Management of visceral artery aneurysms

Objective: Visceral artery aneurysms, despite being uncommon, are important vascular diseases, since they frequently are life threatening, and often fatal emergencies. The purpose of this study is to review our experience with treatment of visceral artery aneurysms. Method: Between 1988 and June, 2004, 37 visceral artery aneurysms were treated in 35 patients (17 male and 18 female) with average age of 56 mais ou menos 14 years. The most common locations were the splenic artery (18), the hepatic artery (10) and the superior mesenteric artery (four), 22 patients were asymptomatic, 13 patients were symptomatic. Emergency surgery was performed on three patients, elective open surgery on 20 patients, and endovascular treatment onseven patients. Results: Perioperative mortality rate was 3,1 por cento in the surgical group. The perioperative mobidity rate was 5,7 por cento: one case of respiratory distress and one case of bilious fistula were...

Combined carotid endarterectomy and coronary artery bypass grafting

Objective: To evaluate the perioperative and long-term outcomese of combined coronary artery bypass grafting and carotid endartectomy performed in our Institute.Methods: From January 1992 to Apri1 2004, 158 patients with a mean age of 66.3 years (range 42-81) underwent combined carotid endartectomy and coronary artery bypass grafting. Selection criteria were symptomatic ot asymptomatic 70-99 por cento carotid stenosis and unstable coronary symptoms or coronary anatomy judged to preclude safe endarterectomy. Carotid duplex scanning was introduced as a routine screening test from 1996 for patients candidate to coronary artery bypass grafting. Patients presenting fop carotid endartectomy were subjected to further cardiological study only if deemed to be at high cardiac risk. Results: Perioperative mortality was 5.7 por cento. Causes of death were: myocardial infarction with multiorgan failure (four patients),irreversible left ventricular fibrillation (three patients) and low ejection syndrome complicated by stroke and ventricular fibrillation (two patients). The perioperative stroke cate was 1.3 por cento. Mean follow-up was 49 months (range 1-138): 22 patients were lost at follow-up and of remaining 136 patients 21 (15.4 por cento) died. Causes of late mortality were: eight myocardial infarctions, tive cancers, six congestive heartfailure and two abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture. Late stroke rate was 2.2 por cento (two patients with contralateral stroke and one with ipsilateral stroke). One asymptomatic carotid occlusion and three [ carotid restenosis were also observed. Discussion: The low stroke cate observed in our series suggest the use of combined carotid endartectomy and coronary artery bypassgrafting in patients with significant symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis that need myocardial revascularization. Poor len-ventricular function, unstable angina and bilateral carotid artery stenosis, account for the high perioperative mortality associated with this approach.

Blunt trauma of the thoracic aorta: mechanisms involved, diagnosis and management

Traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta is a life threatening situation, and may be secondary to several mechanisms; mainly penetrating or iatrogenic lesions and blunt trauma. Although penetrating mechanisms predominate, the number of patients with aortic disruption due to blunt trauma has continued to increase.This paper shows an overview focusing on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, timing and type of treatment regarding traumatic injuries of the thoracic aorta; it also reports the experience of one single center that deals with these lesions.The major difficulty in the evaluation data on blunt aortic injury is that retrospective reviews often group together patients with all types of aortic lesions, comparing outcomes for injuries in different locations, with diverse methods of repair and different surgeons and/or institutions.