Journal of vascular surgery
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Abdominal surgery in patients with advanced liver disease has been reported to be associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. However, the surgical risk of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair in cirrhotics remains ill-defined. We reviewed our experience to investigate the predictors of the outcome in cirrhotic patients after elective AAA open repair. ⋯ In our experience, elective AAA open repair in relatively compensated cirrhotics was safely performed with an acceptable increase of the magnitude of the operation. However, the reduced life expectancy of cirrhotics with a MELD score ≥10 suggests that such a procedure may not be warranted in this subgroup of patients.
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The Society for Vascular Surgery Outcomes Committee, including ad hoc members from Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American Association of Thoracic Surgery, and Society for Interventional Radiology, collected outcomes of patients with traumatic thoracic aortic transections treated with endovascular grafts. Results through 1 year of follow-up are reported. ⋯ One-year results of endograft placement for the management of patients with traumatic aortic injury are acceptable. Most cases treated were due to motor vehicle accident and associated with multiple coexisting injuries. Approximately three-quarters of the deaths occurred ≤30 days, indicating the acute severity of the condition. Although the relatively low rates of adverse and major adverse events are consistent with what is anticipated in an otherwise healthy population, future device and procedural developments may facilitate improved outcomes in the future.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of indirect radiation dose estimates with directly measured radiation dose for patients and operators during complex endovascular procedures.
A great deal of attention has been directed at the necessity and potential for deleterious outcomes as a result of radiation exposure during diagnostic evaluations and interventional procedures. We embarked on this study in an attempt to accurately determine the amount of radiation exposure given to patients undergoing complex endovascular aortic repair. These measured doses were then correlated with radiation dose estimates provided by the imaging equipment manufacturers that are typically used for documentation and analysis of radiation-induced risk. ⋯ FT cannot be used to estimate PSD, and CAK and KAP represent poor surrogate markers for JCAHO-defined sentinel events. Even when directly measured PSDs were used, there was a poor correlation with clinical event (no skin injuries with an average PSD >2 Gy). The effective radiation dose of an eTAAA is equivalent to two preoperative computed tomography scans. The maximal operator exposure is 50 mSv/year, thus, a single operator could perform up to 294 eTAAA procedures annually before reaching the recommended maximum operator dose.
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Pathologic studies have demonstrated that aortic dissection is initiated by an intimal tear, followed by the rapid growth of an intramural hematoma that dissects the media and is characterized by elastin degradation. Genetic extracellular matrix abnormalities and proteinases may be the predisposing factors in aortic dissection, but little is known about the role of elastic fiber assembly. Fibulin-1 is an extracellular protein that is expressed in the vascular basement membrane. It regulates elastic fiber assembly and hence provides integrity in aortic structure. This study investigates the expression profiles of genes responsible for the elastolysis in the dissected human aorta, especially those coding fibulin-1, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and elastin. ⋯ Our gender- and age-matched study demonstrated that the alternated genes in the elastin assembly of dissected aortas may predispose structural failure in the aorta leading to dissection. However, no significant gene alterations in the adjacent intact and dissected aortas of the same patient can be found. Therefore, the genetic changes found in the dissected aortas most likely developed before the dissection starts. The inhibition of the aberrant expression of the fibulin-1 gene and that of the related matrix proteinase may open a new avenue for preventing aortic dissection.