Percutaneous repair or medical treatment for secondary mitral regurgitation: outcomes at 2 years.

Aims: The MITRA-FR trial showed that among symptomatic patients with severe secondary mitral regurgitation, percutaneous repair did not reduce the risk of death or hospitalization for heart failure at 12 months compared with guideline-directed medical treatment alone. We report the 24-month outcome from this trial.

Methods And Results: At 37 centres, we randomly assigned 304 symptomatic heart failure patients with severe secondary mitral regurgitation (effective regurgitant orifice area >20 mm or regurgitant volume >30 mL), and left ventricular ejection fraction between 15% and 40% to undergo percutaneous valve repair plus medical treatment (intervention group, n = 152) or medical treatment alone (control group, n = 152).

Results of successive EORTC-CLG 58 881 and 58 951 trials in paediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Outcomes in childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) are steadily improving due to intensive therapy. Between 1989 and 2008, 599 children with newly diagnosed T-ALL were enrolled in two successive European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer - Children's Leukaemia Group trials (58881 and 58951), both based on the Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster protocol and without cranial irradiation. In the latter trial induction chemotherapy was intensified.

Intraluminal Ultrasonic Palpation Imaging Technique Revisited for Anisotropic Characterization of Healthy and Atherosclerotic Coronary Arteries: A Feasibility Study.

Accurate mechanical characterization of coronary atherosclerotic lesions remains essential for the in vivo detection of vulnerable plaques. Using intravascular ultrasound strain measurements and based on the mechanical response of a circular and concentric vascular model, E. I.

Percutaneous Repair or Medical Treatment for Secondary Mitral Regurgitation.

Background: In patients who have chronic heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, severe secondary mitral-valve regurgitation is associated with a poor prognosis. Whether percutaneous mitral-valve repair improves clinical outcomes in this patient population is unknown.

Methods: We randomly assigned patients who had severe secondary mitral regurgitation (defined as an effective regurgitant orifice area of >20 mm or a regurgitant volume of >30 ml per beat), a left ventricular ejection fraction between 15 and 40%, and symptomatic heart failure, in a 1:1 ratio, to undergo percutaneous mitral-valve repair in addition to receiving medical therapy (intervention group; 152 patients) or to receive medical therapy alone (control group; 152 patients).

Standardization of pediatric uroradiological terms: A multidisciplinary European glossary.

To promote the standardization of nephro-uroradiological terms used in children, the European Society of Pediatric Radiology uroradiology taskforce wrote a detailed glossary. This work has been subsequently submitted to European experts in pediatric urology and nephrology for discussion and acceptance to improve the quality of radiological reports and communication among different clinicians involved in pediatric urology and nephrology.

Standardization of pediatric uroradiological terms: a multidisciplinary European glossary.

To promote the standardization of nephro-uroradiological terms used in children, the European Society of Paediatric Radiology uroradiology taskforce wrote a detailed glossary. This work has been subsequently submitted to European experts in pediatric urology and nephrology for discussion and acceptance to improve the quality of radiological reports and communication between different clinicians involved in pediatric urology and nephrology.

Thoracoscopic Rib Resection in Children.

Objective: The authors present a multicenter retrospective series of different benign rib lesions in children operated on using thoracoscopy.

Materials And Methods: Between 2005 and 2015, 17 rib resections were performed thoracoscopically, in four French departments of pediatric surgery. Of these 17 cases, 13 exostoses, 2 endochondromas, 1 synostosis, and 1 Cyriax's syndrome were noted.

Detection of a new heterozygous germline ETV6 mutation in a case with hyperdiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

ETV6 is a target of recurrent aberrations in sporadic and familial acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Here, we report on a new pedigree with a germline ETV6 mutation in which the index patient and his father developed high hyperdiploid (HeH) ALL and polycythemia vera at age 13 and 51, respectively. The index patient achieved durable complete remission without transplantation but had persistent moderate thrombocytopenia without bleeding tendency.

Assessment of Inter-Expert Variability and of an Automated Segmentation Method of 40 and 60 MHz IVUS Images of Coronary Arteries.

The objectives were to compare the performance of a segmentation algorithm, based on the minimization of an uncertainty function, to delineate contours of external elastic membrane and lumen of human coronary arteries imaged with 40 and 60 MHz IVUS, and to use values of this function to delineate portions of contours with highest uncertainty. For 8 patients, 40 and 60 MHz IVUS coronary data acquired pre- and post-interventions were used, for a total of 68,516 images. Manual segmentations of contours (on 2312 images) performed by experts at three core laboratories were the gold-standards.

Spontaneous bladder rupture in non-augmented bladder exstrophy.

Objective: Bladder perforation is not commonly described in bladder exstrophy patients without bladder augmentation. The goal of this study was to identify the risk factors of spontaneous perforation in non-augmented exstrophy bladders.

Methods: The study was a retrospective multi-institutional review of bladder perforation in seven male and two female patients with classic bladder exstrophy-epispadias (E-E).

The Imaging Modulography Technique Revisited for High-Definition Intravascular Ultrasound: Theoretical Framework.

Mechanical characterization of atherosclerotic lesions remains an essential step for the detection of vulnerable plaques (VPs). Recently, an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) elasticity reconstruction method (iMOD) has been tested in vivo by our group. The major limitation of iMOD is the need to estimate the strain field in the entire VP despite attenuated depth penetration signals when using high-definition (HD) IVUS systems.

Is it safe to solely use ventral penile tissues in hypospadias repair? Long-term outcomes of 578 Duplay urethroplasties performed in a single institution over a period of 14 years.

Objectives: Urethral plate tubulization (Thiersch-Duplay procedure) is a widespread procedure mostly used for distal hypospadias. Concerns of long-term outcome have led to this review of the results of a series of 578 cases.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 578 patients treated in a single institution following the same procedure and with the same follow-up.

Effects of mechanical properties and atherosclerotic artery size on biomechanical plaque disruption - mouse vs. human.

Mouse models of atherosclerosis are extensively being used to study the mechanisms of atherosclerotic plaque development and the results are frequently extrapolated to humans. However, major differences have been described between murine and human atherosclerotic lesions and the determination of similarities and differences between these species has been largely addressed recently. This study takes over and extends previous studies performed by our group and related to the biomechanical characterization of both mouse and human atherosclerotic lesions.

Portal vein thrombosis after laparoscopic splenectomy during childhood.

Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication of laparoscopic splenectomy (LS) and can lead to bowel ischemia or portal hypertension. In childhood, this complication is reported in 5-10 % of the cases whereas it can be up to 50 % in adult population. Our aim was to evaluate PVT incidence after LS and associated risks factors.

The Anatomic-Functional Duality of So-called 'Significant' Atherosclerotic Stenosis - Update on Invasive Diagnostic Strategies in Coronaropathy.

So-called 'significant' atherosclerotic coronary stenosis is defined by a simple binary morphological index of tightness - percent diameter stenosis (%DS >50 %). Invasive diagnosis of atherosclerotic coronary lesions classically comprises two consecutive stages, which can be fairly accurately described as angiographic visual perception and functional deduction. This anatomic-functional duality should be seen as not so much antithetic as causal and finally quite complex.

Transrectal small bowel evisceration after abdominal crush injury.

Transrectal small bowel evisceration (TSBE) is a rare entity that can occur after traumatic injuries. It has been described after impalement, sexual assault, blunt abdominal trauma, and swimming pool drain suction. The authors encountered such a case in a 4-year-old by following a crush abdominal injury.

The best way to detect elevated albuminuria.

Background: It has been reported that first morning specimens are more reliable than random spot specimens to assess 24-hour urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER), especially if albuminuria is expressed as albuminuria to creatininuria ratio. We aimed to investigate the influence of (a) posture and activity and (b) the units to best estimate 24-hour albuminuria.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 24-hour UAER was compared to 60 min 'supine' and 90 min 'activity' albuminuria in 124 patients tested for resistant hypertension.

Neonatal outcomes after elective delivery management of preterm premature rupture of the membranes before 34 weeks' gestation (DOMINOS study).

Objective: The objective was to compare the impact of the reason for delivery (elective delivery versus spontaneous onset of labor) on neonatal outcome after preterm premature rupture of the membranes (PPROMs).

Study Design: A regional prospective cohort study of all women with PPROM at between 24 and 34 weeks' gestation was conducted. We compared the effects of elective delivery (n=133), spontaneous labor (n=170), and admission for medical complications (n=169) like fetal distress, maternal hyperthermia, or placental abruption, on neonatal outcomes.

Modeling the duration of the latency period after preterm premature rupture of the membranes according to maternal and pregnancy characteristics: DOMINOS study.

Objective: The objective was to assess the effects of maternal and pregnancy characteristics on the rupture-to-delivery interval.

Study Design: DOMINOS study, a descriptive prospective population-based study, recorded the characteristics of 598 pregnancies with preterm premature rupture of the membranes (PPROM) between 24 and 34 weeks' gestation. Univariate and multivariate analyses was performed that were likely to affect the rupture-to-delivery interval.

Morphological and biomechanical aspects of vulnerable coronary plaque.

Vulnerable plaque morphology has been described by gross pathology and intravascular ultrasound, but morphological criteria cannot fully explain vulnerability, which involves four distinct factors: 1) inflammatory and biological processes; 2) geometry; 3) composition; and 4) hemodynamic stress. These last three aspects underlie the biomechanical study of vulnerable plaque. By virtue of the nature of their evolution, atherosclerotic plaques tend to be excentric, and this is a crucial morphological feature, causing circumferential stress to peak in very specific juxta-luminal locations, where it can exceed the rupture threshold of collagen, the basic constituent of arterial architecture.

Rituximab therapy in malignant lymphoma.

Rituximab is the first monoclonal antibody to have been registered for the treatment of B-cell lymphomas. Randomized studies have demonstrated its activity in follicular lymphoma (FL), mantle cell lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in untreated or relapsing patients. Non-comparative studies have shown an activity in all other lymphomas.