Preoperative mapping of the aortoiliac territory with duplex ultrasound in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease.

Objective: Duplex ultrasound (DUS) arterial mapping of the aortoiliac area is limited by obesity, abdominal gas, and the need to use a low-frequency probe (and therefore poorer resolution) in the examination. The aim of this study was to analyze the degree of agreement between DUS mapping of the aortoiliac area and angiography or contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography (CTA).

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study.

Acute lower limb ischemia in a patient with aortic thrombus and essential thrombocytosis.

Aortic thrombus is rare in patients with essential thrombocytosis (ET), so the optimal treatment remains undefined. A 45-year-old man with history of ET, under chronic treatment with aspirin, presented to the emergency department complaining of acute onset in both the legs and abdominal pain. Physical examination revealed that both dorsalis pedis pulses were not palpable with cold and pale feet.

[Contralateral occlusion: does it affect the therapeutic management of carotid stenosis?].

Introduction: Because the contralateral carotid artery occlusion has been considered a high risk factor for ipsilateral carotid endarterectomy, some authors indicate a stenting procedure in these cases.

Aim: To evaluate whether there are different preoperative factors in patients with contralateral carotid occlusion and if the latter is associated to worse perioperative outcome.

Patients And Methods: We analysed 476 carotid endarterectomies performed in 1994-2004.

[Immediate and long-term outcomes of carotid endarterectomies in eighty-year-olds].

Aims: To compare the immediate results obtained after performing a carotid endarterectomy (cEDA) in patients in their eighties with those of younger patients, and to determine survival and stroke-free times following carotid surgery in the two groups.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective data was collected regarding a series of 319 cases of cEDA (302 patients) performed between January 1998 and December 2004. Group 1: patients aged 80 or above.

Disease progression in the contralateral carotid artery after endarterectomy.

Our objectives were to establish the incidence and progression of stenotic lesions in the contralateral carotid artery (CCA) after endarterectomy, to identify subpopulations of patients at risk of contralateral disease progression, and to evaluate the efficacy of duplex scanning surveillance at detecting these lesions. We performed a prospective study on 180 patients in whom the CCA to the operated artery was healthy or showed <70% stenosis. All patients had completed a clinical and hemodynamic follow-up program, including duplex scanning of both carotids, with sessions 3 and 6 months after surgery and then every semester until 2 years.