Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in a patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a connective tissue disorder caused by abnormal collagen synthesis. Vascular complications, including aneurysm formation and spontaneous arterial perforations, are difficult to manage surgically and result in significant operative mortality due to blood vessel fragility. We describe the first reported successful endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in a patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Endovascular management of blunt abdominal aortic injury.

The endovascular management of blunt aortic injuries is being used more frequently in the trauma patient. Traumatic aortic injuries usually occur in the descending thoracic aorta near the origin of the left subclavian artery. Many reports in the literature demonstrate the efficacy of endovascular repair of blunt thoracic aortic injury.

Secondary conversion of the Gore Excluder to operative abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

Objective: Reports continue to document the occurrence of major adverse events after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair. Although many of these problems can be successfully managed through endovascular salvage, operative conversion with explantation of the endoprosthesis remains necessary in some patients. We report herein a review of all patients initially enrolled in multicenter US clinical trials of the Excluder endograft who underwent secondary conversion to open surgical repair.

Repair of mycotic aortic pseudoaneurysm with a stent graft using transesophageal echocardiography.

A 54-year-old man who underwent uneventful orthotopic heart transplantation 1 year previously had low-grade fever and dyspnea. Imaging studies revealed an ascending aortic pseudoaneurysm (AAP), which was repaired with a 5-mm polyester patch, with circulatory arrest and cardiopulmonary bypass. Intraoperative cultures of the AAP grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and the pseudoaneurysm recurred after 6 weeks despite intravenously administered antibiotic therapy.

The Reliability of Computer-Processed EEG in the Determination of ECT Seizure Duration.

The reliability of single-channel analog EEG and two-channel, computer-processed EEG (cEEG) in determining seizure duration during electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was studied in 144 consecutive individual treatment sessions of 14 hospitalized patients. Seizure durations determined by post hoc, blind readings of data generated by each method were compared. These estimates of seizure duration were also compared to those determined by the "cuff" method.