Early vascular complications after percutaneous cannulation for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for cardiac assist.

Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO) demonstrated an advantage in survival and neurological outcome in patients with cardiogenic shock and, in selected population, in victims of refractory cardiac arrest. The incidence of vascular complications ranges in recent series from 10 to 70% including both early and late complications. The aim of the present study was to determine the incidence of early vascular complications and the effectiveness of the prevention of limb ischemia by the insertion of a catheter for distal perfusion.

[Endovascular treatment of pararenal aortic aneurysms].

Endovascular procedures have emerged as an attractive alternative technique for the repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms with an increasing popularity and diffusion. Even if technology progresses are developing more and more efficient grafts and devices, at the moment the endovascular treatment is still not applicable to all patients. The most common reason for patient exclusion remains an unsuitable proximal implantation site.

What have we learned from the Imaging in Carotid Angioplasty and Risk of Stroke (ICAROS) study?

Carotid artery stenting (CAS) is used widely to treat carotid lesions. Indication to CAS is mostly based, both in trial and in clinical practice, on the percentage of stenosis and the presence or absence of preprocedural neurologic symptoms, whereas the features of the plaque are somehow disregarded and ignored. The most severe complication of CAS is stroke, related to cerebral embolization from carotid plaque.