The Relevance of Methylation and Epigenetic Therapy in Diverse Cell Populations of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

The suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 () is a tumor suppressor gene found to be hypermethylated in cancers. It is involved in the oncogenic transformation of cirrhotic liver tissues. Here, we investigated the clinical relevance of methylation and modulation upon epigenetic therapy in diverse cellular populations of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Minimized extracorporeal circulation for the robotic totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass grafting hybrid procedure.

Robotically assisted totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass grafting (TECAB) can be performed on the beating heart with cardiopulmonary bypass support in high-risk patients or patients for whom technical difficulties are expected with a complete off-pump approach. To minimize the inflammatory response and reduce the requirement for transfusion, minimized extracorporeal circulation is an attractive option for robotic TECAB procedures. The present report describes a case for which minimized extracorporeal circulation was used for the first time in TECAB performed using the da Vinci telemanipulation system.

Toward decision support for breast reconstruction: automated calculation of symmetry measure on clinical photographs.

The quality of life of breast cancer survivors is maintained by minimizing adverse effects on their physical appearance. In this study, we present an automated method for computing a common measure of breast symmetry, the normalized Breast Retraction Assessment (pBRA), from routine clinical photographs taken to document breast reconstruction procedures.

Heart failure and "inoperable" aortic stenosis: staged balloon aortic valvuloplasty and aortic valve bypass.

The prognosis for patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis is poor but is improved significantly by surgical aortic valve replacement. Unfortunately, many patients are refused surgery because of age, comorbidities, and hemodynamic instability. This report describes the successful use of balloon aortic valvuloplasty as a bridge to aortic valve bypass surgery (apicoaortic conduit) in an elderly patient with class IV congestive heart failure and severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction as a consequence of aortic stenosis who was not a candidate for traditional surgical valve replacement.

Simultaneous "hybrid" percutaneous coronary intervention and minimally invasive surgical bypass grafting: feasibility, safety, and clinical outcomes.

Surgical and percutaneous coronary artery intervention revascularization are traditionally considered isolated options. A simultaneous hybrid approach may allow an opportunity to match the best strategy for a particular anatomic lesion. Concerns regarding safety and feasibility of such an approach exist.

Surgery for severe mitral regurgitation and left ventricular failure: what do we really know?

In ischemic and nonischemic cardiomyopathy, functional mitral regurgitation (MR) results from geometric abnormalities of the ventricle, which result in dysfunction of a morphologically normal mitral valve. Enlargement of the left ventricle causes geometric MR through annular dilation, increase in the interpapillary muscle distance, amplified leaflet tethering (elongation and stretch on the chordae tendinae), and decreased closing forces because of muscle weakness and asynchrony of papillary muscle contractile timing. The final common pathway of MR is a failure of coaptation of the morphologically normal leaflets and resultant central MR.

A hybrid alternative for high risk left main disease.

Percutaneous revascularization strategies for bifurcation disease of the left main are complex and carry significant risk. These risks are magnified in the setting of a left main which trifurcates. In a patient with complex ostial disease of two of the three limbs of a left main trifurcation, turned down for conventional bypass surgery, we report on a hybrid approach for complete revascularization, consisting of minimally invasive bypass grafting of the LAD combined with simultaneous drug eluting stent placement.