Iodixanol and ioxaglate in adult aortography and peripheral arteriography: a phase III clinical trial.

Rationale And Objectives: This study compared the safety and efficacy of iodixanol with those of ioxaglate in adult patients undergoing aortography or peripheral arteriography.

Methods: Forty-six patients were enrolled in this controlled, randomized, double-blind, two-center study. The patients were monitored for adverse events, injection-related discomfort, and trends in laboratory data or vital signs.

Comparison of iodixanol and ioxaglate for adult aortography and renal/visceral angiography: a phase III clinical trial.

Rationale And Objectives: We investigated whether iodixanol offers improved safety or tolerance compared with ioxaglate and evaluated whether iodixanol-enhanced radiographs are diagnostically comparable or superior to those produced with ioxaglate. Iodixanol is a new isosmotic hexa-iodinated nonionic contrast agent being evaluated for intravascular use.

Methods: Fifty-four adult patients undergoing renal or visceral angiography, aortography, or both were enrolled in a prospective, randomized, double-blind, two-center study in which iodixanol and ioxaglate were compared.

Extrahepatic portal vein stenosis in recipients of living-donor allografts: Doppler sonography.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the appearances obtained and the pitfalls involved with the use of Doppler sonography for detecting portal vein stenoses after surgery in 198 recipients of pediatric reduced-size transplants.

Subjects And Methods: We analyzed sonographic and Doppler studies after surgery for 167 children (average, 2.5 years old) who were recipients of 198 left lobe or left lateral segment liver segments (79 living-donor allografts and 119 cadaveric grafts).

Angiographic selection criteria for living related liver transplant donors.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to better define arteriographic selection criteria for living related liver transplantation (LRLT) based on literature review, technical and theoretical considerations, and correlation of patterns of variation in hepatic artery anatomy with recipient and donor outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Visceral angiograms of 92 consecutive living related liver transplant donors were retrospectively reviewed by two radiologists and one transplant surgeon. Arterial configurations were categorized.

On signal sequence polymorphisms and diseases of distribution.

We report a previously unappreciated property of the signals that target organelle-specific proteins to their subcellular sites of action. Such targeting sequences are shown to be polymorphic. We discovered this polymorphism when we cloned the mitochondrial manganese-containing superoxide dismutase from cell lines of normal individuals and patients with genetic diseases of premature aging and compared their sequences to each other and to those previously reported.

Angioplasty and intravascular stents in peripheral vascular disease.

Advances in the technique as well as the technology of percutaneous angioplasty over the past 30 years have allowed the percutaneous treatment of many vascular lesions that previously required operative management. PTA, and more recently intravascular stents, have been shown to be effective, safe, and, in some cases, more cost effective than surgical options. Although patients need to be appropriately selected to optimize the treatment plan in individual cases, it is clear that percutaneous treatment, either alone or in combination with surgical procedures, offers a significant advancement in patient care.

Percutaneous balloon catheter dilatation of benign ureteral strictures: effect of multiple dilatation procedures on long-term patency.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy of multiple percutaneous balloon dilatations of benign ureteral strictures. Percutaneous dilatation of ureteral strictures with a balloon catheter was done as an alternative to open surgical repair.

Material And Methods: Twenty-eight benign ureteral strictures (in 23 patients) were dilated.

Portal vein stenosis in children with segmental liver transplants: treatment with percutaneous transhepatic venoplasty.

Objective: We reviewed the early results of percutaneous portal venoplasty as a method of treating portal vein stenosis in 11 children with reduced-size liver transplants.

Subjects And Methods: Percutaneous transhepatic portal venoplasty was attempted in 11 children with portal vein stenoses over a period of 9 months. The venoplasty was performed by direct puncture of an intrahepatic portal vein followed by balloon angioplasty of the stenotic segment.

Cognitive impairment in psychiatric patients and length of hospital stay.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether brief neuropsychologic screening at the time of admission to an acute-care psychiatric unit predicts the length of inpatient hospital stay (LOS). Over a 4-month period, 41 consecutively admitted patients on a general psychiatric inpatient unit were administered the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Trails A and B subtests from the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery, and the Visual Reproduction subtest (VR) of the Wechsler Memory Scale within 72 hours of admission. A setwise, hierarchic multiple regression model examined the contributions of demographic factors, clinical features, and the four neuropsychologic tests to LOS variance.

Magnetization transfer: a potential method to determine the age of multiple sclerosis lesions.

Purpose: To determine whether magnetization transfer contrast can differentiate acute from chronic lesions in multiple sclerosis.

Methods: Thirteen patients with multiple sclerosis and eight healthy patients were studied with MR using a 0.1-T system.

The magnetization transfer effect in cerebral infarction.

Purpose: To estimate the age of cerebral infarcts using magnetization transfer.

Methods: Twelve patients with radiographically and clinically documented cortical and subcortical cerebral infarctions underwent MR imaging on a 0.1T magnet.

Intravascular stents in the management of acute superior vena cava obstruction of benign etiology.

The purpose of our study was to report our experience with percutaneous placement of intravascular stents to relieve venous occlusion in patients with acute superior vena cava syndrome resulting from benign etiologies. Six patients ranging in age from 39 to 66 years received thrombolysis followed by placement of stents within the superior vena cava or received stent placement alone as emergency treatment for symptoms of acute superior vena cava obstruction. Treatment was successful in all patients, with establishment of a patent lumen angiographically, and patients experienced prompt symptomatic relief.

Median arcuate ligament compression syndrome in monozygotic twins.

Twin 27-year-old women had symptomatic mesenteric ischemia caused by median arcuate ligament compression. Arteriography demonstrated severe celiac artery stenosis in one twin, celiac artery occlusion in the other, and proximal superior mesenteric artery narrowing with retrograde filling from a meandering mesenteric artery in both. Division of the ligament and direct celiac artery revascularization completely relieved symptoms in both patients.

Hyperhidrosis--a case history.

The authors present a case report on hyperhidrosis. The social and occupational consequences of this disease entity are discussed as well as the genetic implications of this disorder. The medical and surgical treatments of hyperhidrosis are evaluated.

Rapid measurement of serum pancreatic amylase.

A simple, rapid assay for the pancreatic isoenzyme of human serum amylase was developed. The assay utilized an immunoabsorbent prepared by coating latex beads with a monoclonal antibody specific for pancreatic amylase. Treatment of patient serum with immunoabsorbent removed pancreatic amylase, and measurement of residual amylase activity with standard total amylase methodology allowed estimation of the pancreatic amylase content.

Direct selection of antibodies that coordinate metals from semisynthetic combinatorial libraries.

An iterative strategy for the selection of catalytic metalloantibodies is described. The first stage of this strategy is validated by the selection of semisynthetic antibodies that coordinate a variety of different metal ions and the metal oxide magnetite. These results have implications not only for the development of catalytic metalloantibodies but also for the development of reagents for magnetic resonance imaging, delivery of radioisotopes, and purification of recombinant proteins.

Late outcome of multivessel coronary artery disease after angioplasty or bypass surgery.

Background. Results from randomized trials to determine optimal treatment for patients with multivessel coronary disease are not yet available. Thus, the early and late outcomes of 191 PTCA and 221 CABG patients done in 1985-86 were evaluated.

Use of CT for diagnosis of traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta.

CT imaging of traumatic aortic rupture has been both advocated and disparaged in the current literature as a reliable diagnostic modality. In a retrospective review of blunt chest trauma patients at our institution evaluated by both thoracic CT and arteriography, we found a 17% false negative rate and a 39% false positive rate. Although we feel CT is not sufficiently sensitive at present to evaluate traumatic rupture of the aorta directly, it is an invaluable adjunctive imaging modality for stable blunt chest trauma patients with equivocal chest radiographs or arteriograms.

Coronary rotational ablation: initial experience in 302 procedures.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the utility of percutaneous transluminal coronary rotational ablation in the treatment of coronary artery disease.

Background: Although numerous advances have been made in the treatment of coronary artery disease, there are lesions with complex morphology that are not amenable to current intravascular therapy.

Methods: A consecutive series of 242 patients having 302 coronary rotational ablation procedures was analyzed.