In-vivo imaging of changes in abdominal aortic aneurysm thrombus volume during the cardiac cycle.

Purpose: To evaluate in-vivo thrombus compressibility in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) to hopefully shed light on the biomechanical importance of intraluminal thrombus.

Methods: Dynamic electrocardiographically-gated computed tomographic angiography was performed in 17 AAA patients (15 men; mean age 73 years, range 69-76): 11 scheduled for surgical repair and 6 under routine surveillance. The volumes of intraluminal thrombus, the lumen, and the total aneurysm were quantified for each phase of the cardiac cycle.

Incidental finding of malignancy in patients preoperatively evaluated for aneurysm wall pathology using PET/CT.

Preoperative positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) was performed in 26 consecutive patients considered fit for aneurysm repair. Besides information on aneurysm wall pathology, PET/CT identified 6 patients with concomitant malignancy. As a result of this coincidental finding, the operation was postponed in 2 patients and cancelled in 1.

In vivo imaging of abdominal aortic aneurysms: increased FDG uptake suggests inflammation in the aneurysm wall.

Purpose: To study the potential of integrated positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) to identify aneurysm wall inflammation.

Methods: The level of F18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake was studied in aneurysmal and normal-sized aortas of 34 male patients [17 with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and 17 age-matched controls] identified in a database of 278 consecutive patients evaluated for staging of primary lung cancer. The maximal standardized uptake value (SUV) was calculated to quantify FDG uptake in the AAA wall.

The oxidative response in the chronic constriction injury model of neuropathic pain.

Background: In the chronic constriction injury model of rat neuropathic pain, oxidative stress as well as antioxidants superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione (GSH) are important determinants of neuropathological and behavioral consequences. Studies of the chronic constriction injury model observed (indirect) signs of inflammation. We, therefore, investigated the level of oxidative stress and antioxidant enzymes in skeletal muscle tissue of the rat hind paw and (jugular vein) plasma at d 7 after nerve injury.

Systemic small-vessel disease is not exclusively related to lacunar stroke. A pilot study.

Background And Purpose: Lacunar infarcts usually results from a vasculopathy of the small vessels of the brain. It is not known whether this small-vessel disease is exclusively related to the brain or part of a more systemic small-vessel disease. In this study, patients with a lacunar stroke were investigated for manifestations of extracerebral small and large-vessel disease in comparison with cortical stroke patients.