Factor V Leiden, prothrombin G20210A, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T mutations are not associated with chronic limb ischemia: the Linz Peripheral Arterial Disease (LIPAD) study.

Objective: Factor V G1691A (Leiden), prothrombin G20210A, and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T mutations are considered risk factors for venous thromboembolism. It remains to be characterized whether the presence of these relatively common mutations poses a risk for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Therefore, we intended to test, by conducting a case-control study, the hypothesis that PAD was associated with an increased prevalence of factor V G1691A, prothrombin G20210A, and MTHFR C677T mutations.

Serum total 8-iso-prostaglandin F2alpha: a new and independent predictor of peripheral arterial disease.

Objective: Circulating 8-iso-prostaglandin F 2alpha (8-iso-PGF 2alpha ) has been proposed as new indicator of oxidative stress, which is involved in the pathophysiologic changes of atherosclerosis. We proposed to test the hypothesis that 8-iso-PGF 2alpha is an independent predictor of symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Methods: A case-control study in 100 patients with symptomatic PAD and 100 control subjects matched for age, sex, and diabetes mellitus was conducted.

[Results of overlapping sphincter repair in response to obstetric injury].

Background: Obstetric trauma is one of the most common causes of faecal incontinence, and the standard therapy for clear sphincter defects is overlapping sphincter repair. We aimed to assess the short-term success rates of sphincter repair using modified V-Y plastic without covering colostomy and with primary closure of the perineum.

Methods: Between November 1997 and March 2002, 21 patients were operated on for faecal incontinence due to obstetric trauma.

Monitoring aspirin 100 mg and clopidogrel 75 mg therapy with the PFA-100 device in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

A tool to identify vascular patients who receive antiplatelet therapy nd to distinguish between responders and non-responders to antiplatelet therapy could be of clinical importance. The present observational study was designed to investigate whether the PFA-100 device (Dade Behring) is suitable to detect long-term therapy of aspirin (100 mg/d) and/or clopidogrel (75 mg/d) in a cohort of patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). A total of 150 consecutive patients with PAD were studied; 34 patients were excluded from the study due to irregular intake of antiplatelet therapy or due to method limitations.

Relation between homocysteine and non-fatal stroke in peripheral arterial disease.

There are currently no data on whether high total serum homocysteine (tHcy) is predictive for cerebrovascular events in patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether high tHcy levels were related to the evidence of non-fatal stroke in PAD. Evidence of non-fatal atherothrombotic stroke events was verified in 450 consecutive male patients, admitted for inpatient treatment of symptomatic PAD.

Erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume associated with the anatomical distribution in peripheral arterial disease.

Background: Elevated erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) has been suggested to be a risk factor for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether MCV was associated with a distinct pattern of severe atherosclerosis (lumen reductions > or = 75%) in patients with symptomatic PAD, as measured by angiography.

Patients And Methods: 100 consecutively admitted male PAD patients with iliac, femoral-popliteal and crural disease manifestation were compared with 100 male age-matched control subjects without PAD on the basis of angiographically determined lumen reductions > or = 75%.

Impact of atherosclerotic risk factors on the anatomical distribution of peripheral arterial disease.

Background: The aim of the study was to determine predictors of hemodynamically relevant atherosclerosis (HRA) in different segments of lower limb arteries in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Methods: In a retrospective case-control study 106 hospitalized consecutive patients with symptomatic PAD and 52 asymptomatic control subjects were studied. All patients underwent distal aortofemoral angiography.

Association between erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume and peripheral arterial disease in male subjects: a case control study.

Elevated serum total homocysteine, an established risk factor for peripheral arterial disease, is influenced by the vitamin B12 and folate status. Since these vitamins are inversely correlated with erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume, an investigation of whether mean corpuscular volume is higher in patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease than in healthy subjects was performed. Furthermore, a determination of predictors of increased mean corpuscular volume levels in this population free of symptomatic coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus was carried out.

[Streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome with necrotizing myositis].

Streptococcal toxic shocklike syndrome is caused by group A streptococci and characterized by multiorgan failure and soft-tissue necrosis, often in young patients with a bland history and at most a minor trauma. Diagnosis is reached through the clinical presentation, imaging methods and positive bacterial verification. The course is fulminant and in the case of muscle involvement, mortality reaches 80-100%.

Endoscopic clipping of esophageal perforation after pneumatic dilation for achalasia.

A 67-year-old man with a long history of achalasia underwent pneumatic dilation of the lower esophageal sphincter due to increasing dysphagia. During the procedure, a small perforation of the thoracic part of the distal esophagus occurred. Since the rupture was small, well-confined, and detected immediately, the lesion was closed using endoscopically applied metallic clips.

[Laser versus rotation angioplasty in the recanalization of chronic femoropopliteal arterial occlusions].

Between June 1987 and July 1989 laser angioplasty, and between July 1989 and December 1991 rotation angioplasty was used as the method of choice for the recanalisation of chronic (minimal duration 3 months) arterial occlusions in the femoro-popliteal region. The technical success rate and final results following supplementary balloon dilatation were identical and there was no significant difference between the two groups (laser 87%, rotation 87.7%).

[Ileocecal tuberculosis. A rare disease picture].

Gastrointestinal tuberculosis is a rare disease in industrial countries. The most frequent localisation is the ileocaecal region. We report about two cases of stenotic ileocaecal tuberculosis, treated by surgical resection.

[The peripheral macroembolism as a complication of laser angioplasty of the arteries of the extremities--therapy using interventional radiologic measures].

From 1987 to 1989 in the Barmherzige Brüder Hospital in Linz/Austria 160 arteries of extremities were treated with laser-assisted balloon dilatation. During these interventions peripheral macroembolism occurred 8 times. The mean length of the recanalised segment was 8.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of crural arteries.

The authors dilated 103 stenosed crural arteries in 71 patients. Primary success was defined as traversing and reducing the lesion to a residual stenosis of less than 30%. This was achieved in 96% of cases.