Consensus guidelines for the use and interpretation of angiogenesis assays

The formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis, is a complex process that plays important roles in growth and development, tissue and organ regeneration, as well as numerous pathological conditions. Angiogenesis undergoes multiple discrete steps that can be individually evaluated and quantified by a large number of bioassays. These independent assessments hold advantages but also have limitations. This article describes in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro bioassays that are available for the evaluation of angiogenesis and highlights critical aspects that are relevant for their execution and proper interpretation. As such, this collaborative work is the first edition of consensus guidelines on angiogenesis bioassays to serve for current and future reference

Septal defects: surgeons do it better.

Until the recent availability of percutaneous devices, the role of the septal defect occluder was played by surgeons. In this paper the pros and cons of the two techniques in the approach to the atrial and ventricular septal defects are analyzed. Although the reported results are rather interesting, it seems clear that one of the crucial aspects to guarantee good results is the selection of patients for the transcatheter approach. Surgery is not confined by the constraints of defect anatomy, and good results may be achieved without regard to patient selection or an otherwise unfavorable anatomy of the defect. Up to now, the follow-up of transcatheter closure has been relatively short and cannot be compared with that of surgery. Therefore, caution should be exercised when proposing the transcatheter approach to septal defects as the true alternative to conventional surger

Neonatal right Lung Emphysema due to Pulmonary Artery Sling

Pulmonary artery sling is a rare variant of vascular ring where the left pulmonary artery arises from the right and loops behind the trachea or right bronchus causing airway compression. A 40-day-old infant had been mechanically ventilated since birth for severe hypercapnia and right lung emphysema. Left pulmonary artery reimplantation was successfully performed

Neonatal right Lung Emphysema due to Pulmonary Artery Sling

Pulmonary artery sling is a rare variant of vascular ring where the left pulmonary artery arises from the right and loops behind the trachea or right bronchus causing airway compression. A 40-day-old infant had been mechanically ventilated since birth for severe hypercapnia and right lung emphysema. Left pulmonary artery reimplantation was successfully performed

Systemic venous segments interposition for pulmonary artery to aorta connection

Two patients with pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect underwent implantation of the diminutive pulmonary arteries on the ascending aorta by interposition of short segment of azygos and innominate veins. The very thin structure of the systemic veins' wall matched perfectly the fragile pulmonary arterial wall. The anastomosis were perfectly patent and no aneurism dilatation was evident after 3 and 4 months respectively. Keywords: Biomaterials; Congenital heart disease; Pulmonary arteries

Arterial switch operation for a complex transposition of the great arteries in dextrocardia.

A very rare case of a newborn with dextrocardia, complete transposition of the great arteries {S,D,D}, ventricular septal defect, aortic arch hypoplasia, juxtaposition of the morphologically right atrial appendage and superoinferior ventricles is herein presented. He successfully underwent arterial switch operation, ventricular septal defect closure and aortic arch reconstruction with end to end extended direct anastomosi

Adjustable aorto-pulmonary shunt to prevent temporary pulmonary over-circulation.

The Blalock-Taussig shunt can produce a temporary pulmonary over-circulation and can be downsized with a metallic clip. This hemodynamic situation can be reversible leading to desaturation. We describe a very simple method to resize temporarily the shunt with a removable metallic cli

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome in situs inversus totalis

A very rare case of a newborn with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and situs inversus totalis is herein reported. Successful surgical treatment of this cardiac malformation was accomplished at our institution and consisted of: modified Norwood stage I procedure, with direct anastomosis of the transected main pulmonary artery to the aortic arch, without any prosthetic material interposition and right ventricle to pulmonary artery polytetrafluoroethylene shun