In healthy men, levels of endothelial progenitor cells may be a surrogate biologic marker for vascular function and cumulative cardiovascular risk. These findings suggest that endothelial injury in the absence of sufficient circulating progenitor cells may affect the progression of cardiovascular disease.

This study was conducted to investigate the risk factors associated with peripartum hysterectomy in women who had either vaginal or cesarean delivery. The study subjects were women (n ϭ 101) who had a peripartum hysterectomy at the authors' institution from January 1986 to April 2001. Seventy-two of the 101 patients had delivered at Yonsei University Medical Center and 29 were referred from other hospitals. Of the total 31,044 deliveries at Yonsei during this time period, 11,924 were performed by cesarean section. Fifty-four of these women (0.45%) and 28 of the 19,080 who had a vaginal delivery (0.09%) underwent peripartum hysterectomy. Five of the 29 referred patients had a cesarean section and 24 had a vaginal delivery. The average time from delivery to hysterectomy was significantly longer in the vaginal group than in the cesarean section group (169 min vs. 49 min; P Ͻ.05). Also, women who had a vaginal delivery required significantly more blood (1908 ml) than those who had a cesarean section (1536 ml)(P Ͻ.05), although the average length of hospital stay was similar for both groups. Uterine atony was the most common indication for peripartum hysterectomy (42 of 101; 41.6%). Placenta previa accreta, placenta accreta, and placenta previa was the diagnosis in 23.8%, 16.7% and 11.9% of patients, respectively. Among the 29 women who had a previous cesarean section, the indications were uterine atony (n ϭ 10; 34.5%), placenta previa accreta (n ϭ 13; 44.8%), placenta previa (n ϭ 4; 13.8%), and placenta accreta (n ϭ 2; 6.9%). Blood loss was more highly associated with placenta previa accreta than with placenta previa or accreta alone (1734 ml vs. 16,58 ml and 1084 ml, respectively; P Ͻ.05). The only complications recorded were bladder injury in one woman with placenta previa, one disseminated intravascular coagulopathy in the placenta accreta group, and one case of sepsis among patients with placenta previa accreta. Of the 59 peripartum hysterectomies associated with cesarean section, 26 were in women undergoing elective cesarean section (44.1%) and 33 were after emergency cesarean section (55.9%). Blood loss was similar in both groups. The women who had emergency surgery experienced a higher complication rate than those undergoing elective cesarean section. Two patients sustained bladder injury, one had ureteral injury, one had bowel injury, one developed acute hepatitis, and one had disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. In the elective surgery group, there was a bladder laceration in one patient and another patient had disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. GYNECOLOGYVolume 58, Number 7 OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SURVEY ABSTRACT This paper presents the results of an investigation of the force required to insert a laparoscopic trocar into the abdominal cavity. Both disposable and reusable laparoscopic trocar systems were studied. Study subjects were 20 consecutive women who were scheduled to undergo routine diagnostic and laparoscopic surgery and were randomly selected for either the disposable trocar device...

Background-Whether patients at increased risk can be identified from a relatively low-risk population by coronary vascular function testing remains unknown. We investigated the relationship between coronary endothelial function and the occurrence of acute unpredictable cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and unstable angina) in patients with and without coronary atherosclerosis (CAD). Methods and Results-We measured the change in coronary vascular resistance (⌬CVR) and epicardial diameter with intracoronary acetylcholine (ACh, 15 g/min) to test endothelium-dependent function and sodium nitroprusside (20 g/min) and adenosine (2.2 mg/min) to test endothelium-independent vascular function in 308 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization (132 with and 176 without CAD). Patients underwent clinical follow-up for a mean of 46Ϯ3 months. Acute vascular events occurred in 35 patients. After multivariate analysis that included CAD and conventional risk factors for atherosclerosis, ⌬CVR with ACh (Pϭ0.02) and epicardial constriction with ACh (Pϭ0.003), together with increasing age, CAD, and body mass index, were independent predictors of adverse events. Thus, patients in the tertile with the best microvascular responses with ACh and those with epicardial dilation with ACh had improved survival by Kaplan-Meier analyses in the total population, as did those in the subset without CAD. Similar improvement in survival was also observed when all adverse events, including revascularization, were considered. Endotheliumindependent responses were not predictive of outcome. Conclusions-Epicardial and microvascular coronary endothelial dysfunction independently predict acute cardiovascular events in patients with and without CAD, providing both functional and prognostic information that complements angiographic and risk factor assessment. (Circulation. 2002;106:653-658.)