SWISSspine-a nationwide health technology assessment registry for balloon kyphoplasty: methodology and first results.

Background Context: The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health demanded a nationwide health technology assessment registry for cervical and lumbar total disc arthroplasty and for balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) to make a decision about reimbursement of these interventions.

Purpose: The goal of the SWISSspine registry is to generate evidence about the safety and effectiveness of these technologies. We report on results of patients with balloon kyphoplasty.

Endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent flow reserve in vascular regions supplied by the internal mammary artery before and after bypass grafting.

Objective: It was the goal of this study to compare endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent flow reserve in vascular regions supplied by the left internal mammary artery before and after bypass graft surgery.

Methods: The native internal mammary artery in situ was investigated in 13 patients (age 61.8 +/- 8.

Morphological and immunohistochemical studies of the pituitary in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

The morphological structure and immunohistochemical reactions of 100 pituitaries from cases of SIDS children (58 males and 42 females, average age 5.34 +/- 3.12 months) were studied.

Electron microscopical morphometry of well-differentiated and undifferentiated ACTH secreting adenomas in Cushing's disease and Nelson's syndrome.

Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH)-secreting adenomas of patients with Cushing's disease (undifferentiated and well-differentiated ACTH-cell adenomas) were studied ultrastructurally and analysed morphometrically by a computer-supported quantitative image-analysing system. They were compared with identically prepared ACTH tumours (undifferentiated and well-differentiated ACTH-cell adenomas) of pituitaries from bilateral adrenalectomised patients with Nelson's syndrome. The aim of our study was to look for significant differences in ultrastructure and to evaluate these findings statistically regarding adenoma types and clinical syndromes.