Active internal re-warming using a centrifugal pump and heat exchanger following haemorrhagic shock, surgical trauma and hypothermia in a porcine model.

Background: The centrifugal vortex blood pump (CVBP) using heparin-bonded circuitry allows re-warming of hypothermic trauma patients without anticoagulation. Study objectives were to confirm efficacy, and to characterise the physiology of CVBP re-warming in a porcine model.

Methods: Sixteen pigs were randomised to conventional or CVBP re-warming.

Utility of screening for blunt vascular neck injuries with computed tomographic angiography.

Purpose: To prospectively study the impact of implementing a computed tomographic angiography (CTA)-based screening protocol on the detected incidence and associated morbidity and mortality of blunt vascular neck injury (BVNI).

Methods: Consecutive blunt trauma patients admitted to a single tertiary trauma center and identified as at risk for BVNI underwent admission CTA using an eight-slice multi-detector computed tomography scanner. The detected incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates of BVNI were compared with those measured before CTA screening.

Can cytology accurately predict benign follicular nodules?

Background: The reliability of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy in differentiating benign from malignant follicular lesions of the thyroid has been the subject of renewed debate recently. Although surgical excision has been recommended for most follicular lesions identified by cytology, this approach may not be necessary in all cases. The goal of this study was to determine whether FNA could be used as a diagnostic tool to safely identify patients with follicular thyroid nodules who do not require immediate surgical intervention.

T1a breast carcinoma and the role of axillary dissection.

Hypothesis: Axillary dissection (AD) does not affect recurrence or survival in T1a breast cancer.

Design: Cohort study comparing patients who underwent AD and those who did not.

Setting: Provincial cancer agency.

Endovascular repair of a ruptured renal artery aneurysm.

Purpose: To describe the percutaneous treatment of a ruptured renal artery aneurysm (RAA) using a stent-graft.

Case Report: An 86-year-old woman had sudden onset of right-sided back pain and a swollen left leg. Computed tomography disclosed a right retroperitoneal mass involving the kidney; the inferior vena cava was compressed, with thrombus in the left common iliac artery.