Outcomes After Endovascular Aortic Intervention in Patients With Connective Tissue Disease.

Importance: Endovascular treatment is not recommended for aortic pathologies in patients with connective tissue diseases (CTDs) other than in redo operations and as bridging procedures in emergencies. However, recent developments in endovascular technology may challenge this dogma.

Objective: To assess the midterm outcomes of endovascular aortic repair in patients with CTD.

Efficacy and Safety of Exercise Testing and Rehabilitation for Aortic Dissection Patients: A SCOPING REVIEW.

Objective: Although physical exercise has established benefits for long-term cardiovascular health, concern regarding further aortic events has limited the evidence for exercise among aortic dissection (AD) patients. The objective was to perform a scoping review of the current concepts and gaps in the literature regarding the benefit and safety of cardiovascular testing and rehabilitation among post-AD patients.

Review Methods: A scoping review of the literature search was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).

[Stenting of uncomplicated type B aortic dissection].

Conservative treatment of uncomplicated type B aortic dissection is associated with low short-term mortality. However long-term mortality and complication rates are high, suggesting the need for more aggressive treatment. Studies suggest that combining medical treatment with thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is associated with a better prognosis.

Perigraft seroma penetrating the aortic sac and rupturing into the intraperitoneal cavity.

We present a case of a 66-year-old woman who developed perigraft seroma after having undergone elective, open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair with a polytetrafluoroethylene graft 5 years previously. One year after graft implantation, she started to suffer from abdominal discomfort and was therefore offered surgical intervention, which she declined owing to the fear of postoperative complications. Instead, an observational strategy was used.

Validation of contrast enhanced cine steady-state free precession and T2-weighted CMR for assessment of ischemic myocardial area-at-risk in the presence of reperfusion injury.

The purpose of the study was to validate by histopathology, contrast enhanced cine steady-state free precession and T2-weighted CMR for the assessment of ischemic myocardial area-at-risk (AAR) in the presence of microvascular obstruction (MVO). Eleven anesthetized pigs underwent CMR 7 to 10 days post infarction. The area-at-risk was measured from T2-weighted fast spin echo (T2-STIR) and contrast-enhanced steady-state free precession magnetic resonance imaging (CE-SSFP) images using semi-automated algorithms based on a priori knowledge of perfusion territory.

Cardiovascular MR T2-STIR imaging does not discriminate between intramyocardial haemorrhage and microvascular obstruction during the subacute phase of a reperfused myocardial infarction.

Objective: Microvascular obstruction (MVO) and intramyocardial haemorrhage (IMH) are known complications of myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury. Whereas MVO is an established marker for a poor clinical outcome, the clinical significance of IMH remains less well defined. Cardiovascular MR (CMR) and T2 weighted short tau inversion recovery (T2-STIR) imaging have been used to detect IMH and to explore its clinical importance.

A novel FBN1 variant in a large Marfan family with high penetrance of aortic dissection or rupture.

Introduction: Marfan syndrome is an autosomal, dominantly inherited disorder of the connective tissue. We report the clinical data and results of a genetic analysis of a large Danish Marfan family.

Methods: Sanger sequencing of FBN1 was initially performed on genomic DNA from the index patient.

Imaging of carotid artery vessel wall edema using T2-weighted cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Background: Atherothrombosis remains a major health problem in the western world, and carotid atherosclerosis is an important contributor to embolic ischemic strokes. It remains a clinical challenge to identify rupture-prone atherosclerotic plaques before clinical events occur. Inflammation, endothelial injury and angiogenesis are features of vulnerable plaques and may all be associated with plaque edema.

Assessment of intramyocardial hemorrhage by T1-weighted cardiovascular magnetic resonance in reperfused acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Intramyocardialhemorrhage (IMH) reflects severe reperfusion injury in acute myocardial infarction. Non-invasive detection of IMH by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) may serve as a surrogate marker to evaluate the effect of preventive measures to reduce reperfusion injury and hence provide additional prognostic information. We sought to investigate whether IMH could be detected by CMR exploiting the T1 shortening effect of methemoglobin in an experimental model of acute myocardial infarction.

Measuring myocardial salvage.

The efficacy of cardioprotective strategies can be quantified by myocardial salvage as an indicator of therapeutic benefit. Salvage is calculated as the difference between the area at risk (AAR) and the final infarct size (FIS). AAR has been quantified by angiographic assessment followed by quantification of FIS by biochemical ischaemic markers or imaging modalities such as cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR).

Determination of acute vascular injury and edema in porcine carotid arteries by T2 weighted cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Inflammation plays an essential role for destabilization and rupture of carotid atherosclerotic plaques causing embolic ischemic stroke. Inflammation of the vessel wall may result in the formation of edema. This study investigated whether edema in the carotid artery wall induced by acute balloon injury could be detected by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) using a T2-weighted short-tau inversion recovery sequence (T2-STIR).

Determination of edema in porcine coronary arteries by T2 weighted cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Background: Inflammation plays a pivotal role in all stages of atherosclerosis. Since edema is known to be an integral part of inflammation, a noninvasive technique that can identify edema in the coronary artery wall may provide unique information regarding plaque activity. In this study, we aimed to determine whether edema induced in porcine coronary arteries by balloon injury could be reliably detected by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) using a water sensitive T2-weighted short tau inversion recovery sequence (T2-STIR).

In vivo evaluation and proof of radiofrequency safety of a novel diagnostic MR-electrophysiology catheter.

An MR-electrophysiology (EP) catheter is presented that provides full diagnostic EP functionality and a high level of radiofrequency safety achieved by custom-designed transmission lines. Highly resistive wires transmit intracardiac electrograms and currents for intracardiac pacing. A transformer cable transmits the localization signal of a tip coil.

Utilizing different methods for visualizing susceptibility from a single multi-gradient echo dataset.

Purpose: Objects that cause a susceptibility gradient can generate regions of hypo-intensity in MRI. MR techniques developed for positive enhancement of such objects require sequence parameter optimization. Thus comparison of images acquired successively using different techniques is difficult since different parameter settings result in variations in signal and noise.