Long-Term Outcomes of Endovascular Aneurysm Repair in Patients Aged ≤70 Years.

The efficacy of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) against abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in younger patients remains unknown. Hence, the current study aimed to investigate whether the aneurysm-related mortality rate of EVAR is acceptable among patients aged ≤70 years. Among 644 patients, 148 underwent EVAR (EVAR group), and 496 received open surgical repair (OSR group).

[Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery-Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting by Left Small Intercostal Thoracotomy for Very Elderly Patients:Report of Two Cases].

The increase in the age of patients undergoing operations has become more prominent in recent years. We report our experience of minimally invasive cardiac surgery-coronary artery bypass grafting (MICS-CABG) by left small intercostal thoracotomy for very elderly patients. Case 1:The patient was a 91-year-old woman with a history of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for left anterior descending artery (LAD) and right coronary arteries at different timings.

Successful Surgical Remodeling of a Giant Venous Aneurysm Formed in an Autogenous Arteriovenous Fistula: A Case Report.

One complication of an autogenous arteriovenous fistula (AVF) for hemodialysis is the formation of a venous aneurysm. The treatment of a massive aneurysmal AVF generally involves ligation or resection with the use of prosthetic interposition. We present the case of a 46-year-old man in whom an AVF aneurysm was successfully treated by placating the excess free wall of the aneurysm with sutures.

Feasibility of three-dimensional fusion imaging with multimodality roadmap system during endovascular aortic repair.

Objective: Endovascular procedures for aortic aneurysm repair have become widely accepted as safe and effective surgical options. We investigated the efficacy of the multimodality roadmap (MMR) system with biplane fluoroscopy to attempt to reduce the use of contrast medium and exposure to radiation during surgery.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 263 consecutive cases with elective endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) and thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR).

Smooth muscle cell sheet transplantation preserve cardiac function and minimize cardiac remodeling in a rat myocardial infarction model.

Background: We examined whether a vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) sheet is effective in the treatment of a rat myocardial infarction (MI) model.

Methods: We examined the effect of SMC sheet on the cardiac function and cardiac remodeling in a rat MI model in comparison with their effect of dermal fibroblast (DFB) sheet in vivo. Furthermore, we estimated the apoptosis and secretion of angiogenic factor of SMC under hypoxic condition in comparison with DFB.

Missing leaflet: a rare cause of structural deterioration of a bovine pericardial aortic bioprosthesis-report of a case.

We experienced a rare cause of aortic bioprosthesis deterioration in which one of the leaflets disappeared 8.7 years after primary aortic valve replacement (AVR) in a male octogenarian. Successful redo AVR with a 23-mm Magna EASE (Carpentier-Edwards, Irvine, CA) was performed.

Inhibition of experimental abdominal aortic aneurysm in a rat model by the angiotensin receptor blocker valsartan.

Angiotensin (Ang) II exerts direct effects on the arterial wall to influence atherosclerosis and aneurysm development with the induction of vascular inflammation. Therefore, we examined the hypothesis that the inhibition of Ang II would decrease the expansion of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in a rat model. We used the Ang II receptor blocker (ARB) valsartan to inhibit the effect of Ang II.

Left ventricular-free wall rupture after successful coronary intervention: report of a case.

We experienced the case of a left ventricular-free wall rupture (LVFWR) following successful coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A 73-year-old woman was hospitalized because of chest oppression that had been continuing for 8 days. She was diagnosed to have AMI, and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed.

Improvement of survival of skin flaps by combined gene transfer of hepatocyte growth factor and prostacyclin synthase.

Background: Increasing the local blood flow is a critical factor for long-term survival of skin flaps. Thus, a molecular therapy to increase the blood flow by means of an angiogenic factor is considered to be a useful strategy to improve skin flap survival. We focused on a combined strategy to stimulate not only angiogenesis, but also vasodilation of local microvessels, using co-transfection of the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and prostacyclin synthase (PGIS) genes to enhance the survival of random-pattern skin flaps.

Hypertension accelerated experimental abdominal aortic aneurysm through upregulation of nuclear factor kappaB and Ets.

In this study, we focused on the effect of hypertension on the transcription factors nuclear factor kappaB (NFkappaB) and ets in the mechanisms of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), and we investigated how hypertension affects the progression of AAA. AAA was produced by elastase perfusion in hypertensive rats and normotensive rats. The size of AAA rapidly increased in hypertensive rats as compared with normotensive rats.

Inhibitory effects of NFkappaB decoy oligodeoxynucleotides on neointimal hyperplasia in a rabbit vein graft model.

Autologous vein remains the commonly used conduit for bypass grafts; however, neointimal hyperplasia is known to be one of the major disease processes in vein graft failure. In this study, we focused on the important role of NFkappaB which controls the expression of numerous genes for various cytokines and adhesion molecules in the mechanism of graft failure. Thus, we investigated the inhibitory effect of NFkappaB decoy oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) on vein graft failure in a rabbit hypercholesterolemic model.