Comparison of the one-year patency rates of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas created using no-touch versus conventional technique.

Background: This study aims to compare the patency rates of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas prepared preserving the perivenous vascular tissues versus those prepared using the conventional technique.

Methods: A total of 169 patients (107 males, 62 females; mean age 59.5 years; range, 39 to 87 years) who underwent a radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula construction were included in this study.

Proximal Aortic Surgery: Upper "J" or Conventional Sternotomy?

Background: While minimally invasive procedures are being used in cardiac surgery, experience with minimally invasive proximal aortic surgery has been limited to certain centers.

Methods: Between January 2010 and March 2015, 54 patients with an upper "J" hemi-sternotomy and 75 patients with a conventional sternotomy due to proximal aortic pathology were included in this study. Forty-five patients from the "J" hemi-sternotomy group were matched with 45 patients from the conventional sternotomy group with respect to age, sex, ejection fraction, diabetes, hypertension, smoking history and operative type.

Double J ureteral stent displaced through the right ventricle.

We report a 59-year old patient with a double J ureteral catheter displaced out of the ureter through the inferior vena cava and right ventricle. The catheter was removed successfully under cardiopulmonary bypass.