Annals of vascular surgery
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Routine shunting is a safe and reliable method of cerebral protection during carotid endarterectomy.
The purpose of this report is to describe the perioperative and long-term outcomes of standard carotid endarterectomy (CEA) with general anesthesia, routine shunting, and patching and to show that routine shunting is a safe and reliable method of cerebral protection. Between January 1998 and December 2004, 700 patients attending our Department of Vascular Surgery underwent 786 CEAs performed using a standardized technique. Forty-four patients were excluded from the analysis because they underwent combined CEA and coronary artery bypass grafting, so the analysis is based on the results of 742 CEAs in 656 patients (86 bilateral CEAs). ⋯ There were eight cases (1%) of >70% restenosis (four cases) or thrombosis (four cases) of the operated internal carotid artery during the follow-up in asymptomatic patients: in four cases, carotid stenting due to >70% restenosis led to good results. The Kaplan-Meier estimate of the restenosis-free rate was 97.8%. The combined stroke and mortality rate of 0.8%, and the restenosis rate of 1% support the argument that standard CEA performed with routine shunting as brain protection leads to excellent early and long-term results.
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Past wartime experience and recent civilian reports indicate upper extremity (UE) vascular injury occurs less often and with less limb loss than lower extremity (LE) injury. Given advances in critical care, damage control techniques, and military armor technology, the objective of this evaluation was to define contemporary patterns of UE injury and effectiveness of vascular surgical management in UE vascular injury during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). From 1 September 2004 through 31 August 2005, 2,473 combat-related injuries were treated at the central echelon III surgical facility in Iraq. ⋯ S. military evaluation of wartime UE vascular injury, UE injury appears rare, with LE injury twice as frequent. Yet, UE limb loss appears more substantial than noted previously. These findings are likely related to significant tissue destruction occurring with the combined mechanisms of injury sustained in OIF.
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Case Reports
Immediate endovascular treatment of an aortoiliac aneurysm ruptured into the inferior vena cava.
An aortocaval fistula is a severe complication of an aortoiliac aneurysm, usually associated with high perioperative morbidity and mortality during open operative repair. We describe the successful endovascular treatment of a symptomatic infrarenal aortic aneurysm ruptured into the inferior vena cava with secondary interventional coiling of a persistent type II endoleak because of retrograde perfusion of the inferior mesenteric artery. Endovascular exclusion of ruptured abdominal aneurysms seems to be a valuable treatment option for selected patients even with complicated vascular conditions like an aortocaval fistula.
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Review Case Reports
Transverse aortic arch replacement associated with MAGIC syndrome: case report and literature review.
We report a case of ascending and transverse aortic arch aneurysm repair with aortic valve replacement in a patient with MAGIC syndrome (mouth and genital ulcers with inflamed cartilage), the unusual setting of both Behçet's disease and relapsing polychondritis.