Management of a Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm during Pregnancy Leading to the Diagnosis of Takayasu Arteritis.

Takayasu arteritis is a chronic inflammatory arteritis affecting large vessels, predominantly the aorta and its main branches. We report the case of a patient presenting with the rapid growth of a thoracic aortic aneurysm during pregnancy leading to the diagnosis of Takayasu disease and treated by a rapid delivery by cesarean section followed by an open aortic repair. One year after the operation the patient and her baby are alive and well.

[Aortitis and surgery].

Non-infectious aortitis are usually due to giant cell arteritis (temporal arteritis), Takayasu and Behçet's diseases. Aortitis should be suspected in the presence of aortic wall thickening or of aneurysm or occlusion of the aorta and its branches in the absence of characteristic cardiovascular risk factors. Surgery is required in case of severe damage.

Indications to open surgical repair of the thoracic aorta in the "endovascular" era.

Endovascular techniques have deeply modified the indications to open surgical repair in nearly all the vascular tree and especially in areas where the invasiveness of open surgery is real like the thoracic aorta. However their anatomical and technological limits on one hand and uncertainty on their long term results on the other hand still leave a large place for open surgery. Also, immediate as well as late results of open surgery have continued their progress during the endovascular era, rendering it competitive in trained centers for fit selected patients.

Laparoscopy versus EVAR for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms in the octogenarian.

Background: Octogenarians are considered at high surgical risk for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). The laparoscopic aortic surgery (LAS) and the endovascular treatment (EVAR) are 2 minimum invasive techniques whose objective is to limit the operative traumatism. The objective of this study was to compare our results with short- and medium-term results with these 2 techniques in the octogenarians.

Sonography for the detection and follow-up of primary nonsarcomatous bladder tumors in children.

Objectives: To report the use of a dedicated renal-bladder sonogram for the detection and follow-up of primary nonsarcomatous bladder tumors in children.

Methods: Three children (aged 6 to 12 years) recently presented with nontraumatic gross painless hematuria. All were evaluated initially with renal-bladder sonography.