Successful Endovascular Therapy in an Elderly Patient with Severe Hemorrhage Caused by Traumatic Injury.

An 85-year-old female suffered pelvic fracture, multiple rib fractures, right hemopneumothorax, and blunt abdominal aortic injury in a traffic accident. After transfer to our hospital, transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) was performed immediately for hemorrhage from the bilateral internal iliac arteries. Enhanced computed tomography (CT) after TAE showed an increase of hematoma and extravasation at the bifurcation of the abdominal aorta.

Anchor Balloon Technique.

Occlusion of an internal iliac artery or its branches is sometimes required prior to abdominal endovascular aneurysm repair. The Amplatzer vascular plug (AVP) is a useful device for this purpose, but it requires a large lumen catheter or guiding sheath to place it in the intended artery. We propose an anchor balloon technique for advancing this guiding sheath/catheter through a tortuous or angulated iliac artery for AVP placement.

Aortocaval fistula associated with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Aortocaval fistula (ACF) is a well-known but uncommon complication of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Even with attentive care, oversight of ACFs may occur in emergency cases. Because mortality due to ACF is high, a rapid multidirectional analysis of the preoperative state leading to a correct diagnosis is essential.

Multiple papillary fibroelastomas of the aortic valve detected by real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiographic images.

Papillary fibroelastoma (PFE) is a well-known primary cardiac tumor, but multiple PFEs are rare. We report an interesting case with multiple PFEs that were clearly demonstrated and evaluated with real time three-dimensional (RT3D) transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). A 77-year-old woman was referred to our institution with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the hip.

[Successful surgical case of DeBakey III b dissecting aortic aneurysm associated with right-sided aortic arch].

A 66-year-old man was admitted to our institute for surgical treatment of chronic dissecting aortic arch aneurysm with right-sided aortic arch which occurred 2 months previously. The size of the aortic arch aneurysm was larger than 6 cm. Total arch replacement using open stent grafting was performed through median sternotomy.

The suppression of proinflammatory cytokines improves heart function from non-heart-beating donors following transplantation in a canine model.

We evaluated the effectiveness of a suppressant of the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha on a canine heart transplantation model with non-heart-beating donors (NHBDs).Adult mongrel dogs were divided into 3 groups of 5: a control group; FR-1 in which donors were given FR167653, a potent suppressant of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha production; and FR-2 in which both donors and recipients were given FR167653. After measuring the baseline hemodynamic parameters, including cardiac output (CO), left ventricular pressure (LVP), and maximum and minimum rates of increase in LVP (+/- LVdp/dt), FR167653 was administered continuously for 30 minutes before ischemia in the FR-1 and FR-2 groups.

The comparison of mitogen-activated protein kinases that become activated within the left ventricular and right atrial tissues following heart transplantation in canine model.

The activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) plays an important role in ischemia/reperfusion injury. Some reports have documented MAPKs activation of the myocardium in human models, using right atrial (RA) tissue for samples. This study compared the activation of MAPKs in left ventricle (LV) and RA tissues in canine heart transplantation.

Inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 improves cardiac function following long-term preservation.

Background: Cyclooxygenase (COX) is an intracellular enzyme that converts arachidonic acid to prostaglandin endoperoxide (PGG(2)). There are two isoforms of COX, namely constitutive COX-1 and inducible COX-2. It has been reported that COX-2 plays an important role in ischemia-reperfusion injury and that COX-2 mRNA and protein expression were up-regulated during cardiac allograft rejection.

Expression of new human inorganic pyrophosphatase in thyroid diseases: its intimate association with hyperthyroidism.

Inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPase) controls the level of inorganic pyrophosphate produced by biosynthesis of protein, RNA, and DNA. Thus, PPase is essential for life. PPase expression is unclear in the thyroid.

Immunohistochemical analysis of bcl-2, Bax and Bak expression in thyroid glands from patients with Graves' disease.

In order to clarify the role of apoptosis and the expression of Bcl-2 family proteins in the pathology of Graves' disease (GD), we evaluated the apoptosis by in situ end-labeling of fragmented DNA and the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Bak by immunohistochemistry in thyroid tissues from 20 patients with GD and in normal thyroid tissues from 6 patients with follicular adenoma (N). Apoptotic nuclei were found in thyrocytes and in germinal center of lymphoid follicles. Bcl-2 was strongly expressed in both GD and N thyrocytes.

Effects of adding P38 mitogen-activated protein-kinase inhibitor to celsior solution in canine heart transplantation from non-heart-beating donors.

Background: The activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) plays an important role in ischemia-reperfusion injury. This study evaluated the effects of p38 MAPK inhibition using FR167653, a novel p38 MAPK inhibitor, as an additive to Celsior solution in canine heart transplantation from non-heart-beating donors (NHBDs).

Methods: Donor hearts were left in situ for 20 minutes after cardiac arrest, which was induced by rapid exsanguination.

The effect of short-term coronary perfusion using a perfusion apparatus on canine heart transplantation from non-heart-beating donors.

Background: We investigated the effects of briefly perfusing hearts from non-heart-beating donors (NHBDs) with a Celsior solution before cardiac transplantation.

Methods: Donor hearts were left in situ for 20 minutes after cardiac arrest was induced by rapid exsanguination. Twelve donor-recipient pairs of mongrel dogs were divided into 2 groups, the simple immersion (SI, n = 6) group and the coronary perfusion (CP, n = 6) group.

Thyrocytes, but not C cells, actively undergo growth and folliculogenesis at the periphery of thyroid tissue fragments in three-dimensional collagen gel culture.

In the thyroid, new follicle formation from preexisting follicles (mother follicle-derived folliculogenesis) has been poorly understood. To address this issue, we analyzed mother follicle-derived folliculogenesis, using a thyroid tissue-organotypic culture that retains three-dimensional follicles with both thyrocytes and C cells over a long period. Three types of mother follicle-derived folliculogenesis occurred only at the periphery of the tissue fragments embedded in collagen gel: (1) solid nest, (2) budding and (3) lumen-dividing types.

A new organotypic culture of thyroid tissue maintains three-dimensional follicles with C cells for a long term.

Thyroid follicles embedded in extracellular matrix (ECM) seem to be supplied enough oxygen by a dense network of capillaries in vivo. Air exposure (AE) causes cells to increase oxygen availability in vitro. We speculated that three-dimensional (3D) environment of ECM together with AE may be applied to a thyroid tissue-organotypic culture, simply simulating such a microenvironment of follicles.