Successful conversion strategy in patient submitted to EVAR demanding open surgery: comparative analysis 1997-2011 vs 2012-2020

: Late open conversion in our center has been reviewed in the past 8 years, comparing 1997-2011 (first period group A) with 2012-2020 (second period group B). A retrospective analysis of patients treated at our centre by standard EVAR for infrarenal aortic aneurysm requiring late open conversion between January 1997 and February 2020 was performed. All stent grafts were implanted according to their current IFU all patients. The data concerning intra and postoperative complications were collected. Post-operative evaluated data include: ICU (Intensive Care Unit) stay, major peri-operative (<30 days) complications, in hospital mortality, length of hospital stay, 30-days mortality, and mid-term outcomes. Between January 2012 and February 2020 (group B), in our institution 8 patients previously treated by stent graft with endoleak underwent open surgery. The incidence of conversions and the 30-day mortality rate were compared with that of previous years, from January 1997 to December 2011 (group A). 481 patients submitted to EVAR in a second part of the analysis have been considered, 8 patients underwent late open conversion (1.7%) (Group B) due to endoleak. Among January 1997 and December 2011 overall 268 EVAR were performed; during this first study period, surgical conversion had been performed in 14 patients (5.2%) (Group A). The average time from EVAR to open conversion was four years (range 12-88 months) in Group B, and it was 30 months (range 1-82 months) in Group A. In most cases, in both group A and group B the proximal aortic cross-clamping were infrarenal. After the emergent procedure in Group B (12.5%), we have observed a death, whereas three patients died in Group A in urgent situations (21.4%). The more frequent indication for open surgery is the Endoleak type 1 and migration in the two considered periods. Adherence with current IFU and the technical progress in endoprosthesis design maintain lower rate incidence. In most cases, open surgery for prostheses that require explantation can be performed with infrarenal clamping. Partial removal of the endoprosthesis in selected cases makes open conversion easier and appears durable. The results are unfair by numerous comorbidities; in both periods, urgent graft removal seems to elevate both mortality and morbidity, compared to elective surgery

Age of the Mt. Ortles ice cores, the Tyrolean Iceman and glaciation of the highest summit of South Tyrol since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum

In 2011 four ice cores were extracted from the summit of Alto dell'Ortles (3859 m), the highest glacier of South Tyrol in the Italian Alps. This drilling site is located only 37 km southwest from where the Tyrolean Iceman, similar to 5.3 kyrs old, was discovered emerging from the ablating ice field of Tisenjoch (3210 m, near the Italian-Austrian border) in 1991. The excellent preservation of this mummy suggested that the Tyrolean Iceman was continuously embedded in prehistoric ice and that additional ancient ice was likely preserved elsewhere in South Tyrol. Dating of the ice cores from Alto dell'Ortles based on Pb-210, tritium, beta activity and C-14 determinations, combined with an empirical model (COPRA), provides evidence for a chronologically ordered ice stratigraphy from the modern glacier surface down to the bottom ice layers with an age of similar to 7 kyrs, which confirms the hypothesis. Our results indicate that the drilling site has continuously been glaciated on frozen bedrock since similar to 7 kyrs BP. Absence of older ice on the highest glacier of South Tyrol is consistent with the removal of basal ice from bedrock during the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum (6-9 kyrs BP), the warmest interval in the European Alps during the Holocene. Borehole inclinometric measurements of the current glacier flow combined with surface ground penetration radar (GPR) measurements indicate that, due to the sustained atmospheric warming since the 1980s, an acceleration of the glacier Alto dell'Ortles flow has just recently begun. Given the stratigraphic-chronological continuity of the Mt. Ortles cores over millennia, it can be argued that this behaviour has been unprecedented at this location since the Northern Hemisphere Climatic Optimum

Data from air, englacial and permafrost temperature measurements on Mt. Ortles (Eastern European Alps)

The *.xlsx files report the temperature data recorded between 2010 and 2016 and presented in the paper “Modern air, englacial and permafrost temperatures at high altitude on Mt. Ortles, (3905 m a.s.l.) in the Eastern European Alps” (Carturan et al., 2023, submitted). The data were used to display the time series reported in the paper, which details variable names, data quality flags, maintenance logs of field operations, and characteristics of measurement sites. The data files are the following: Ortles_Air_temperature.xlsx: includes the air temperature data measured by five sensors installed on an automatic weather station. Ortles_englacial_temperature.xlsx: includes the englacial temperature measured at different depths by four thermistor strings. Ortles_soilsurface_temperature.xlsx: includes the soil surface temperature measured at six different locations over deglaciated terrain. Ortles_rockwall_temperature.xlsx: includes the rockwal temperature measured at three different depths and six different locations. Each *.xlsx file contains the following fields: “Date and hour (UTC)”: format day/month/year hour:minute; “Variable name (depth m)”: name of the measured variable and the sensor depth (if applicable); “Quality flag code”: a code reporting data quality; Different spreadsheet report temperature data from different measurement sites.This dataset was collected in the framework of the Ortles Project (a program supported by two NSF awards no. 1060115 & no. 1461422 to The Ohio State University and by the Ripartizione Protezione Antincendi e Civile of the Autonomous province of Bolzano in collaboration with the Ripartizione Opere idrauliche e Ripartizione Foreste of the Autonomous province of Bolzano and the Stelvio National Park) and of the Italian MIUR Project (PRIN 2010-11), "Response of morphoclimatic system dynamics to global changes and related geomorphological hazards" (local and national coordinators G. Dalla Fontana and C. Baroni)