Background Among asymptomatic patients with severe carotid artery stenosis but no recent stroke or transient cerebral ischaemia, either carotid artery stenting (CAS) or carotid endarterectomy (CEA) can restore patency and reduce long-term stroke risks. However, from recent national registry data, each option causes about 1% procedural risk of disabling stroke or death. Comparison of their long-term protective effects requires large-scale randomised evidence.Methods ACST-2 is an international multicentre randomised trial of CAS versus CEA among asymptomatic patients with severe stenosis thought to require intervention, interpreted with all other relevant trials. Patients were eligible if they had severe unilateral or bilateral carotid artery stenosis and both doctor and patient agreed that a carotid procedure should be undertaken, but they were substantially uncertain which one to choose. Patients were randomly allocated to CAS or CEA and followed up at 1 month and then annually, for a mean 5 years. Procedural events were those within 30 days of the intervention. Intention-to-treat analyses are provided. Analyses including procedural hazards use tabular methods. Analyses and meta-analyses of non-procedural strokes use Kaplan-Meier and log-rank methods. The trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, ISRCTN21144362.

Primary stenting of long lesions in predominantly occluded superficial femoral arteries does not reduce the rate of binary restenosis compared with balloon angioplasty and bailout stenting. Both treatment strategies conferred a meaningful and sustained improvement to the quality of life of patients with severe superficial femoral artery disease.

If inadvertent arterial catheterization during central venous access procedures is recognized and catheters removed, sequelae can be treated percutaneously. However, once the complication is recognized it is better to leave the catheter in situ and seal the artery percutaneously with a closure device.

Results: 13 patients underwent 16 episodes of embolisation. Coils were used as the primary embolisation material in 10 episodes and microspheres in 6 episodes. The size reduction rate highly correlated on CT followup between the two groups, with 25.6% vs 22.7% reduction at 12 months, 27.5% vs 25.1% at 24 months, 35.0% vs 33.0% at 36 months and 35.0% vs 36.8% at 48 months. During follow-up, all tumours reduced in size with one patient requiring subsequent embolisation whose tumour reduced by only 6.5% after 1 year and subsequently exhibited regrowth after 4 years. Two patients presented with rebleeding and underwent repeat embolisation. Our overall retreatment rate (23%) is well within the literature range (up to 37%). None of the patients underwent surgery. Conclusion:The majority of AML shrinkage occurs within the first year following embolisation and appears to plateau after 3 years, which could have an impact on follow-up strategy. The percentage reduction at 1 year may reflect the long-term effect of embolisation with tumours demonstrating minor size reduction more likely to relapse at long-term follow-up. Embolisation of renal AML produces durable long-term results regardless of the choice of embolic agent. Advances in knowledge:These findings provide information to guide CT follow-up of renal AML post embolisation.

A new solid-wall vascular graft which has a compliance approximating that of the natural artery has been prepared from a copolyether-urethane material. Six of nine of these compliant grafts implanted in dogs were patent on removal, the longest implant time being 77 days for a 4-mm I.D. femoral artery graft. This is in contrast to noncompliant grafts of the same copolyurethane in which failure usually occurred within 48 hr.