DU is an accurate tool for the diagnosis of endoleaks, but is less valuable for diameter measurements, when compared with CT. Currently, DU is a useful tool, but CT remains a key part of the postoperative evaluation after endoluminal treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms. At institutions where DU is used for follow-up, researchers should perform quality control studies to avoid potentially significant errors.

clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01331863.

AAAs of 3.0 cm to 3.9 cm expanded slowly, did not rupture, and rarely had operative repair or expanded to more than 5.0 cm in our study of male patients. Expansion rates and the incidence rate of operative repair are more common in the 3.5-cm to 3.9-cm AAA when compared with the 3.0-cm to 3.4-cm AAA.

-To determine the impact of progressive elevations in peripheral vascular disease (PVD) risk on microvascular function, we utilized eight rat models spanning "healthy" to "high PVD risk" and used a multiscale approach to interrogate microvascular function and outcomes: healthy: SpragueDawley rats (SDR) and lean Zucker rats (LZR); mild risk: SDR on high-salt diet (HSD) and SDR on high-fructose diet (HFD); moderate risk: reduced renal mass-hypertensive rats (RRM) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR); high risk: obese Zucker rats (OZR) and Dahl salt-sensitive rats (DSS). Vascular reactivity and biochemical analyses demonstrated that even mild elevations in PVD risk severely attenuated nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and caused progressive shifts in arachidonic acid metabolism, increasing thromboxane A 2 levels. With the introduction of hypertension, arteriolar myogenic activation and adrenergic constriction were increased. However, while functional hyperemia and fatigue resistance of in situ skeletal muscle were not impacted with mild or moderate PVD risk, blood oxygen handling suggested an increasingly heterogeneous perfusion within resting and contracting skeletal muscle. Analysis of in situ networks demonstrated an increasingly stable and heterogeneous distribution of perfusion at arteriolar bifurcations with elevated PVD risk, a phenomenon that was manifested first in the distal microcirculation and evolved proximally with increasing risk. The increased perfusion distribution heterogeneity and loss of flexibility throughout the microvascular network, the result of the combined effects on NO bioavailability, arachidonic acid metabolism, myogenic activation, and adrenergic constriction, may represent the most accurate predictor of the skeletal muscle microvasculopathy and poor health outcomes associated with chronic elevations in PVD risk. rodent models of cardiovascular disease risk; peripheral vascular disease; blood flow regulation; microvascular dysfunction; system biology of microcirculation NEW & NOTEWORTHY Linking peripheral vascular disease (PVD) risk to integrated microvascular dysfunction and health outcomes has been elusive. We used eight models of increasing risk and a multiscale approach to interrogate novel indexes of microvascular function, perfusion/oxygen handling, and outcomes. We demonstrate how elevated PVD risk leads to progressive microvascular "dampening," with clear implications for outcomes.THE PREDOMINANT CONCERN regarding the presence of peripheral vascular disease (PVD) risk factors of increasing severity is that these can lead to the development of pathological characteristics of PVD including myocardial infarction, heart failure, stoke, and/or limb ischemia. These potential outcomes of PVD result in elevations in mortality risk as well as significant reductions in quality of life through a variety of direct and indirect causes (3,45,50) that are predominantly perceived as macrovascular events. These global processes can develop across tissues and organs, leading to the clinica...

The presence of chronic, unresolvable stresses leads to negative health outcomes, including development of clinical depression/depressive disorders, with outcome severity being correlated with depressive symptom severity. One of the major outcomes associated with chronic stress and depression is the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and an elevated CVD risk profile. However, in epidemiological research, sex disparities are evident, with premenopausal women suffering from depressive symptoms more acutely than men, but also demonstrating a relative protection from the onset of CVD. Given this, we investigated the differential effect of sex on conduit artery and resistance arteriolar function in male and female mice following 8 wk of an unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) protocol. In males, plasma cortisol and depressive symptom severity (e.g., coat status, anhedonia, delayed grooming) were elevated by UCMS. Endothelium-dependent dilation to methacholine/acetylcholine was impaired in conduit arteries and skeletal muscle arterioles, suggesting a severe loss of nitric oxide bioavailability and increased production of thromboxane A2 vs. prostaglandin I2 associated with elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) and an increased level of systemic inflammation. Endothelium-independent dilation was intact. In females, depressive symptoms and plasma cortisol increases were more severe than in males, although alterations to vascular reactivity were blunted, including the effects of elevated ROS and inflammation on dilator responses. These results suggest that compared with males, female rats are more susceptible to chronic stress in terms of the severity of depressive behaviors, but that the subsequent development of vasculopathy is blunted owing to an improved ability to tolerate elevated ROS and systemic inflammatory stress.

Objective Chronic presentation of the metabolic syndrome (MS) is associated with an increased likelihood for stroke and poor stroke outcomes following occlusive cerebrovascular events. However, the physiological mechanisms contributing to compromised outcomes remain unclear, and the degree of cerebral cortical microvascular density (MVD) may represent a central determinant of stroke outcomes. Methods This study used the obese Zucker rat (OZR) model of MS and clinically-relevant, chronic interventions to determine the impact on cerebral cortical microvascular rarefaction via immunohistochemistry with a parallel determination of cerebrovascular function to identify putative mechanistic contributors. Results OZR exhibited a progressive rarefaction (to ~80% control MVD) of the cortical microvascular networks vs. lean Zucker rats. Chronic treatment with anti-hypertensive agents (captopril/hydralazine) had limited effectiveness in blunting rarefaction, although treatments improving glycemic control (metformin/rosiglitazone) were superior, maintaining ~94% control MVD. Chronic treatment with the antioxidant TEMPOL severely blunted rarefaction in OZR, although this ameliorative effect was prevented by concurrent NOS inhibition. Conclusions Further analyses revealed that the maintenance of glycemic control and vascular nitric oxide bioavailability were stronger predictors of cerebral cortical MVD in OZR than was prevention of hypertension, and this may have implications for chronic treatment of CVD risk under stroke-prone conditions.

No abstract

EV is a promising technique. However, with current devices and indications the immediate benefits, mainly less blood loss, fewer cardiac and pulmonary complications, and shorter hospitalisation time, are outweighed by a higher rate of reinterventions to treat endoleak, or to maintain patency of the graft.