Long-term Outcome Comparison of 2 Techniques for Embolization of Splenic Artery Aneurysms.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyze our single-center experience in endovascular treatment of splenic artery aneurysms (SAAs) with transcatheter coil embolization, comparing long-term outcomes of packing and sandwich techniques.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2010 and December 2021, 28 patients with certain diagnosis of non-ruptured asymptomatic SAA were treated with 2 different embolization techniques (packing, n=10, and sandwich, n=18). Early outcomes assessed were technical success, overall mortality, mean hospital stay, post-embolization syndrome rate, and freedom from splenectomy rate.

Guidelines on the diagnosis, treatment and management of visceral and renal arteries aneurysms: a joint assessment by the Italian Societies of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE) and Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM).

The objective of these Guidelines is to provide recommendations for the classification, indication, treatment and management of patients suffering from aneurysmal pathology of the visceral and renal arteries. The methodology applied was the GRADE-SIGN version, and followed the instructions of the AGREE quality of reporting checklist. Clinical questions, structured according to the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) model, were formulated, and systematic literature reviews were carried out according to them.

Duration of response after DEB-TACE compared to lipiodol-TACE in HCC-naïve patients: a propensity score matching analysis.

Objectives: To retrospectively compare long-term outcomes of first-line drug-eluting particle (DEB)- transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and lipiodol-TACE, in patients with unresectable hepatocellular (HCC).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our database to identify adult patients with treatment-naïve unresectable HCC, who underwent TACE from 2006 to 2013. Patients were excluded in the absence of complete medical records relative to first TACE, 1-month follow-up, and/or sufficient follow-up data.

Scar Pregnancy and Extrauterine Implants.

Cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP) is a rare occurrence consisting in the implantation of the embryo within the myometrium of a prior cesarean delivery scar. The CSP could be a dangerous condition for women because of the related complications such as placenta previa or accreta, uterine rupture, and hemorrhage. Therefore, early diagnosis and rapid treatment are crucial.

The Importance of MMR Immunization in the United States.

Despite the established safety and efficacy of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine after almost 50 years of widespread use, the United States is encountering higher levels of measles and mumps disease than has occurred for years. Return of disease threatens the health of those who remain unimmunized by choice as well as those who are immunized appropriately but experience loss of vaccine-induced immunity. The solution to continued threats of illness caused by these untreatable but readily preventable diseases is compliance with recommendations for administration of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine.

The Use of Exogenous Lung Surfactant (Poractant Alfa) in Acute Respiratory Failure by Drowning.

Drowning is an acute respiratory failure as a result from immersion or submersion of the airways in a liquid medium (predominantly water). Inhalation of water causes severe lung damage due to the destruction of pulmonary surfactant, resulting in decreased lung elasticity, alveolar collapse, alteration of ventilation-perfusion ratio, intrapulmonary blood shunting, hypoxia, acute lung injury, and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Poractant alfa (Curosurf®), a natural surfactant effective in the treatment of newborn respiratory distress, has been used in various forms of ARDS, but in drowning syndromes, experience is still poor.

Percutaneous Venous Angioplasty in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency: A Randomized Wait List Control Study.

Background: Venous percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (vPTA) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) have shown contradictory results. The aim of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of the procedure in a randomized wait list control study.

Methods: 66 adults with neurologist-confirmed diagnosis of MS and sonographic diagnosis of CCSVI were allocated into vPTA-yes group (n = 31) or vPTA-not group (n = 35, control group).

Pharyngo-oesophageal perforation following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: management and results.

Objectives: Pharyngo-oesophageal perforation is a rare, life-threatening complication of anterior cervical discectomy and fusion surgery; its management remains poorly defined. We reviewed our experience to understand the treatment of this dreadful complication.

Methods: Data regarding the demographics, clinical course, diagnosis, management and outcomes of 15 cases of pharyngo-oesophageal perforations in 14 patients were collected during the period from 2003 to 2016.

Effect of pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis on the physical-chemical composition and morphologic structure of sugarcane bagasse and sugarcane straw.

The present work aimed to study the effect of the pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse and straw with microwave irradiation in aqueous and acid glycerol solutions on their chemical composition, fiber structure and the efficiency of subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the pretreatment acted mainly on the lignin and hemicellulose fractions of the bagasse, whereas, in the straw, lesser structural and chemical changes were observed. The images from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that treating bagasse and straw with acid glycerol solution loosened the cell walls and there was a breakdown in the pit membrane.

Ex vivo pulmonary nodule detection with miniaturized ultrasound convex probes.

Background: The intraoperative localization of small and deep pulmonary nodules is often difficult during minimally invasive thoracic surgery. We compared the performance of three miniaturized ultrasound (US) convex probes, one of which is currently used for thoracic endoscopic diagnostic procedures, for the detection of lung nodules in an ex vivo lung perfusion model.

Methods: Three porcine cardiopulmonary blocks were perfused, preserved at 4°C for 6 h and reconditioned.

Collis-Nissen gastroplasty for short oesophagus.

The Collis-Nissen procedure is performed for the surgical treatment of 'true short oesophagus'. When this condition is strongly suspected radiologically, the patient is placed in the 45° left lateral position on the operating table with the left chest and arm lifted to perform a thoracostomy in the V-VI space, posterior to the axillary line. The hiatus is opened and the distal oesophagus is widely mobilized.

Results of left thoracoscopic Collis gastroplasty with laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication for the surgical treatment of true short oesophagus in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and Type III-IV hiatal hernia.

Objectives: Controversy exists regarding surgery for true short oesophagus (TSOE). We compared the results of thoracoscopic Collis gastroplasty-laparoscopic Nissen procedure for the treatment of TSOE with the results of standard laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication.

Methods: Between 1995 and 2013, the Collis-Nissen procedure was performed in 65 patients who underwent minimally invasive surgery when the length of the abdominal oesophagus, measured intraoperatively after maximal oesophageal mediastinal mobilization, was ≤1.

Surgery for Type III-IV hiatal hernia: anatomical recurrence and global results after elective treatment of short oesophagus with open and minimally invasive surgery.

Objectives: Type III-IV hiatal hernia (HH) is associated with a true short oesophagus in more than 50% of cases; dedicated treatment of this condition might be appropriate to reduce the recurrence rate after surgery. A case series of patients receiving surgery for Type III-IV hernia was examined for short oesophagus, and the results were analysed.

Methods: From 1980 to 1994, 60 patients underwent an open surgical approach, and the position of the oesophago-gastric junction was visually localized; from 1995 to 2013, 48 patients underwent a minimally invasive approach, and the oesophago-gastric junction was objectively localized using a laparoscopic-endoscopic method.

Esophagogastric metaplasia relates to nodal metastases in adenocarcinoma of esophagus and cardia.

Background: Immunohistochemical profiles of esophageal and cardia adenocarcinoma differ according to the presence or absence of Barrett's epithelium (BIM) and gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM) in the fundus and antrum. Different lymphatic spreading has been demonstrated in esophageal adenocarcinoma. We investigated the correlation among the presence or absence of intestinal metaplasia in the esophagus and stomach and lymphatic metastases in patients who underwent radical surgery for esophageal and cardia adenocarcinoma.

The frequency of true short oesophagus in type II-IV hiatal hernia.

Objectives: The misdiagnosis of short oesophagus may occur on recurrence of the hernia after surgery for type II-IV hiatal hernia (HH). The frequency of short oesophagus in type II-IV hernia is undefined. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of true short oesophagus in patients undergoing surgery for type II-IV hernia.

Efficacy and safety of a novel vascular closure device (Glubran 2 seal) after diagnostic and interventional angiography in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate safety and efficacy of a novel vascular closure device (Glubran 2 Seal) after peripheral angiography in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD).

Methods: From December 2010 to June 2011, all consecutive patients with PAOD undergoing peripheral angiography were prospectively enrolled onto the study after percutaneous antegrade or retrograde puncture of the common femoral artery. After angiography, the Glubran 2 Seal device was used to achieve hemostasis.

[Pneumotorax and cannabis].

Aim: After having read the articles by Treasure and Beshay about the particular incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) in patients with daily consumption of Cannabis the authors took a strictly control of these subjects reviewing their personal experience in the treatment of this condition. In particular, the prevalence of SP has been evaluated through genomic assay of monocorial twins. The strong impact of the inflammatory phenomena that have always supported the emphysema burning is 10 time higher among worldwide population and patients with SP.

Chronic transverse sternal fracture. Role of CT scan and repair by an alternative use of the Synthes-Titanium Sternal Fixation System.

Chest wall fractures, including injuries of the sternum, usually heal spontaneously without specific treatment. However sometimes, they need surgical treatment. To treat these patients the selection criteria often are subjective in spite of many surgical devices for sternal osteosynthesis are available nowadays.

Misunderstood cardiac involvement with heart impairment in traumatic sternal fracture: an enzyme-guided evaluation.

Background: Isolated sternal fractures occur more and more frequently in traffic road accidents in particular after the introduction of the seat-belt law. This study sets out to assess by laboratory parameters the incidence and consequences of pericardial and myocardial involvement in sternal injury.

Patients And Methods: Between June 1997 and March 2007, 50 consecutive patients were admitted to our Thoracic Surgical Unit with acute traumatic sternal fractures.

["Intentionally" limited pulmonary resection versus lobectomy for the treatment of peripheral stage IA non-small cell lung cancers].

Background: The purpose of this study is to assess, through the retrospective analysis of our experience and the literature review, whether the limited pulmonary resection is comparable to lobectomy for treatment of the peripheral stage IA (T1N0M0) non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), in terms of oncologic radicality, survival and rate of local, regional and systemic recurrences. Moreover it has been considered the impact of the limited resections in comparison with the lobar resections on the postoperative pulmonary function.

Patients And Methods: We have analyzed a consecutive series of 36 patients, 28 men and 8 women, of inclusive age among the 61 to 81 years (average 73 years), who underwent surgical resection from January 2000 to December 2003 for T1N0M0 peripheral NSCLC; 11 limited resections and 25 lobectomies have been performed.