Favorable aortic remodeling of the thoracic aorta occurs after TEVAR for type B aortic dissections in patients with thoracic FLT and FLP. However, failure to achieve thrombosis of the thoracic false lumen negatively influences aortic morphologic findings of the contiguous abdominal aorta.

Conclusions: Postoperative myocardial infarction patients (poMI) have a markedly increased risk of death, with the risk decreased with preoperative use of aspirin and post MI b-blockade.

More than a quarter of patients requiring a suprarenal cross-clamp during open AAA repair experience renal dysfunction. Late graft-related complications are few, with preoperative and perioperative pulmonary function negatively affecting overall patient survival.

Cholera has re-emerged as a major infectious disease in the recent past, with a global increase in its incidence. Vaccination should be considered as an adjunct for controlling the epidemics and also for volunteer health care workers who provide services to underdeveloped nations. During an epidemic such as occurred in Haiti, use of antibiotics should be considered for all hospitalized patients. These endeavors should proceed in concert with much-needed improvements in sanitation and accessibility of potable water.

Diverticular disease affects a large percentage of the US population, affecting over 30% among those older than 45 years old. It is responsible for ∼300,000 hospitalizations per year in the United States and can lead to serious complications such as hemorrhage, obstruction, abscess, fistulae, or bowel perforation.2 It is an extremely common reason for emergency room and outpatient visits and evaluations by general and colorectal surgeons. In the US, patients usually present with sigmoid diverticulitis in the setting of a normal immune system so surgeons will follow well-established practice guidelines for treatment. However, there may be special circumstances in which the management of diverticulitis is not as straightforward. In this article, we will address patients who present with multifocal disease, giant colonic diverticulum, right-sided diverticulitis, and diverticulitis in the setting of immunosuppression and hopefully provide guidance for treatment in these special circumstances.

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Background Intestinal inflammation has been linked with multi-organ failure in burn and other traumatic injuries. We hypothesized that markers of intestinal inflammation are detectible non-invasively. Methods Fecal samples were collected from 7 severely burned patients and 15 control patients for the measurement of inflammatory cytokines using a multiplex assay kit (Bio-Rad). In addition, fecal levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and elastase were measured using standard procedures. Results Compared to a control group, levels of inflammatory cytokines were significantly increased in the burn group. IL-6 was increased 2.16 ± 0.61 pg/mg, (mean ± SEM) to 3.81 ± 0.49; p<0.05, as were IL-8 (3.32 ± 0.76 pg/mg to 20.51 ± 6.65 p<0.05), IL-12 (4.457 ± 0.98pg/mg to 7.371 ± 0.95 p<0.05), IL-13 (3.86 ± 0.32 pg/mg to 11.83 ± 1.47 p<0.05), MCP-1 (2.78 ± 2.61 pg/mg to 6.5 ± 3.97 p<0.05), MPO (13.41 ± 1.40 units/mg protein to 24.52 ± 4.31 p<0.05) and elastase (2.46 ± 0.38 pg/ml to 5.08 ± 0.72 p<0.05). Conclusions Our results suggest that markers of intestinal inflammation are measurable by non-invasive means and are increased following burn injury compared to controls. Of note, increased IL-8 correlated with increased MPO and elastase activity, suggesting a role for neutrophil activation in burn-mediated intestinal inflammation. Thus, these inflammatory cytokine profiles may be valuable biomarkers of intestinal inflammation following burn injury.