) are rare lesions with a prevalence of less than 1% in the general population. Renal arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are rare lesions with an estimated incidence of less than 0.04%.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to identify factors that impact the effectiveness of rotational atherectomy in treating femoral-popliteal atherosclerosis, noting significant controversies around its use.
  • Data was gathered from the MORPHEAS registry involving 113 patients, focusing on complications like flow-limiting dissection and thromboembolism related to anatomical features and patient conditions.
  • Results showed that diabetes and specific lesion characteristics, such as length and location, significantly increased the risk of complications, especially in patients with occlusions in the SFA-popliteal adductor canal.
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  • There is a concern linking paclitaxel-coated devices to increased mortality over five years, prompting a study on alternative treatments.
  • The study involves patients with specific arterial disease being randomly assigned to either paclitaxel or sirolimus-coated balloon therapy, measuring outcomes like procedural success and complications.
  • Preliminary results with six patients show safety and potential effectiveness for sirolimus-coated balloons, indicating a need for further analysis with a larger sample size.
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Background: Postimplantation syndrome (PIS) represents an acute phase systemic inflammatory response following endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR). Our objective was to investigate the risk factors associated with the manifestation and severity of PIS with various available stent-grafts.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data covering the period 2016-2020.

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with increased mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), dialysis patients and kidney transplant recipients (KTR). Cardiovascular complications, such as sudden arrhythmias, thromboembolic events, coronary events, cardiomyopathies and heart failure, may present in about 10-20% of patients with COVID-19. Patients with CKD, dialysis patients and KTR are all at increased cardiovascular risk and present with more cardiovascular complications after COVID-19 compared to the general population.

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Introduction: The aim of this paper was to evaluate the current role of atherectomy techniques (ATH) in treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) at below the knee (BTK) arteries.

Evidence Acquisition: The PubMed and Embase were searched (last search on 11 September 2021) for studies reporting on the early and mid-term outcomes of ATH in BTK vessels. Analysis included the data from six studies, with a total of 1062 PAD patients treated with various ATH techniques.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the outcomes of elective chimney endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (CHEVAR) in asymptomatic patients with degenerative pararenal aortic aneurysms (dPAAs).
  • The analysis includes 267 patients treated at 13 centers between 2008 and 2014, with a focus on mortality rates and complications within 30 days post-procedure.
  • Results show a 30-day mortality rate of 1.9%, with high rates of technical success and patency, suggesting that CHEVAR is a viable option for managing dPAAs.
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Background: Primary varicose veins (PVV) represent the most prominent clinical manifestation of chronic venous disease (CVD) and has a complex pathophysiological background. The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of sonographic hemodynamical and contemporary epidemiological factors on the clinical severity of PVV.

Methods: We analyzed the sonographic hemodynamical and clinical parameters from 159 consecutive CVD patients and 233 lower limbs with PVV of clinical stages C2, C3 and C4.

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Objective: To evaluate early and follow-up outcomes following bilateral use of iliac branch devices (IBD) for aortoiliac endografting and assess the impact of center volume. We used data from the pELVIS international multicentric registry.

Methods: For the purpose of this study, only those patients receiving concomitant bilateral IBD implantation were analyzed.

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Carotid atherosclerosis is responsible for a great proportion of ischemic strokes. Early identification of unstable or vulnerable carotid plaques, and therefore, of patients at high risk for stroke, is of significant medical and socioeconomical value. We reviewed the current literature and discussed the potential role of the most important serum biomarkers in identifying patients with carotid atherosclerosis who are at high risk for atheroembolic stroke.

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Objective: In the treatment of pararenal abdominal aortic aneurysms and aortic pathologic processes, chimney endovascular aneurysm repair (CHEVAR) represents an alternative technique for urgent cases. The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of CHEVAR in the elective setting.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected records of 165 consecutive asymptomatic CHEVAR patients who were treated between March 2009 and January 2018 with the Endurant stent graft (Medtronic, Santa Rosa, Calif).

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Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of chimney (ch-EVAR) vs. fenestrated aneurysm repair (f-EVAR) for treatment of complex abdominal aortic pathologies. Endovascular repair of complex abdominal aortic pathologies with involvement of renal arteries includes use of f-EVAR as first line treatment.

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