Conservative Approach is Safe for Perfused-Pulseless Hands Following Blunt Brachial Artery Injury in Children.

Blunt trauma of the brachial artery (BA) in pediatric age is often associated with neurological and orthopaedic injuries. Acute ischemic hands warrant immediate exploration, but the management of warm-pulseless hands following elbow trauma is controversial. This study evaluates the role of conservative treatment of blunt BA injuries in children with non-threatened hands. Eleven children with blunt trauma onto the BA having warm-pulseless hands were studied retrospectively. After a mean follow-up period of 2.5 ± 0.9 years, all cases had thorough clinical examination and duplex scan to assess the treatment outcomes. At the end of follow-up period, all subjects had well-perfused hands with intact wrist pulses. The duplex scan revealed those who had interposition grafts to be patent and one case had an aneurysmal dilatation. There was no statistical significance difference between affected and healthy forearms regarding the mean peak systolic velocity at the wrist, affected side was 62 ± 0.82 cm/s versus 68 ± 0.57 cm/s for opposite side ( p -value = 0.14). Patients with blunt BA trauma and warm-pulseless hands could be managed safely with conservative treatment, leaving surgical exploration for those who did not regain pulses after 48 hours. Duplex ultrasound can safely verify the patency of surgical repair and can be used for surveillance to detect future complications.

One-year results of stent graft repair for carotid artery pseudo-aneurysm in patients with Behcet's disease.

OBJECTIVES: Behcet's disease is a multisystem disorder of unknown etiology with vascular complications. This study reviewed the mid-term outcome of Behcet's disease patients with carotid artery pseudo-aneurysms treated by endovascular stent-graft repair at our unit. METHODS: During a period of 11 years, six cases were included. Postoperative ultrasound duplex results were recorded along with computed tomography angiography report done a year after intervention. RESULTS: The mean age (±SD) was 38 (±5.2) years. The mean (±SD) pseudo-aneurysm size was 33 (±12.2) mm. Technical success was 83%; failed cannulation of the internal carotid artery was encountered in one case. On day 2 post-operative, a duplex ultrasound revealed complete exclusion and thrombosis of the false aneurysm in all cases. A year later, a computed tomography angiography revealed a primary patency rate of 80%, and only one case had a recurrent pseudo-aneurysm at the distal margin of the stent graft. All cases, however, had complete thrombosis in the pseudo-aneurysms lumen with a mean (±SD) regression in size of 18 (±6) mm. The mean (±SD) percentage of in-stent stenosis was 34.5% (±11.73%). CONCLUSIONS: Stent graft repair for carotid artery pseudo-aneurysm in Behcet's disease patients might be the preferable first line of treatment since it had a high technical success and mid-term primary patency rates, with additional fact that it obviously avoids the hazardous complications of surgery.

Evaluation of Tissue Perfusion by Wound Blush and 2D Color-Coded Digital Subtraction Angiography During Endovascular Intervention and Its Impact on Limb Salvage in Critical Limb Ischemia.

PURPOSE: Critical limb ischemia (CLI) is an entity with high mortality if not properly treated. The primary aim of CLI revascularization is to enhance wound healing, which greatly depends on microvascular circulation. The available tools for assessment of revascularization success are deficient in the evaluation of local microvascular tissue perfusion, that wound blush (WB) reflects. A reliable technique that assesses capillary flow to foot lesions is needed. This study aims to assess WB angiographically at sites of interest in the foot after revascularization and its impact on limb salvage in CLI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 198 CLI patients (Rutherford category 5/6) with infrainguinal atherosclerotic lesions amenable for endovascular revascularization (EVR) were included. Limbs were directly or indirectly revascularized by EVR. Direct revascularization meant that successful revascularization of the area of interest according to the angiosome concept was achieved. A completion angiographic run was taken to assess WB. Patients were divided into 2 groups; positive and negative WB groups. In the event of a disagreement between the observational investigators, the digital subtraction angiography (DSA) series was analyzed for hemodynamic changes with a computerized 2D color-coded DSA (Syngo iFlow). RESULTS: 176 limbs had successful revascularization in 157 patients. The successful revascularization rate was 88.9% (176/198), with technical failure encountered in 22 limbs. 121 patients had positive WB and 55 patients had negative WB. Direct revascularization of target areas was obtained in 98 limbs (55.7%). There was a significant difference in the rate of achieving direct flow to the lesion between the positive WB and negative WB groups (36.4% vs 19.3%, p≤0.001). We noticed a nonsignificant difference between patients who had direct revascularization of the foot lesion(s) and those who had indirect revascularization as regards limb salvage. Patients were followed up for 25.2 ± 12.7 months. By the end of the first year, limb salvage rate was significantly higher in patients who had positive WB (98% vs 63%, p<0.001, after 2 years (97% vs 58%, p<0.001) and after 3 years (94% vs 51.5%, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: WB is an important predictor and a prognostic factor for wound healing in CLI patients with soft tissue lesions.

Clinical and hemodynamic outcome of morbidly obese patients with severe chronic venous insufficiency with and without bariatric surgery.

OBJECTIVE: Obesity is associated with several medical problems, including chronic venous insufficiency resistant to usual conservative measures. Venous intervention in patients with a body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m2 is associated with a higher anesthetic risk and recurrence rate. The aim of the present study was to compare the severity of venous insufficiency in terms of the clinical findings and hemodynamics between morbidly obese patients who had and had not undergone bariatric surgery (BS). METHODS: A total of 123 patients with morbid obesity and severe venous manifestations were included in the present study. The patients were divided into two groups. Group A included 72 patients who had undergone BS, and group B included 51 patients who had not undergone BS. Assessments were performed using both disease-specific and physician-generated tools and duplex ultrasonography. RESULTS: Of the 123 patients, 66% were men. The mean patient age was 44 ± 8.2 years. All the patients were followed up for 1 year. The mean BMI for group A had decreased from 50.1 ± 5.6 kg/m2 to 32.9 ± 4.2 kg/m2 (P = .0001). However, the mean BMI for group B had increased from 49.2 ± 6.1 kg/m2 to 50 ± 5.7 kg/m2 (P = .16). For the patients with a history of venous ulcer, the Charing Cross Venous Ulceration Questionnaire score for group A had decreased 77.5 to 36.8 (P = .0001) compared with a decrease in group B from 77.34 to 75.36 (P = .13). In group A, the median Venous Disability Score had improved from 2 to 0 and the median Venous Clinical Severity Score from 8.6 to 2.1 compared with nonsignificant changes in group B. The number of patients with venous claudication had decreased from 8 to 2 (P = .036) in group A compared with no changes in group B. For group A, the mean 36-item short-form heath survey score had increased from 48 ± 6.8 to 81 ± 4.4 (P = .001) compared with an increase from 52 ± 8.8 to 59 ± 1.2 (P = .52) in group B. The mean common femoral vein diameter had decreased significantly in group A (7.3 ± 1.3 mm) compared with that in group B (8.93 ± 1.08; P = .0001). The peak venous velocity showed higher values for the patients who had undergone BS (group A, 14.9 ± 2.5 cm/s; group B, 10.75 ± 2.05 cm/s; P = .0001). Higher mean velocities and a lower diameter resulted in a higher wall shear stress in group A compared with that in group B (2.2 ± 1.1 dyn/cm2 vs 1.16 ± 0.52 dyn/cm2; P = .0001). CONCLUSIONS: The patients who had lost weight after BS experienced noticeable improvements in chronic venous insufficiency compared with the patients who had not lost weight, including an increased rate of ulcer healing, a decreased incidence of venous claudication, and improved quality of life.