Prediction of mortality rate in acute type A dissection: the German Registry for Acute Type A Aortic Dissection score.

Objectives: The goal was to develop a scoring system to predict the 30-day mortality rate for patients undergoing surgery for acute type A aortic dissection on the basis of the German Registry for Acute Type A Aortic Dissection (GERAADA) data set and to provide a Web-based application for standard use.

Methods: A total of 2537 patients enrolled in GERAADA who underwent surgery between 2006 and 2015 were analysed. Variable selection was performed using the R-package FAMoS.

Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Acute Coronary Syndrome: Focus on Safety and Completeness of Revascularization.

Background: Emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in the setting of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Avoiding cardiopulmonary bypass might be advantageous, but the role of off-pump CABG (OPCAB) remains controversial, as it has been associated with incomplete revascularization in several studies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, efficacy, and outcome of OPCAB surgery in ACS patients.

Aortic elongation in aortic aneurysm and dissection: the Tübingen Aortic Pathoanatomy (TAIPAN) project.

Objectives: To study the lengths and diameters of aortic segments in healthy and diseased aortas and to assess the role of aortic elongation in Type A aortic dissection (TAD) prediction.

Methods: Ectasia and aneurysm were defined by ascending aorta diameters of 45-54 mm and ≥55 mm, respectively. Computed tomography angiography studies of 256 healthy, 102 ectasia, 38 aneurysm, 17 pre-TAD and 166 TAD aortas were analysed using curved multiplanar reformats.

Aortic elongation and the risk for dissection: the Tübingen Aortic Pathoanatomy (TAIPAN) project†.

Objectives: We measured aortic dimensions, particularly length parameters, using 3D imaging with the aim of refining the risk-morphology for Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAD).

Methods: Computer tomography angiography studies were analysed using the curved multiplanar reformats. At defined landmarks, the diameters and lengths of aortic segments were recorded.

Regional and directional compliance of the healthy aorta: an ex vivo study in a porcine model.

Objectives: To gain differential knowledge about the physiological compliance and wall strength of the different regions of the aorta, including the ascending aorta, arch and descending aorta in both the circumferential and longitudinal directions, and to generate a hypothesis on the pathophysiological mechanisms that lead to Type A aortic dissection.

Methods: Fresh tissue specimens from 22 ex vivo porcine aortas were analysed on a tensile tester. Regional and directional compliance, failure stress and failure strain were recorded.

Ascending aortic elongation and the risk of dissection.

Objectives: Unlike aneurysm formation, the role of ascending aortic elongation in the pathogenesis of Type A aortic dissection (TAD) is largely unclear. We investigated the morphology of healthy, dissected and predissection aortas with a focus on ascending aortic length.

Methods: We retrospectively compared clinical and computer tomography angiography (CTA) data from TAD patients (n = 130), patients who developed a TAD in the further clinical course (preTAD, n = 16) and healthy control patients who received a CTA for non-aortic emergencies (n = 165).

Elastic properties of the young aorta: ex vivo perfusion experiments in a porcine model.

Objectives: To investigate the regional and directional compliance/distensibility of the healthy aorta.

Methods: Complete fresh porcine aortas (n = 11) were perfused ex vivo under defined haemodynamic parameters using a custom-made pulse duplicator. Both circumferential and longitudinal compliance were measured optically.

A new strategy in the treatment of chemoresistant lung adenocarcinoma via specific siRNA transfection of SRF, E2F1, Survivin, HIF and STAT3.

Objectives: According to the actual treatment strategies of lung cancer, the current therapeutic regimen is an individualized, multidisciplinary concept. The development of chemoresistance in the last decade represents the most important obstacle to an effective treatment. In our study, we examined a new therapeutic alternative in the treatment of multiresistant lung adenocarcinoma via siRNA-specific transfection of six crucial molecules involved in lung carcinogenesis [serum response factor(SFR), E2F1, Survivin, hypoxia inducible factor1 (HIF1), HIF2 and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT3)].

The preoperative management of a patient with a large aneurysm of the sinus of valsalva and takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

We report a case of a 43-year-old woman, who presented with thoracic interscapular pain at a peripheral hospital. In addition, the patient reported retrosternal pain, which had occurred only hours before-after an upsetting telephone call. The CT imaging ruled out an aortic dissection but revealed a huge sinus valsalva aneurysm (SVA) while the laboratory parameters showed slightly elevated troponin T value.

[A case of acute and intense thoracic pain during a dental treatment].

History And Admission Findings: We report on a patient with known hypertension, who presented to his general practitioner with severe thoracic pain of sudden onset. The aches had started during a dental treatment. Immediately, the patient was admitted to hospital by the general practitioner because myocardial ischemia was suspected.

Late desaturation due to collateral veins 10 years after total cavopulmonary shunt in left atrial isomerism: surgical closure.

The development of systemic collateral veins after palliative surgery in children with univentricular circulation is a common complication, however, manifestation as late as 10 years postoperatively is rare. Massive systemic to hepatic venous collaterals developed in a 14-year-old girl with univentricular heart, situs inversus atriovisceralis and hemiazygos continuity to the left-sided superior vena cava, 10 years after Kawashima operation. The resulting azygoportal shunt had led to a progressive systemic desaturation and reduction in ventricular function.

Frequent embolization in peripheral angioplasty: detection with an embolism protection device (AngioGuard) and electron microscopy.

Purpose: To evaluate the deliverability and protection capabilities of an embolism protection filter in angioplasty of peripheral arteries.

Methods: The Angioguard emboli capture guidewire system was applied in 11 patients with femoropopliteal lesions (6 stenoses, 3 occlusions, 2 controls). Data on lesion crossing, flow deceleration and macroembolization were recorded.

MR-guided lumbar sympathicolysis.

The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of MR-guided lumbar sympathicolysis (LSL) in a non-selected patient population. One hundred one MR-guided LSL procedures were performed in 89 patients according to Haaga's technique using a horizontally open clinical MR system (0.2 T) and non-ferromagnetic 20-G cannulas (neurolysis, n=93; blockade, n=8).