Performance of the BioIntegral Bovine Pericardial Graft in Vascular Infections:VASCular No-REact Graft Against INfection Study

Background: Vascular graft and endograft infections (VGEI) and native vessel infections (NVI) remain considerable challenges in vascular surgery, leading to high mortality and morbidity rates. Although in situ reconstruction is the preferred treatment, the material of choice is still a source of debate. Autologous veins are considered the first choice; however, xenografts may be an acceptable alternative. The performance of a biomodified bovine pericardial graft is assessed when implemented in an infected vascular area. Methods: This is a prospective multicenter cohort study. Patients who underwent reconstruction for VGEI or NVI with a biomodified bovine pericardial bifurcated or straight tube graft were included from December 2017 until June 2021. The primary outcome measure was reinfection at mid-term follow-up. Secondary outcome measures included mortality, patency, and amputation rate. Results: Thirty-four patients with vascular infections were included, of which 23 (68%) had an infected Dacron prosthesis after primary open repair and 8 (24%) had an infected endovascular graft. The remaining 3 (9%) had infected native vessels. At secondary repair, 3 (7%) patients had an in situ aortic tube reconstruction, 29 (66%) had an aortic bifurcated reconstruction, and 2 (5%) had an iliac-femoral reconstruction. At 1-year follow-up after the BioIntegral bovine pericardial graft reconstruction, the reinfection rate was 9%. The 1-year infection-related and procedure-related mortality rate was 16%. The occlusion rate was 6% and in total 3 patients underwent a lower limb amputation during the 1-year follow-up period. Conclusions: In situ reconstruction as treatment of (endo)graft and native vessel infections remains a challenge and reinfection looms as a potential consequence. In cases where time is of essence or when autologous venous repair is not feasible, a swift available solution is needed. The BioIntegral biomodified bovine pericardial graft may be an option as it shows reasonable results in terms of reinfection, in aortic tube and bifurcated grafts.</p

Systematic approach to ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in the endovascular era: Intention-to-treat eEVAR protocol

Emergency endovascular aneurysm repair (eEVAR) for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (rAAA) is still a relatively new treatment option. A pre-defined strategy of an eEVAR first approach for rAAA is associated with improved mortality rates. After establishing and implementing the Intention-to-treat eEVAR protocol for rAAAs the mortality and morbidity rates improved significantly. The presented Intention-to-treat eEVAR protocol starts at the first telephone call to the ambulance department and lasts until the post-operative care unit. The protocol involves the close collaboration between the ambulance department, vascular surgeon, emergency department physicians, anaesthesiologists, operating room staff and, radiology technicians. The availability of a variety of off-the-shelf stent-grafts, and an operating room that is adequately equipped to perform endovascular procedures is crucial in obtaining better outcomes. High volume centres that offer open surgical repair as well as eEVAR for rAAA show that the Intention-to-treat eEVAR protocol is achievable and appears to be associated with favorable mortality over open repair with appropriate case selection. Unstable or older patients with rAAA may particularly benefit by eEVAR

Venous Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Caused by Double Compression of the Axillosubclavian Vein:A Case Report

Introduction: In venous thoracic outlet syndrome (VTOS), pathology around the axillosubclavian vein causes venous compression with the subsequent development of upper extremity symptoms. This case report describes the analysis of all possible compression sites and subsequent treatment of VTOS patients with multiple compression points. Report: A 22 year old male presented with severe pain and swelling in his right arm, which persisted after a conservatively managed primary upper extremity deep vein thrombosis. Compression of the axillosubclavian vein was seen both at the level of the pectoralis minor and the costoclavicular spaces. Both compression points were successfully treated by combining thoracic outlet decompression surgery with pectoralis minor tenotomy. Discussion: This report underlines the importance of considering the possibility of multiple compression sites in patients with VTOS. Incomplete surgical release of all compression points leaves patients prone to re-thrombosis and/or persistent post-thrombotic syndrome. Timely recognition of all abnormalities on venography may allow for adjustment of surgical treatment accordingly

A mathematical model to investigate the effects of intravenous fluid administration and fluid loss

The optimal fluid administration protocol for critically ill perioperative patients is hard to estimate due to the lack of tools to directly measure the patient fluid status. This results in the suboptimal clinical outcome of interventions. Previously developed predictive mathematical models focus on describing the fluid exchange over time but they lack clinical applicability, since they do not allow prediction of clinically measurable indices. The aim of this study is to make a first step towards a model predictive clinical decision support system for fluid administration, by extending the current fluid exchange models with a regulated cardiovascular circulation, to allow prediction of these indices. The parameters of the model were tuned to correctly reproduce experimentally measured changes in arterial pressure and heart rate, observed during infusion of normal saline in healthy volunteers. With the resulting tuned model, a different experiment including blood loss and infusion could be reproduced as well. These results show the potential of using this model as a basis for a decision support tool in a clinical setting

SBC2011-53463 IN VITRO THREE DIMENSIONAL IMAGING OF HUMAN CAROTID ATHEROSCLEROTIC PLAQUES USING ULTRASONOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION Ruptured atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid artery are the main cause of stroke (70-80%). To prevent it, carotid endarterectomy is the procedure of choice in patients with a recent symptomatic 70-99% stenosis. Today, the selection of candidates is based on stenosis size only. However, endarterectomy is beneficial for only 1 out of 6 patients [1], the patients with unstable plaques To determine the mechanical properties of healthy coronary arteries an in vitro model was developed by Van Den Broek et al. [2]. In this model an arterial segment can be fixed in a water bath, and a pressure pump induces a pulsatile pressure through the segment. By using ultrasonography (US), distension of the vessel wall can be visualized in 2D (ART.LAB, Esaote Europe, The Netherlands). With this in vitro model the pressure-diameter and pressure-axial force relation can be obtained. In this study, human atherosclerotic segments obtained from an endarterectomy procedure are used to determine the mechanical properties of the atherosclerotic components (local ethical committee approval was obtained for this study). The aim of this study is to adjust the existing set-up for use on atherosclerotic plaques and to design a tool for the conversion of 2D utrasound datasets to 3D data, to obtain the geometry of the artery including pressure and distension information over time. Eventually these datasets will be used as input for inverse numerical computations for the determination of mechanical properties of the plaques

A novel experimental approach for three-dimensional geometry assessment of calcified human stenotic arteries in vitro

To improve diagnosis and understanding of the risk of rupture of atherosclerotic plaque, new strategies to realistically determine mechanical properties of atherosclerotic plaque need to be developed. In this study, an in vitro experimental method is proposed for accurate 3-D assessment of (diseased) vessel geometry using ultrasound. The method was applied to a vascular phantom, a healthy porcine carotid artery and human carotid endarterectomy specimens (n = 6). Vessel segments were pressure fixed and rotated in 10 ° steps. Longitudinal cross sections were imaged over 360 °. Findings were validated using micro-computed tomography (μCT). Results show good agreement between ultrasound and μCT-based geometries of the different segment types (ISI phantom = 0.94, ISI healthy = 0.79, ISI diseased = 0.75-0.80). The method does not suffer from acoustic shadowing effects present when imaging stenotic segments and allows future dynamic measurements to determine mechanical properties of atherosclerotic plaque in an in vitro setting

Surgery versus continued conservative treatment for neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome:the first randomised clinical trial (STOPNTOS-trial)

OBJECTIVES: Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (NTOS) is one of the most controversial clinical entities in medicine. Several major case series have shown promising results of surgery, however solid scientific evidence is lacking. The aim of this trial was to objectify the effect of thoracic outlet decompression (TOD). DESIGN: Randomised controlled clinical trial METHODS: We conducted a single center (high volume, tertiary TOS center), non-blinded, randomized controlled trial with parallel group design. Patients with a diagnosis of NTOS refractory to conservative therapy were randomized into one of two intervention arms and either received a trans-axillary thoracic outlet decompression (TA-TOD) or continued conservative treatment. After 3 months, the conservative treated group was also offered a TA-TOD. Primary outcome was the change in Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand, (DASH) questionnaire score. Secondary outcomes were the change in Cervical-Brachial Symptoms Questionnaire (CBSQ), TOS disability scale and quality of life scores. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months after inclusion. RESULTS: In total, 50 patients were enrolled in this trial: 25 in the TA-TOD group and 25 in the continued conservative treatment group. Follow up was completed in 24 and 22 patients respectively. At 3 months, there was a significant difference in DASH scores (TA-TOD: mean: 45.15; confidence interval (CI) [38.08 - 52.21]; conservative treatment: mean 64.92, CI [57.54 -72.30]; p<.001). All patients in the conservative treatment group applied for surgery 3 months after randomization. After surgery of the conservative treatment group, there was no significant difference between the groups for all primary and secondary outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: TA-TOD for NTOS is effective in patients that do not respond to conservative treatment. TRIAL REGISTER NUMBER: NL63986.100.17