Timing to Carotid Endarterectomy Affects Early and Long Term Outcomes of Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis.

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate early and long-term outcomes according to the timing to carotid endarterectomy (CEA) of symptomatic carotid stenosis.

Methods: Consecutive CEAs with selective shunting for symptomatic carotid stenosis ≥50% performed between 2009 and 2020. Patients had acute neurological impairment on presentation, defined as <5 points on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS).

Benefits and Role of Carbon Dioxide Angiography in Case of Misalignment Between Fenestration and Target Vessel During Fenestrated Endovascular Aneurysm Repair.

Purpose: To report the benefits and the role of carbon dioxide (CO) angiography in case of misalignment between fenestration and target vessel during fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (F-EVAR).

Technique: During F-EVAR, misalignment between fenestration and target vessel is a potentially catastrophic complication. In 2 patients, we experienced that one of the target vessels were not visible during standard angiography in different projections after positioning a fenestrated graft and even after cannulation of the corresponding fenestration.

Influence of pedal arch quality on 5-year survival and limb salvage in patients with diabetic foot ulcers undergoing peripheral angiography.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of pedal arch quality on 5-year survival and limb salvage in diabetic patients with foot wounds undergoing peripheral angiography.

Methods: Between January 2014 and December 2014, 153 diabetic patients with foot wounds underwent peripheral angiography. Final foot angiograms were used to allocate patients according to pedal arch: complete pedal arch (CPA), incomplete pedal arch (IPA), and absent pedal arch (APA).

Staged in situ aorto-iliac hybrid technique: an original technique to treat complex juxtarenal and iliac aneurysms.

Background: To report a novel staged hybrid technique to treat complex juxtarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (JAAA) associated with at least one iliac artery aneurysm (IA) with no adequate distal fixation zone.

Methods: The novel technique herein described has two main "staged" steps. The first step consists in creating an adequate distal fixation zone by endovascular means; after hypogastric embolization an iliac stent-graft has placed from 5 mm above the aortic bifurcation to the external iliac artery.

Tight systolic blood pressure control with combination therapy decreases type 2 endoleaks in patients undergoing endovascular aneurysm repair.

Background: Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) has revolutionized the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease. However, the survival advantage is lost in the long term due the occurrence of endoleaks affecting the late rupture of aneurism sac. Few data are available on the role of blood pressure control in affecting the incidence of type 2 endoleaks in patients undergoing EVAR.

Response Assessment by Volumetric Iodine Uptake Measurement: Preliminary Experience in Patients with Intermediate-Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated with Yttrium-90 Radioembolization.

Purpose: To retrospectively compare early response to yttrium-90 radioembolization (Y90) according to volumetric iodine uptake (VIU) changes, Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumor 1.1 (RECIST 1.1) and modified RECIST (mRECIST) in patients with intermediate-advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to explore their association with survival.

Impact of Pedal Arch Patency on Tissue Loss and Time to Healing in Diabetic Patients with Foot Wounds Undergoing Infrainguinal Endovascular Revascularization.

Objective: To retrospectively evaluate the impact of pedal arch quality on tissue loss and time to healing in diabetic patients with foot wounds undergoing infrainguinal endovascular revascularization.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2014 and June 2015, 137 consecutive diabetic patients with foot wounds underwent infrainguinal endovascular revascularization (femoro-popliteal or below-the-knee, arteries). Postprocedural angiography of the foot was used to divide the patients into the following three groups according to the pedal arch status: complete pedal arch (CPA), incomplete pedal arch (IPA), and absent pedal arch (APA).

Carbon-coated self-expandable stents in patients with atherosclerotic iliac artery disease.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of carbon-coated self-expandable stents in the revascularization of atherosclerotic iliac artery lesions.

Methods: Between January 2012 and June 2016 54 carbon-coated self-expandable stents (Easy HiFlype and Easy Flype; manufactured by CID S.p.

Pedal arch patency and not direct-angiosome revascularization predicts outcomes of endovascular interventions in diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of pedal arch status and direct-angiosome revascularization (DAR) on clinical outcomes in diabetic patients with foot wounds undergoing endovascular revascularization.

Methods: Between January 2014 and June 2015, 93 diabetic patients with foot wounds underwent endovascular revascularization of at least one below-the-knee vessel. Patients were divided into three groups according to the pedal arch status: complete pedal arch (CPA), incomplete pedal arch (IPA) and absent pedal arch (APA).

Paclitaxel-Eluting Balloon vs Standard Angioplasty to Reduce Restenosis in Diabetic Patients With In-Stent Restenosis of the Superficial Femoral and Proximal Popliteal Arteries: Three-Year Results of the DEBATE-ISR Study.

Purpose: To report the 3-year safety and effectiveness outcomes from the prospective all-comers DEBATE-ISR study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01558531) of symptomatic diabetic patients with femoropopliteal in-stent restenosis (ISR) undergoing treatment with paclitaxel-eluting balloons compared with historical diabetic controls.

Methods: From January 2010 to December 2011, 44 consecutive diabetic patients (mean age 74±11 years; 32 men) were treated with drug-eluting balloons (DEBs) and enrolled in the study.

Transrenal E-XL stenting prior to EVAR in the case of abdominal aortic aneurysm associated to proximal aortic neck dissection.

Chronic dissection of proximal aortic neck is a rare occurrence in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and a gold standard therapy has not been defined so far. Herein we report two successful cases of an original adjunctive procedure involving the transrenal placement of a self-expanding nitinol stent (E-XL aortic stent, Jotec GmbH, Germany) in order to fix a dissection flap in the aortic neck wall prior to the deployment of the bifurcated endograft. Primary technical success and midterm clinical success was achieved in both cases with freedom from any early or late reintervention.

Paclitaxel-eluting balloon vs. standard angioplasty to reduce recurrent restenosis in diabetic patients with in-stent restenosis of the superficial femoral and proximal popliteal arteries: the DEBATE-ISR study.

Purpose: To test the ability of a drug-eluting balloon (DEB) to reduce recurrent in-stent restenosis (ISR) in diabetic patients with femoropopliteal stents.

Methods: A prospective all-comers study [Drug-Eluting Balloon in Peripheral Intervention for In-Stent Restenosis (DEBATE-ISR); ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01558531] of symptomatic diabetic patients with femoropopliteal ISR undergoing treatment with paclitaxel-eluting balloons was designed to compare their 12-month recurrent restenosis rate with that of historical diabetic controls.

Drug-eluting balloon in peripheral intervention for the superficial femoral artery: the DEBATE-SFA randomized trial (drug eluting balloon in peripheral intervention for the superficial femoral artery).

Objectives: This study sought to compare paclitaxel-eluting balloon (PEB) with conventional percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), followed by systematic implantation of a self-expanding nitinol bare-metal stent (BMS) in patients at risk for restenosis.

Background: PTA is an effective strategy for treating atherosclerosis of the femoropopliteal axis (FPA). Whereas PEB have shown advantage over uncoated balloons in the treatment of simple lesions, it is unknown whether these results are applicable to complex degrees of FPA atheroma.

Mbandakamines A and B, unsymmetrically coupled dimeric naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, from a Congolese Ancistrocladus species.

Mbandakamines A (1) and B (2), isolated from the leaves of an as yet unidentified Congolese Ancistrocladus species, are the first dimeric naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids with an unsymmetrically coupled central biaryl axis. Their novel 6',1″-coupling type implies a hitherto unprecedented peri-peri coupling in one of the naphthalene parts, leading to the as yet highest steric hindrance at the central axis and a total of seven elements of chirality. Mbandakamine A exhibits good antimalarial activity.

Image fusion of preprocedural CTA with real-time fluoroscopy to guide proper hepatic artery catheterization during transarterial chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma: a feasibility study.

Purpose: To assess feasibility of proper hepatic artery catheterization using a 3D model obtained from preprocedural computed tomographic angiography (CTA), fused with real-time fluoroscopy, during transarterial chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: Twenty consecutive cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing transarterial chemoembolization were prospectively enrolled onto the study. The early arterial phase axial images of the preprocedural CTA were postprocessed on an independent workstation connected to the angiographic system (Innova 4100; GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI), obtaining a 3D volume rendering image (VR) that included abdominal aorta, splanchnic arteries, and first and second lumbar vertebrae.

Functional characterization of a class III acid endochitinase from the traps of the carnivorous pitcher plant genus, Nepenthes.

Carnivory in plants is an adaptation strategy to nutrient-poor environments and soils. Carnivorous plants obtain some additional mineral nutrients by trapping and digesting prey; the genus Nepenthes is helped by its specialized pitcher traps. To make the nutrients available, the caught prey needs to be digested, a process that requires the concerted activity of several hydrolytic enzymes.

Role of dynamic MRI in the follow-up of acute Charcot foot in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing the level of activity of acute Charcot foot, monitoring treatment response and predicting healing time.

Materials And Methods: Forty diabetic patients with acute Charcot foot were prospectively enrolled. Patients underwent limb immobilization and were followed every 3 months by clinical examination (skin temperature and circumferences) and MRI.

CT colonography: role of a second reader CAD paradigm in the initial training of radiologists.

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of CAD for the evaluation of CT colonography (CTC) datasets by inexperienced readers during the attendance of a dedicated hands-on training course.

Method And Materials: Twenty-seven radiologists inexperienced in CTC (11 with no CTC training at all, 16 having previously reviewed no more than 10 CTC cases overall) attended a hands-on training course based on direct teaching on fifteen workstations (four Advantage Windows 4.4 with Colon VCAR software, GE; six CADCOLON, Im3D; five ColonScreen (Toshiba/Voxar) with ColonCAD™ API, Medicsight).

[Clinical outcome of percutaneous revascularization by stent-assisted balloon angioplasty of femoro-popliteal and tibial vessels in diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia].

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the long-term clinical outcome of percutaneous peripheral interventions in diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) in terms of occurrence of major amputation and mortality.

Methods: From January 2004 to December 2007, all diabetic patients undergoing peripheral angiography and percutaneous revascularization for the presence of CLI were enrolled in this registry and followed prospectively. Limb salvage, mortality, and repeat revascularization were reported at long term.

Post-surgical follow-up of colorectal cancer: role of contrast-enhanced CT colonography.

Aim: To evaluate the role of CT colonography (CTC) in the follow-up of patients having received partial colectomy for colorectal cancer.

Methods And Materials: CTC was performed in 72 subjects with history of partial colectomy for colorectal cancer. Colectomy had been performed in the right colon (n = 18), descending colon (n = 15), sigmoid colon (n = 21), and rectum (n = 18).

Synthesis and antiplasmodial activity of new indolone N-oxide derivatives.

A series of 66 new indolone-N-oxide derivatives was synthesized with three different methods. Compounds were evaluated for in vitro activity against CQ-sensitive (3D7), CQ-resistant (FcB1), and CQ and pyrimethamine cross-resistant (K1) strains of Plasmodium falciparum (P.f.

CT colonography versus double-contrast barium enema for screening of colorectal cancer: comparison of radiation burden.

Our aim is to compare the radiation dose associated with a low-dose CT colonography (CTC) protocol for colorectal cancer screening with that delivered by double-contrast barium enema (DCBE). CTC of twenty asymptomatic individuals (M:F = 10:10) participating to a colorectal cancer screening program and DCBE of fifteen patients (M:F = 6:9) were evaluated. For CTC, absorbed dose was determined by calculating the dose-length product for each CTC examination from measurements on a CT dose phantom equipped with a CT ion chamber.

Comparison of CT colonography vs. conventional colonoscopy in mapping the segmental location of colon cancer before surgery.

Once presence of a colorectal cancer has been diagnosed, a key factor for patient's prognosis in view of surgical intervention is the correct segmental localization and resection of the tumor. The aim of this work was to compare the accuracy of the current gold standard technique, conventional colonoscopy (CC), to computed tomography colonography (CTC) in the segmental localization of tumor. Sixty-five patients (mean age 64; 45 female and 19 male) with colorectal cancer diagnosed at colonoscopy underwent CTC before surgery.

Integrating image processing in PACS.

Integration of RIS and PACS services into a single solution has become a widespread reality in daily radiological practice, allowing substantial acceleration of workflow with greater ease of work compared with older generation film-based radiological activity. In particular, the fast and spectacular recent evolution of digital radiology (with special reference to cross-sectional imaging modalities, such as CT and MRI) has been paralleled by the development of integrated RIS--PACS systems with advanced image processing tools (either two- and/or three-dimensional) that were an exclusive task of costly dedicated workstations until a few years ago. This new scenario is likely to further improve productivity in the radiology department with reduction of the time needed for image interpretation and reporting, as well as to cut costs for the purchase of dedicated standalone image processing workstations.