[Catheter closure of open ductus arteriosus--the first 100 patients].

Background: Patent ductus arteriosus is increasingly treated with catheter based techniques. We present our results as by the end of 1998 of the first 100 patients given such treatment.

Material And Methods: The 100 patients between 0.

Balloon debanding of the pulmonary artery.

Clinical balloon debanding of the pulmonary artery is reported in two patients, 6 months and 4 years of age. The band was made of Dacron, and was closed with one single polypropylene suture. This suture was subsequently ruptured with a balloon inflated within the pulmonary artery at the site of the band.

[Percutaneous closure of ductus arteriosus using the umbrella technic].

In four patients between three and five years of age we performed closure of open ductus arteriosus with the Rashkind umbrella technique after percutaneous approach from the right groin. The smallest internal ductus diameter measured between 2 and 4 mm, and pulmonary blood flow was from 1.4 to 2.

Balloon dilatation of pulmonary artery banding in dogs: an experimental study.

The technique at our institution for banding of the pulmonary artery (PA) makes debanding by balloon dilatation theoretically possible. Previously we tested this hypothesis in an in vitro study (see previous article in this issue). This study describes balloon dilatation in dogs.

Cerebrovascular effects of isoflurane in man. Intracranial pressure and middle cerebral artery flow velocity.

Twelve hydrocephalic patients undergoing hydrodynamic studies and shunt procedures during general anaesthesia were subjected to short term observations of the cerebrovascular effects of isoflurane. Intraventricular pressure (IVP), arterial pressure (AP); cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP = AP-IVP), end-tidal PCO2, Cerebral Function Monitor (CFM) activity and middle cerebral artery (MCA) flow velocity were measured. Introduction of 1% isoflurane for a 10-min period did not cause significant changes in IVP or MCA flow velocity, but caused marked and significant reductions in arterial pressure and CPP, and increases in CFM activity.