IVUS Improves Outcomes With SUPERA Stents for the Treatment of Superficial Femoral-Popliteal Artery Disease.

Background: Nitinol interwoven bare metal stents represent an advancement in stent technology; however, nominal deployment remains an area of focus. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has been shown to improve outcomes in both the coronary and peripheral vasculature by providing the operator with greater vessel detail; however, the use of adjunctive IVUS with nitinol bare metal stents has not been widely studied. This studies aims to determine the effect of IVUS when used adjunctively with nitinol interwoven bare metal stents in the management of femoropopliteal lesions.

Drug coated balloon improves outcomes of sub-optimal Supera deployment in the intermediate term.

Sub-Optimal deployment of Self expanding interwoven stents (Supera) has been shown to increase the rate of Clinically Driven Target Lesion Revascularization (CD-TLR). Meanwhile, drug coated balloons (DCB) have been shown to reduce CD-TLR in the femoral-popliteal segment in de- novo and restenotic lesions. However, the clinical effects of vessel preparation with DCB in nominal, compressed, and elongated Supera has not been widely studied.

Aneurysmal Dilatation of the Superficial Femoral Artery After Endovascular Intervention.

A patient with occlusion of the left superficial femoral artery (SFA) underwent endovascular intervention. Six-month follow-up angiography revealed aneurysmal dilatation of the previously stented artery. This finding may be a result of maladaptive vascular remodeling or arterial injury resulting in aneurysmal dilatation secondary to subintimal crossing, atherectomy, and paclitaxel therapies.

The Effect of Lower Body Positive Pressure on Left Ventricular Ejection Duration in Patients With Heart Failure.

Lower body positive pressure (LBPP) treadmill activity might benefit patients with heart failure (HF). To determine the short-term effects of LBPP on left ventricular (LV) function in HF patients, LV ejection duration (ED), a measure of systolic function was prospectively assessed in 30 men with stable HF with LV ejection fraction ≤ 40% and 50 healthy men (N). Baseline measurements (100% body weight), including blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and LVED, obtained via radial artery applanation tonometry, were recorded after 2 minutes of standing on weight support treadmill and after LBPP achieving reductions of 25%, 50%, and 75% of body weight in random sequence.

Guide catheter-induced aortic dissection complicated by pericardial effusion with pulsus paradoxus: a case report of successful medical management.

Aortic dissection is a rare but potentially fatal complication of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Management strategies of PCI induced dissection are not clearly identified in literature; such occurrences often mandate surgical repair of the aortic root with reimplantation of the coronary arteries. Another trend seen in case reports is the use of coronary-aortic stenting if such lesions permit.

Predictors of ascending aortic dilation in bicuspid aortic valve disease: a five-year prospective study.

Background: Bicuspid aortic valves are associated with aortic dilation and dissection. There is a paucity of prospective studies evaluating changes in aortic size over time in adult subjects with bicuspid aortic valves.

Methods: A total of 115 subjects with asymptomatic bicuspid aortic valves were enrolled from 2003 to 2008 and followed prospectively over 5 years.

Developing an in silico model of the modulation of base excision repair using methoxyamine for more targeted cancer therapeutics.

Base excision repair (BER) is a major DNA repair pathway involved in the processing of exogenous non-bulky base damages from certain classes of cancer chemotherapy drugs as well as ionising radiation (IR). Methoxyamine (MX) is a small molecule chemical inhibitor of BER that is shown to enhance chemotherapy and/or IR cytotoxicity in human cancers. In this study, the authors have analysed the inhibitory effect of MX on the BER pathway kinetics using a computational model of the repair pathway.