[A study of the morphology of the descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery (DBLCFA) as a possible vascular graft for the reconstruction of coronary arteries using angio CT]. / Studie morfologie r. descendens a. circumflexae femoris lateralis jako mozné cévní náhrady pro rekonstrukci koronárního reciste pomocí angio CT vysetrení

INTRODUCTION: Due to the need for alternative arterial grafts suitable for the reconstruction of the coronary bloodstream, we conducted a morphological analysis of the descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery (DBLCFA) using an AGCT scan. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Not only anatomical variations and the quantitative representation of sclerotic changes, but also the presence of a collateral system in the event of significant stenosis of the pelvic and femoral artery system were analysed. RESULTS: The results revealed favorable findings in the sense of the studied arteries length (9.3 cm on average), a relatively low anatomical variability and a very small percentage of the studied blood vessels participating in collateral blood flow, despite that 72% of tests revealed significant stenotic disease (stenosis of more than 50%) of the upper branch of lower limb arteries. CONCLUSION: According to the defined criteria, 68% of vessels were found to be suitable for grafting. We suppose that this number would be considerably higher in patients with only insignificant or no ischemic disease of the lower extremities.

[Alternative autologous arterial graft in cardiovascular surgery]. / Alternativní autologní tepenný step v kardiovaskulární chirurgii.

Arterial revascularization of myocardium is a method of choice for surgical treatment of ischemic heart disease. The descending branch of lateral femoral circumflex artery (DBLFCA) is one of possible alternative autologous arterial grafts. Up to now, since 2003, 12 of these grafts have been harvested and used for revascularization of myocardium at our department. All grafts have been used as a Y-graft to the left internal mammary artery for revascularization of target vessels on lateral and inferior heart wall. Graft patency was controlled by the angio-CT procedure after three months. One of the grafts was occluded at the control. It means patency rate after three months was more than 91%. No other complications (such as problematic wound healing, paraesthaesia of lower leg, bleeding, spasm of the graft, infection etc.) were observed with graft harvesting. DBLCFA is a high-quality and safe alternative arterial graft, available for arterial revascularization of myocardium.

The start-up period of styrene degrading biofilters.

Styrene vapors from contaminated air were eliminated using long-term adapted mixed microbial culture inoculated on four perlite packed biofilters (serial arrangement, up-flow configuration). During start-up the inlet concentration of styrene rose from 175 to 1300 mg/m3 of total carbon. The total actual residence time in the four biofilters was 24 s. Styrene was successfully degraded by the microbial population in the biofilter. An average of 66% of eliminated styrene was transformed to CO2. The removal efficiency of the pollutant was, after 18 d of start-up, nearly 85% at an organic load of 170 g/m3 per h. The concentration profiles along the bed height were linear for various pollutant inlet concentrations. The total amount of microorganisms in analyzed biomass from the biofilters was about 10(9) per gram of dry packing mass. The moisture content was around 80% in all biofilters.