Bypass Surgery With Heparin-Bonded Grafts for Chronic Lower Limb Ischemia.

Background: Our objective was to assess the effects of heparin-bonded grafts in infrainguinal bypass surgery for patients with peripheral arterial disease of the lower limbs.

Methods: We searched electronic information sources (MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL) and bibliographic lists of relevant articles to identify studies reporting comparative outcomes of heparin-bonded grafts in patients undergoing infrainguinal bypass. We used the Cochrane collaboration tool for risk of bias assessment of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and the Newcastle-Ottawa scale to assess the methodological quality of observational studies.

Prognosis of patients with carcinoid heart disease after valvular surgery.

A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. We addressed the following question: in patients who are diagnosed with carcinoid heart disease (CHD), do valvular surgeries improve their prognosis? Fifty percent of the patients with clinically diagnosed carcinoid syndrome had cardiac involvement which was present either as valvular dysfunction or as cardiac metastases. These patients often require surgery due to their heightened risk of cardiac disease.

A double-blind controlled clinical trial assessing the effect of topical gels on striae distensae (stretch marks): a non-invasive imaging, morphological and immunohistochemical study.

Striae distensae (SD) are cutaneous lesions often presenting post-pregnancy with atrophy and flattening of the epidermis. SD is poorly understood and treatment remains ill-defined. Our aim was to assess the effect of topical application of silicone gel compared with placebo on SD using non-invasive devices and by immunohistochemical analysis of sequential tissue biopsies in a double-blind controlled trial.