Unibody bifurcated endografts have the advantage of reducing the operative time, avoiding migration and iliac limb dislocation in patient with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). We report our longterm experience in patients who underwent endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) due to infrarenal AAA with Endologix AFX® endograft system. Between January 2013-December 2018, 68 patients with infrarenal AAA had EVAR procedure with Endologix AFX® endograft system. Mean follow-up was 40.4 ± 19.5 months, and all patients had computed tomography periodically, with colored Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) every six months. Mean age was 68.5 ± 7.1 years and, 63 (92.6%) patients were male. Early mortality, renal complications, stent-graft migration and cardiac complications were not seen in early post-operative period. There was no early mortality in the group and no conversion to open repair. In long-term follow-up 12 patients (17.6%) had endoleak (5 with type II, 7 with type III). Overall survival estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis was 94.1% at 1 year, 85.2% at 2 years, 74.1% at 3 years and 54.0% at 5 years. Freedom from second intervention and conversion was 98.4% at 1 year, 95.3% at 2 years, 93.3% at 3 years and 87.4% at 5 years. Endologix AFX® endograft provides a fast, safe and effective endograft for the early period, therefore it seems more suitable for elderly and comorbid patients. This endograft has low reintervention rates however according to our results, aneurysms larger than 6 cm may have more sideway displacement possibility and by this way type III endoleak. Proper patient selection and sufficient overlap are the key issues. Close monitoring is mandatory at the follow-up period.

The GAS appears to be a reliable clinical predictor for in hospital mortality following elective repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm following open surgical procedure.

No abstract

No abstract

Objective: Although prevention of radial artery thrombosis and cardiac complications after interventions using radial access is well investigated, there is yet no clinical study that completely evaluated access-related complications. However, there is still no consensus on what exact treatment should be used in these patients. In clinical practice, analgesic, anticoagulant, and antiplatelet treatments usually improve symptoms in patients with pain; however, in some patients, complaints may persist and may not respond to these treatments. In these patients, low-risk embolectomy with a small skin incision may be beneficial. Methods: A total of 102 patients with radial artery thrombosis after cardiac catheterization were included in the study between 2016 March and 2018 December. After the patients’ initial evaluation, anticoagulation with enoxaparin or tinzaparin and antiplatelet therapy with acetylsalicylic acid and oral/local analgesic/anti-inflammatory and local anesthetic therapy were administered for 1 month. Patients whose symptoms resolved after medical treatment were followed up as outpatients. Embolectomy was performed in consenting patients who did not respond to the medical treatment. Results: Of 102 patients included in the study, 33 underwent embolectomy, whereas 69 received only medical treatment. None of the patients experienced any complications, morbidity, or mortality in the peroperative period and during the medical treatment. The pretreatment symptom scores of patients who actively use their hands in daily life and profession were significantly higher than the scores of patients who are relatively less active ( P = .013). Pretreatment symptom scores were negatively correlated with age ( r = −0.584); symptom scores increased significantly with the decrease of patient age. No benefit from medical treatment and need for surgery was significantly greater in patients who are younger and use their hands actively in daily life and profession ( P = .028). The decrease in symptom scores after treatment was significantly greater in the surgical group than in the medical group ( P = .003). Conclusion: Radial access should be exercised with care in patients who may develop significant thrombosis-related complaints and it is necessary to decide whether radial access is essential. If patients have ongoing symptoms despite medical treatment, embolectomy can be considered as a treatment option.

Immediate parameters (such as lactate, AOPP, and thiol) that show alterations in response to oxidative stress were not affected by the duration of ACP. Therefore, ACP without distal perfusion may not be harmful when conducted for short duration.

IntroductionIn this study we try to observe the fate of the left internal thoracic artery grafts that were bypassed to left anterior descending artery with moderate stenosis identified with fractional flow reserve (FFR) technique. Doppler ultrasonography was chosen as a noninvasive screening method.MethodsA total of 30 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting depending on results of the fractional flow reserve between January 2007 and January 2012, were subjected to transthoracic color Doppler ultrasonographic evaluation irrespective of the presence of symptoms, and the presence of a systolic-diastolic flow pattern was investigated using the supraclavicular approach.ResultsThe left internal thoracic artery graft was found to be functional in 63.3% of patients within a mean period of 35.1±19.7 months between coronary bypass and color Doppler ultrasonography. This period was found to be 29.4±19.6 months in the functional graft group, and 44.7±16.6 months in the dysfunctional graft group (P=0.046). Preoperative complaints of angina were reported to fall from 88.9% to 16.7% in the functional graft group, when compared to the postoperative period (P<0.001), but fell from 90.9% to 36.4% in the dysfunctional graft group (P=0.034).ConclusionFunctional left internal thoracic artery graft rates of the study population were found to be lower than the studies reported in the literature.

Objective: Lactate levels, which provide valuable information about the adequacy of tissue perfusion, are usually measured by blood gas analyzers simultaneously with blood gases. Although arterial blood is the "gold standard" for measurement of lactate, the interchangeable use of arterial and venous lactate measurements can avoid increased costs and iatrogenic anemia resulting from frequent blood sampling when evaluation of venous blood gas samples are preferred. In this study; we aimed to examine the correlation and agreement between the arterial lactate (AL) and central venous lactate (CVL) values in patients undergoing on-pump cardiac surgery. Method: Adult patients who had both arterial and central venous blood gas sampling simultaneously in three stages (T1: after anesthesia induction, T2: during cross-clamping, T3: during skin closure) of operation as part of anesthetic management were eligible for inclusion in this retrospective study. CVL and AL concentrations were estimated during blood gas analysis at stages T1, T2 and T3. Spearman Rho and Bland-Altman Tests were used to assess correlation and agreement between AL and CVL measurements, respectively. Results: Totally 366 pairs of blood samples were obtained from 122 eligible patients. The 95% limits of agreement were-0.07 to-0.00 at T1; 0.30 to-0.10 at T2 and-0.16 to-0.03 at T3. The 95% Cls were detected 0.86 to 0.93 (r=0.90 and p<0.0001) at T1;0.95 to 0.97 at T2 (r=0.96 and p<0.0001) and 0.92 to 0.96 (r=0.94 and p<0.0001) at T3. Conclusion: Although sampling from arterial lactate can be considered as the "gold standard" for lactate measurement, sampling from central venous blood is an acceptable alternative for lactate measurement in on-pump cardiac surgery patients.