Annals of vascular surgery
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Medical complications may prolong the hospital stay after elective carotid endarterectomy (CEA). We prospectively assessed the social and medical feasibility and safety of patient discharge on the first postoperative day after elective CEA and unplanned readmissions. ⋯ In this study, the majority of patients undergoing elective CEA were discharged safely on the first postoperative day. Social reasons, rather than medical reasons, underlied most cases of later discharge. There were no unplanned readmissions for complications of CEA.
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Case Reports
Successful management of threatened aortic rupture late after rib fracture caused by blunt chest trauma.
A 62-year-old man was crushed in a car accident and diagnosed with a fractured left ninth rib, pulmonary and heart contusion, hemopneumothorax, and descending aortic injury based on a computed tomography scan. He underwent chest tube drainage and was intubated for mechanical ventilation because a bone fragment of the ninth rib threatened to penetrate the descending aorta. On the second posttrauma day, computed tomography showed the bone fragment of the ninth rib approaching the descending aorta. He underwent graft replacement of the injured portion of the descending thoracic aorta, and we removed the fractured left ninth rib.
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We present a 33-year-old woman with deep venous thrombosis of the left iliac vein and the left lower limb. A computed tomography scan of her abdomen revealed a hypoplastic inferior vena cava and agenesis of the right kidney. Congenital anomalies of the inferior vena cava are uncommon and are sometimes an unrecognized cause of deep venous thrombosis.
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After endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) for treatment of aortoiliac aneurysms, patients commonly develop an inflammatory reaction: Postimplantation syndrome (PIS). Clinically, it may be hard to separate PIS from an infectious complication. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a diagnostic marker for severe bacterial infections and sepsis. We hypothesize that low-PCT levels facilitate the PIS diagnosis after EVAR. ⋯ In patients with PIS after EVAR, there was a strong inflammatory reaction. In the PIS condition, PCT remains low. This pilot study shows that PCT may be useful for the PIS diagnosis.
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Comparative Study
Carotid endarterectomy national trends over a decade: does sex matter?
The objective was to evaluate the difference in timing (if any) of in-hospital carotid endarterectomy (CEA) or outcomes of CEA based on sex among men and women hospitalized for carotid artery disease. ⋯ In this decade-long national population-based study of hospitalized patients undergoing CEA, women had lower perioperative cardiac morbidity and mortality rates than men. After adjusting for patient, clinical, and hospital factors, there is no discernible difference in timing of CEA based on sex.