Endovascular management of thoracic aortic aneurysms.

The overall survival of patients with thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) has improved significantly in the past few years. Endovascular treatment, proposed as an alternative to surgery, has been considered a therapeutic innovation because of its low degree of invasiveness, which allows the treatment of even high-surgical risk patients with limited complications and mortality. A major limitation is the lack of adequate evidence regarding long-term benefit and durability because follow-up has been limited to just a few years even in the largest series.

Endovascular approach for acute aortic syndrome.

Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) refers to the spectrum of aortic emergencies that include aortic dissection, intramural hematoma and penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer. These aortic pathologies may lead to aortic rupture and a timely treatment is crucial to obtain clinical success and benefit on survival. Endovascular strategies have gained wide acceptance in the management of AAS and currently represent the new minimally invasive alternative to traditional surgery.

Significance of magnetic resonance imaging in apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) is an uncommon variant of nonobstructive HC with peculiar characteristics. The investigators report a series of 13 consecutive Caucasian patients with a suspicion or diagnosis of apical HC on the basis of electrocardiographic and/or echocardiographic findings who prospectively underwent magnetic resonance imaging with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) evaluation. All but 1 patient presented T-wave inversion in the anterolateral leads on electrocardiogram, with a mean maximum negative T wave of 7.

Incremental prognostic value of coronary CT angiography in patients with suspected coronary artery disease.

Background: Multidetector CT coronary angiography (MDCTCA) is capable of detecting coronary artery disease (CAD) with a high diagnostic accuracy. In particular, this technique is credited with having a negative predictive value close to 100%. However, data about the prognostic value of MDCTCA are currently lacking.

Endovascular treatment for acute traumatic transection of the descending aorta: focus on operative timing and left subclavian artery management.

Objective: The operative timing and management of acute traumatic aortic rupture are matters of debate. We reviewed our experience with endovascular repair of acute traumatic aortic rupture, focusing on these topics.

Methods: From 1998 to 2007, 31 patients were referred to our institute for acute traumatic rupture of the descending aorta.