Mechanical Embolectomy of Distally Migrated Onyx After Surgical Resection of Glomus Vagale Tumor: Technical Report and Review of Literature.

BACKGROUND: Endovascular embolization is an important tool in the management of multiple pathologies as a preoperative adjunct in the care of arteriovenous malformations or vascular tumors. CASE DESCRIPTION: We report a case of delayed distal Onyx migration after surgical resection of a glomus vagale tumor, which had been preoperatively embolized. In this report, the patient underwent successful embolectomy of the migrated Onyx fragment using manual aspiration. CONCLUSIONS: This case represents the first in the literature to describe this potential delayed complication, as well as its management strategy.

Endovascular treatment of a penetrating injury of the suprarenal inferior vena cava.

In this case, a 22-year-old man sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen, which required in extremis surgical exploration with damage control laparotomy and hemostatic resuscitation in the surgical intensive care unit. Diagnostic angiography was negative and an inferior vena cava (IVC) injury was suspected. He was returned to the operating room, where the infrarenal IVC was accessed by direct puncture and venography demonstrated active extravasation of the suprarenal vena cava. The injury was successfully sealed with two overlapping endovascular aortic grafts, with care taken to preserve flow from the renal and hepatic veins. He made a full recovery and was discharged home on hospital day 20. Outpatient follow-up computed tomography at 2 months revealed a patent stent with preserved branches. Stent graft repair of penetrating IVC injury can be lifesaving and warrants further investigation.

Popliteal artery embolism of bullet after abdominal gunshot wound.

Bullet embolism to the peripheral arterial system is a rare phenomenon which frequently results in misdiagnosis due to lack of early symptoms. Embolisms can go to either arterial or venous systems with common sites of injury including the left ventricle, pulmonary vein, thoracic and abdominal aorta and peripheral arteries. Herein we present a case of a 19 year old patient with multiple gunshot wounds to the torso with a bullet embolism to the left popliteal artery necessitating embolectomy. This subsequently led to diagnosis and repair of an abdominal aortic psuedoaneurysm not clearly evident on initial imaging.

Chronic common femoral vein occlusion secondary to endometriosis.

Venous occlusion is sometimes caused by external compression due to adjacent masses. Endometriosis, the presence of functioning endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity, is a rare cause of venous occlusion. We report a case of chronic common femoral vein occlusion due to endometrioma causing severe leg edema and groin pain that was treated with resection and venous bypass.

Early versus delayed carotid endarterectomy in symptomatic patients.

BACKGROUND: Delayed carotid endarterectomy (CEA) after a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) is associated with risks of recurrent neurologic symptoms. In an effort to preserve cerebral function, urgent early CEA has been recommended in many circumstances. We analyzed outcomes of different time intervals in early CEA in comparison with delayed treatment. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review from a single university hospital tertiary care center between April 1999 and November 2010 revealed 312 patients who underwent CEA following stroke or TIA. Of these 312 patients, 69 received their CEA within 30 days of symptom onset and 243 received their CEA after 30 days from symptom onset. The early CEA cohort was further stratified according to the timing of surgery: group A (27 patients), within 7 days; group B (17), between 8 and 14 days; group C (12), between 15 and 21 days; and group D (12), between 22 and 30 days. Demographic data as well as 30-day (mortality, stroke, TIA, and myocardial infarction) and long-term (all-cause mortality and stroke) adverse outcome rates were analyzed for each group. These were also analyzed for the entire early CEA cohort and compared against the delayed CEA group. RESULTS: Demographics and comorbid conditions were similar between groups. For 30-day outcomes, there were no deaths, 1 stroke (1.4%), 0 TIAs, and 0 myocardial infarctions in the early CEA cohort; in the delayed CEA cohort, there were 4 (1.6%), 4 (1.6%), 2 (0.8%), and 2 (0.8%) patients with these outcomes, respectively (P > .05 for all comparisons). Over the long term, the early group had one ipsilateral stroke at 17 months and the delayed group had two ipsilateral strokes at 3 and 12 months. For long-term outcomes, there were 16 deaths in the early CEA cohort (21%) and 74 deaths in the delayed CEA cohort (30%, P > .05). Mean follow-up times were 4.5 years in the early CEA cohort and 5.8 years in the delayed CEA cohort. CONCLUSIONS: There were no differences in 30-day and long-term adverse outcome rates between the early and delayed CEA cohorts. In symptomatic carotid stenosis patients without evidence of intracerebral hemorrhage, carotid occlusion, or permanent neurologic deficits early carotid endarterectomy can be safely performed and is preferred over delaying operative treatment.

Does a contralateral carotid occlusion adversely impact carotid artery stenting outcomes?

BACKGROUND: Carotid artery stenting (CAS) has grown as a possible alternative for the treatment of extracranial cerebrovascular disease in the past decade. A preexisting contralateral carotid artery occlusion has been described as a risk factor for inferior outcomes after carotid endarterectomy, but its impact on CAS outcomes is less understood. METHODS: A retrospective review of 417 CAS procedures performed between May 2001 and July 2010 at a single center using self-expanding nitinol stents and mechanical embolic protection devices was conducted. Patients were divided into two groups, those with a preexisting contralateral carotid occlusion (group A, n = 39) versus those without a contralateral occlusion (group B, n = 378). Patient demographics and comorbidities as well as 30-day and late death, stroke, and myocardial infarction (MI) rates were analyzed. Mean follow-up was 4 years (range: 0-9.4 years). RESULTS: Overall, mean age of the 314 men and 103 women was 70.5 years. In group A, there were two (5.1%) octogenarians and nine patients (23.1%) with symptomatic disease as compared with group B with 53 (14%) octogenarians and 121 (32%) patients with symptomatic disease. The overall 30-day death, stroke, and MI rates were 0.5%, 1.9%, and 0.7%, respectively. When comparing group A with group B, these results were not significantly different: death (0% vs. 0.5%), stroke (2.6% vs. 1.9%), and MI (0% vs. 0.8%). Long-term outcomes for groups A and B were also not significantly different: death (25.6% vs. 22.2%), stroke (5.3% vs. 3.4%), and MI (15.4% vs. 14%) (p = nonsignificant). CONCLUSION: A preexisting contralateral carotid artery occlusion does not seem to adversely impact CAS outcomes.

Stepwise age-related outcomes of elective endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair: 11-year institutional review.

OBJECTIVE: Endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (EVAR) has largely supplanted open surgery over the past 2 decades. Faced with an aging population, the outcomes of EVAR among various age groups were examined. METHOD: Retrospective review of elective EVAR cases was performed at a single institution from 1998 to 2009. Patients were separated into 4 age groups for easy comparison. Perioperative data were analyzed using Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Demographics were similar among the groups except for sex, BMI, and smoking status. The 30-day morbidity and mortality data were not statistically different among groups. From EVAR to end of the study, there was a 10.9% all-cause mortality rate (with no difference among groups) and an 8.0% reintervention rate (with the oldest age group having a lower reintervention rate; P < .03). CONCLUSIONS: EVAR remains a good treatment option for elective aneurysm repair despite advanced age, which alone does not appear to be an independent predictor of outcome.

Late abdominal aortic endograft explants: indications and outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Despite advances in endoluminal salvage for failed endografts, certain circumstances necessitate open endovascular abdominal aneurysm repair (EVAR) conversion. We review the indications for and outcomes after late EVAR explants. METHODS: Retrospective review of EVAR patients requiring delayed (>30 days) conversion from 1999 to 2009. Demographics, index endovascular procedure, conversion indication/technique, and outcomes were analyzed. RESULTS: Among 16 patients who required late conversion, the mean age was 73 years (range, 41-84 years) and 94% were men. Indications included 9 device failures, 6 endograft infections, and a single type II endoleak with sac enlargement. Explanted prostheses included the following: 7 Cook Zenith(®) endoprosthesis, 3 Gore Excluder(®) grafts, 3 Medtronic AneuRx(®) endograft devices, 2 Endologix Powerlink(®) endografts, and 1 Guidant Ancure(®) graft. Before conversion, 7 patients underwent unsuccessful secondary salvage procedures. Transperitoneal (81%) and left retroperitoneal approaches (19%) were used, with 75% requiring supraceliac control. Reconstructions depended on clinical manifestations and included 10 in situ prosthetic repairs, 4 extra-anatomic bypasses, and 2 in situ cryopreserved human allograft repairs. Two patients died during their hospitalization, resulting in a 13% mortality rate. Mean hospitalization for survivors was 18 days (range, 6-78 days), and 7 (50%) of the patients were discharged directly home. CONCLUSION: Most delayed EVAR conversions are because of device failure or infection and can be successfully converted to open surgical reconstruction. Supraceliac control is often required, and the perioperative complications are greater than primary elective open or endovascular repair. This study addresses how best to manage failed abdominal aortic endografts and what can be done to improve patient outcomes with this difficult clinical problem.

Carotid artery stenting using proximal balloon occlusion embolic protection.

Carotid artery stenting has rapidly grown as an alternative to carotid endarterectomy for stroke prevention among selected patients with extracranial carotid artery stenosis. Development of mechanical embolic protection devices (EPDs) has been associated with improved clinical outcomes and is now a strongly advocated adjunct to the procedure. Characteristically, EPDs have been broadly defined into 3 primary categories, of which the distal filter elements have largely been the most developed and used. Improvements among the class of proximal balloon occlusion devices with flow reversal have a number of theoretic advantages and are the focus of this review article.

Timing of carotid surgery after acute stroke.

Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) has been proven to reduce the risk of stroke and death in both asymptomatic and symptomatic patients with carotid occlusive disease. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the USA. Since up to one-third of stroke patients have a stroke secondary to carotid occlusive disease, it is important to offer CEA to this subgroup of patients that meet indications for surgery. Historically, literature has suggested that the optimal timing to perform CEA is approximately 6 weeks after an acute stroke. This was concluded owing to high perioperative morbidity and mortality if CEA was performed too early. However, data are increasingly showing that some patients do benefit from CEA earlier than 6 weeks after an acute stroke. This article discusses mid-20th Century literature and focuses on more recent 21st Century literature discussing the timing of CEA after acute stroke. Although there are data to support delayed CEA, it is reasonable to perform early CEA in select stroke patient populations. Candidates for early CEA should have complete or near resolution of symptoms, small infarcts on imaging and ipsilateral carotid stenosis.

Gastric rupture after cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a burn patient.

Burn injury, especially severe facial burn injury, poses a unique challenge for emergency health care personnel in administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Because of the perioral and oral edema with severe facial burns, intubation may be difficult, and bag-valve mask or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation may be prolonged. As a result of the difficulty in establishing a patent airway, various complications can arise. One of these includes gastric perforation which, although rare in the setting of difficult intubation or prolonged oral ventilation, may be possible. To our knowledge, acute gastric perforation after prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation in burn injured patients has not previously been reported thus the incidence is unknown. We report here a case of gastric perforation after a difficult tracheal intubation in a patient with extensive burns of the head and neck and 63% TBSA burn.

Bilateral synchronous pleomorphic adenoma diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration.

Pleomorphic adenoma is the most common benign neoplasm of the parotid gland. However, bilateral synchronous pleomorphic adenomas occur infrequently. We report a case of bilateral synchronous pleomorphic adenoma involving the parotid gland in a 50-yr-old man diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy.