Monitoring and understanding crustal deformation by means of GPS and InSAR data

Monitoring deformation of the Earth’s crust by using data acquired by both the GNSS and SAR techniques allows describing crustal movements with high spatial and temporal resolution. This is a key contribution for achieving a deeper and better insight of geodynamic processes. Combination of the two techniques provides a very powerful means, however, before combing the different data sets it is important to properly understand their respective contribution. For this purpose, strictly simultaneous and long time series would be necessary. This is not, in general, a common case due to the relatively long SAR satellites revisit time. A positive exception is represented by the data set of COSMO SKYMed (CSK) images made available for this study by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The flyover area encompass the city of Bologna and the smaller nearby town of Medicina where permanent GPS stations are operational. At the times of the CSK flyovers, we compared the GPS and SAR Up and East coordinates of a few stations as well as differential tropospheric delays derived by both techniques. The GPS time series were carefully screened and corrected for the presence of discontinuities by adopting a dedicated statistical procedure. The comparisons of both the estimated deformation and the tropospheric delays are encouraging and highlight the need for having available a more evenly sampled SAR data set

Guidelines on the management of abdominal aortic aneurysms: updates from the Italian Society of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE)

The objective of these Guidelines was to revise and update the previous 2016 Italian Guidelines on Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Disease, in accordance with the National Guidelines System (SNLG), to guide every practitioner toward the most correct management pathway for this pathology. The methodology applied in this update was the GRADE-SIGN version methodology, following the instructions of the AGREE quality of reporting checklist as well. The first methodological step was the formulation of clinical questions structured according to the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) model according to which the Recommendations were issued. Then, systematic reviews of the Literature were carried out for each PICO question or for homogeneous groups of questions, followed by the selection of the articles and the assessment of the methodological quality for each of them using qualitative checklists. Finally, a Considered Judgment form was filled in for each clinical question, in which the features of the evidence as a whole are assessed to establish the transition from the level of evidence to the direction and strength of the recommendations. These guidelines outline the correct management of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm in terms of screening and surveillance. Medical management and indication for surgery are discussed, as well as preoperative assessment regarding patients' background and surgical risk evaluation. Once the indication for surgery has been established, the options for traditional open and endovascular surgery are described and compared, focusing specifically on patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms as well. Finally, indications for early and late postoperative follow-up are explained. The most recent evidence in the Literature has been able to confirm and possibly modify the previous recommendations updating them, likewise to propose new recommendations on prospectively relevant topics

Guidelines on the diagnosis, treatment and management of visceral and renal arteries aneurysms: a joint assessment by the Italian Societies of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SICVE) and Medical and Interventional Radiology (SIRM)

: The objective of these Guidelines is to provide recommendations for the classification, indication, treatment and management of patients suffering from aneurysmal pathology of the visceral and renal arteries. The methodology applied was the GRADE-SIGN version, and followed the instructions of the AGREE quality of reporting checklist. Clinical questions, structured according to the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) model, were formulated, and systematic literature reviews were carried out according to them. Selected articles were evaluated through specific methodological checklists. Considered Judgments were compiled for each clinical question in which the characteristics of the body of available evidence were evaluated in order to establish recommendations. Overall, 79 clinical practice recommendations were proposed. Indications for treatment and therapeutic options were discussed for each arterial district, as well as follow-up and medical management, in both candidate patients for conservative therapy and patients who underwent treatment. The recommendations provided by these guidelines simplify and improve decision-making processes and diagnostic-therapeutic pathways of patients with visceral and renal arteries aneurysms. Their widespread use is recommended

Moving from PS to Slowly Decorrelating Targets: A Prospective View

During the last 8 years Permanent Scatterer interferometry (PSInSAR) has been widely used as a powerful tool for surface deformation monitoring both for scientific and commercial projects. A few years after the introduction of this technology, it was highlighted how the constraints on the stability of the radar signature of the targets used as opportunistic measurement points could be too tight. Forcing the PS to be coherent in all interferometric pairs used in the analysis could cause the loss of information coming from scatterers exhibiting PS behavior only in a subset of SAR images. Another concern was related to the estimation of the DEM reconstruction: the problem here is to take advantage of the PS framework trying to extend the set of image pixels where an estimation of the elevation is possible. Apart from geometrical decorrelation and variations of the Doppler centroid values of the acquisitions, temporal decorrelation phenomena strongly limit the coherence values of many scatterers within the area of interest. The question arising is whether the presence of radar scatterers exhibiting high or moderate coherence levels at low temporal baselines (typically one month) can be useful for real life applications and, in case of positive answer, which algorithms are most suited to extract useful information from slowly decorrelating scatterers. Although this topic is still the subject of extensive research activities, this paper summarizes some facts that, in the authors’ opinion, will be the base of any future algorithm. In particular, the analysis of the coherence matrix computed on a pixel-by-pixel basis is shown to be a key-element of any study of decorrelating targets. Its modeling can be extremely useful to extract feature parameters for image segmentatio

Synchronous Carotid Bifurcation Endarterectomy and Retrograde Kissing Stenting of the Innominate and Left Common Carotid Artery in a Patient with a Bovine Aortic Arch

Management of the symptomatic multiple stenosis of supra-aortic vessels (MSSVs) in a “bovine” aortic arch (BAA) configuration is infrequently reported. The optimal treatment choice remains debatable. A successful hybrid treatment for a proximal critical stenosis of the innominate and left common carotid artery was performed in a high-risk patient with a tandem symptomatic lesion in the right carotid bifurcation and a concentric vulnerable plaque in the bovine trunk. This case supports the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of a combined carotid bifurcation endarterectomy and retrograde kissing stenting of common carotid arteries with cerebral protection after evaluation of radiological, anatomical, and clinical parameters

Endovascular Bail Out for a Failed Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in High Surgical Risk Patient

The endovascular treatment for acute type A dissection (ATAD) represents an alternative and emerging option in selected high surgical risk patients. We report a successful total endovascular ATAD repair occurred intraoperatively during transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) placement in 82 years old female, not fit for surgery in emergency setting. The presentation, the diagnostic evaluation, and the technique are discussed. This case would support the feasibility and efficacy of the stent graft technology to treat ATADs after evaluation of clinical, anatomical, and radiological parameters

High resolution CSK data for emergency response

On January 13, 2012, the Italian vessel Costa Concordia wrecked offshore the Giglio Island, along the coast of Tuscany (Italy). The ship partially sunk, lying on the starboard side on a steep rocky seabed, creating also pernicious conditions for divers involved in the search and rescue operations. Starting from January 19, the Italian COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) constellation of was tasked to acquire high resolution images of the wreck. Thanks to CSK’s short response and revisiting time and its capability to acquire high resolution images in spotlight mode, satellite data were integrated within the real time, ground-based monitoring system already installed, in order to provide the Civil Protection authorities with a regular update on the ship stability

SAR monitoring of progressive and seasonal ground deformation using the permanent scatterers technique

none5COLESANTI C.; FERRETTI A.; NOVALI F.; C. PRATI; ROCCA F.Colesanti, CARLO MARIA; Ferretti, Alessandro; Novali, F.; Prati, CLAUDIO MARIA; Rocca, Fabi