Endothelial function and circulating endothelial progenitor cells in patients with sleep apnea syndrome.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases are frequent in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contribute to repair dysfunctional endothelium and have been related to increased cardiovascular risk.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that the number of circulating EPCs may be altered in OSA patients.

[Clinical management in an angiology and vascular surgery unit. Results of the application of a clinical practice protocols].

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of clinical management on quality indicators in a vascular surgery unit over a 10-year period.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of quality indicators from 1990 to 2001 and of the influence of a clinical practice protocol and standards of quality on these indicators.

Results: Comparison of both periods revealed improvement in all the quality indicators.

Upper limb ischemia induced by chronic licorice ingestion.

A young woman had an acute embolic episode that affected her right upper limb. An axillo-brachial thromboembolectomy was performed after which distal pulses were recovered. The patient had a long lasting history, longer than ten years, of continuous licorice ingestion.

[Usefulness of photoplethysmography and indexes of digital pressure in Raynaud phenomenon].

Background: To know the usefulness of plethysmography and digital pressure indexes (DPI) to assess the vasospasm and the response to medical treatment in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon.

Patients And Methods: During a four-month period, we carried out a prospective clinical trial, with a control group (15 subjects) and other of patients with Raynaud's phenomenon (40 patients). We calculated the digital pressures, plethysmography and the DPI, in basal status and after provocation with cold water.

[Carotid endarterectomy].

Carotid endarterectomy has been a controversial matter since its introduction more than 40 years ago. In the last decade several clinical trials were performed to determine the efficacy of this operation in patients with carotid estenosis and hemispheric or ocular ischemic symptoms. In 1991 the interim results of the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial and the European Carotid Surgery Trial were reported, both trials demonstrating the beneficial effects of surgery in symptomatic patients with stenosis of greater than 70%.

[An aneurysm of the inferior mesenteric artery associated with obstruction of the superior mesenteric artery and the celiac trunk].

The exact prevalence of visceral arteries aneurysms is not well documented and its is mainly known from necropsies. Inferior mesenteric artery aneurysms are the rarest of visceral aneurysms. The authors report a case of an aneurysm of the inferior mesenteric artery in a 52-year-old man with obstructive disease of superior mesenteric artery and celiac axis.

Acute lower limb ischemia complicating endocarditis due to Candida parapsilosis in a drug abuser.

Acute ischemia due to arterial embolism occurred in the right leg of a male drug abuser who had developed fungal endocarditis as a result of Candida parapsilosis. Transesophageal echocardiography aided in the diagnosis. The patient was successfully treated with fibrinolysis and surgery.