Compliance of the aorta in two diseases affecting vascular elasticity, familial hypercholesterolemia and diabetes: a MRI study.

Arterial elasticity changes in familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and diabetes mellitus (DM) with different but overlapping mechanisms. We compared aortic elasticity between 19 FH patients with the same mutation, 18 type 2 DM patients, and 30 controls, all aged 48 to 64. They underwent aortic magnetic resonance imaging, risk-factor assessment, and carotid and femoral ultrasound measurements.

Aorta of young and middle-aged heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia patients shows no functional or morphological impairment assessed by MRI.

In familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) the level of LDL cholesterol is 2-3 times that of the normal population and leads to accelerated atherosclerosis. Improved care for risk factors has decreased cardiovascular mortality of these patients. We studied subclinical atherosclerotic changes with morphologic and functional aortic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in FH patients under the age of 50.

Statin-treated familial hypercholesterolemia patients with coronary heart disease and pronounced atherosclerosis do not have more brain lesions than healthy controls in later middle age.

Background: Clinically silent brain lesions detected with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are associated with increased risk for stroke, while stroke risk is controversial in familial hypercholesterolemia (FH).

Purpose: To determine whether the occurrence and size of clinically silent brain lesions in FH patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) is higher than in neurologically healthy controls without CHD.

Material And Methods: Brain MRI (1.

Characterization of familial and sporadic arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy in Finland.

Background: Autosomal dominant inheritance is reported in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) but the prevalence of the familial and sporadic forms in the general population is unknown.

Aim: To evaluate the familial occurrence and clinical features of ARVC in the genetically homogenous Finnish population.

Methods: The study included 29 Finnish ARVC index patients and 135 relatives from 21 families evaluated.

Treatment of bleeding pseudoaneurysms in patients with chronic pancreatitis.

Background: In patients with chronic pancreatitis, an actively bleeding pseudoaneurysm can be life-threatening. Angioembolization is an attractive alternative to often complex operative management, and its feasibility was assessed in a retrospective analysis.

Methods: During 1993-2005, 33 patients (27 males, median age 51 years) with bleeding pancreatic pseudoaneurysms underwent urgent angiographic evaluation followed by angioembolization if possible.