Laparoscopic Hiatal Hernia Repair Followed by Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication With EsophyX Device (HH + TIF): Efficacy and Safety in Two Community Hospitals.

The TIF (transoral incisionless fundoplication) 2.0 procedure is indicated for patients with a hiatal hernia less than 2 cm. Many patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) require hiatal hernia repair.

The vascular endothelial cell antigen system.

Vascular endothelial cells (VEC) are clearly immunogenic and express antigens unique to vascular endothelial cells. The observation that peripheral blood monocytes also express this VEC antigen system made prospective testing feasible. Preformed antibody to the VEC/monocyte antigen system of the donor usually leads to graft rejection in HLA-identical combinations, but antibody directed against donor monocytes exclusively (monocyte-specific antigens) appears to be benign.

Clinical significance of antimonocyte antibody in kidney transplant recipients.

Monocytes appear to contain an antigen system very similar to the "cell-specific" antigen system previously identified on the vascular endothelial cell (VEC). By using a crossmatch technique with monocytes as the target cell, we tested for the presence of antibody to donor vascular endothelial cell antigens in kidney transplantation recipients, as well as performed mixed lymphocyte cultures, and T and B cytotoxicity testing. This technique detected clinically significant sensitization in some (living related) donor-recipient combinations not detected with standard T and B lymphocyte techniques.