Sex disparities in popliteal artery aneurysms.

OBJECTIVE: Only 5% of patients with popliteal artery aneurysms (PAAs) are female. Evidence on PAA treatment and outcomes in women is therefore scarce. The POPART Registry provides one of Europe's largest data collections regarding PAA treatment. Data on clinical presentation, aneurysm morphology, and perioperative outcomes after open surgical PAA repair in women will be presented. METHODS: POPART is a multicenter, noninterventional registry for open and endovascular PAA repair, with 42 participating centers in Germany and Luxembourg. All patients aged >18 years who have been treated for PAA since 2010 are eligible for study inclusion. Data collection is based on an online electronic case report form. RESULTS: Of the 1236 PAAs, 58 (4.8%) were in women. There were no significant differences in age or cardiopulmonary comorbidities. However, female patients had a lower prevalence of contralateral PAAs and abdominal aortic aneurysms (P < .05). PAAs in women were more likely to be symptomatic before surgery (65.5% vs 49.4%; P = .017), with 19% of women presenting with acute limb ischemia (vs 11%; P = .067). Women had smaller aneurysm diameters than men (22.5 mm vs 27 mm; P = .004) and became symptomatic at smaller diameters (20 mm vs 26 mm; P = .002). Only 8.6% of women and 11.6% of men underwent endovascular aneurysm repair (P > .05); therefore, the perioperative outcome analysis focused on open surgical repair. In total, 23.5% of women and 16.9% of men developed perioperative complications (P > .05). There were no differences in major cardiovascular events (P > .05), but women showed a higher incidence of impaired wound healing (15.7% vs 7.2%; P = .05) and major amputation (5.9% vs 1.1%; P = .027). Female sex was significantly associated with the need for nonvascular reinterventions within 30 days after surgery (odds ratio: 2.48, 95% confidence interval: 1.26-4.88), whereas no significant differences in the odds for vascular reinterventions were observed (odds ratio: 1.98, 95% confidence interval: 0.68-5.77). In the multiple logistic regression model, female sex, symptomatic PAAs, poor quality of outflow vessels, and graft material other than vein graft were independently associated with perioperative reinterventions. CONCLUSIONS: Women have smaller PAAs, are more likely to be symptomatic before treatment, and are more often affected by nonvascular reinterventions in the perioperative course. As our understanding of aneurysmatic diseases in women continues to expand, sex-specific treatment strategies and screening options for women in well-selected cohorts with modified screening protocols should be continuously re-evaluated.

Stents With Torsional Strength for Superficial Femoral Artery Disease: The Prospective Q3-Registry.

PURPOSE: This postmarketing surveillance study aimed to assess effectiveness and safety of a peripheral self-expanding stent with high torsional strength (POLARIS stent) for the treatment of de novo superficial femoral artery (SFA) lesions in the routine clinical practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Consecutive patients with symptomatic de novo SFA occlusive disease who underwent POLARIS stent implantation were enrolled into the prospective, multicenter, observational postmarket surveillance study. Primary outcome measure was freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (cdTLR) at 12 months. Main secondary outcomes were procedural success, primary clinical improvement, and freedom from major adverse cardiovascular and limb events (MACLE) throughout 24 months. RESULTS: A total of 199 participants (70±11 years, 70.4% men) were included in the study at 9 German sites from December 2014 to August 2018. Half of them (52.6%) were current smokers, 37.6% had diabetes, and 25.0% were obese. Most participants suffered from intermittent claudication (88.4%). Mean lesion length was 98±83 mm, 43.5% of lesions were occluded, and 27.3% were severely calcified. Freedom from 12 months cdTLR was 94.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 90.6-98.2). At 24 months, freedom from cdTLR was 88.7% (95% CI, 83.0-94.4). Procedural success was achieved in 96.2% of participants. Primary clinical improvement occurred in 87.5% and 85.4% of participants at 12 and 24 months, respectively. Freedom from MACLE was 94.8% (95% CI, 91.4-98.1) and 93.8% (95% CI, 89.9-97.6) at 12 and 24 months, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of SFA occlusive disease in a real-world setting using the POLARIS stent with high bidirectional torsional strength is efficacious and does not raise any safety concern in the medium term. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT02307292).

Implementation of an artificial neuronal network to predict shunt necessity in carotid surgery.

In carotid surgery, it could be useful to know which patient will tolerate carotid cross-clamping in order to minimize the risks of perioperative strokes. In this clinical study, an artificial neuronal network (ANN) was applied and compared with conventional statistical methods to assess the value of various parameters to predict shunt necessity. Eight hundred and fifty patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy for a high-grade internal carotid artery stenosis under local anesthesia were analyzed regarding shunt necessity using a standard feed-forward, backpropagation ANN (NeuroSolutions); NeuroDimensions, Gainesville, FL) with three layers (one input layer, one hidden layer, one output layer). Among the input neurons, preoperative clinical (n = 9) and intraoperative hemodynamic (n = 3) parameters were examined separately. The accuracy of prediction was compared to the results of a regression analysis using the same variables. In 173 patients (20%) a shunt was used because hemispheric deficits or unconsciousness occurred during cross-clamping. With the ANN, not needing a shunt was predicted by preoperative and intraoperative parameters with an accuracy of 96% and 91%, respectively, where the regression analysis showed an accuracy of 98% and 96%, respectively. Those patients who needed a shunt were identified by preoperative parameters in 9% and by intraoperative parameters in 56% when the ANN was used. Regression analysis predicted shunt use correctly in 10% using preoperative parameters and 41% using intraoperative parameters. Intraoperative hemodynamic parameters are more suitable than preoperative parameters to indicate shunt necessity where the application of an ANN provides slightly better results compared to regression analysis. However, the overall accuracy is too low to renounce perioperative neuromonitoring methods like local anesthesia.

S-100B release during carotid endarterectomy under local anesthesia.

The neuronal protein S-100B has been found to be an indicator of cellular brain damage. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether cross-clamping of the carotid artery for carotid endarterectomy (CEA) under local anesthesia is associated with the same S-100B release pattern as during general anesthesia, where an increase in S-100B concentration in the jugular vein blood of 120% has been reported. In 45 consecutive patients undergoing CEA under local anesthesia, serum S-100B samples were drawn before surgery (T1), before carotid cross-clamping (T2), before cerebral reperfusion (T3), after reperfusion but before the end of surgery (T4), and 6 hr postoperatively (T5). At T1 and T5, blood samples were drawn only from the radial artery. Intraoperatively (T2-T4), samples were collected from the internal jugular vein additionally. S-100B levels were determined using an immunoluminometric assay (LIAISON) Sangtec 100; Sangtec, Bromma, Sweden). In eight patients, it was necessary to insert an intraluminal shunt because of signs of cerebral ischemia. In the remaining 37 patients, median carotid clamping time was 40 min. There were no neurological complications. There were no differences in baseline S-100B levels regarding gender and symptomatology. Median baseline (T1) and postoperative (T5) S-100B levels were identical (0.077 microg/L). All blood samples from the jugular vein showed significantly higher median S-100B levels than the corresponding arterial blood samples. Only slight increases of 13% and 18% were found during cross-clamping (T3) compared to the first intraoperative measurement (T2) in the venous and arterial samples, respectively, which was followed by decreases of 5% and 18%, respectively (T3-T4). S-100B release did not differ at any time point between patients who needed and patients who did not need a shunt, in either the arterial or the venous blood samples. During uncomplicated CEA under local anesthesia, there is no relevant increase of S-100B. These results are different from those reported when CEA is done under general anesthesia.

Stent Grafts for Acute Traumatic Injury of the Thoracic Aorta: A Single-Centre Experience.

OBJECTIVES: The presented study reveals the single centre experiences with the minimally invasive endovascular repair for acute traumatic thoracic aortic lesions in the care of multitrauma patients. METHODS: We reviewed ten patients with acute traumatic thoracic aortic lesions treated with a thoracic aortic stent graft between April 2001 and December 2006. The prospective collected data included age, sex, injury severity score, type of endovascular graft, endovascular operation time, length of stay, length of stay in the intensive care unit, and mortality. Followup data consisted of contrast-enhanced spiral computed tomography at regular intervals. RESULTS: All patients (m:f 5:5; median age, 46 years; interquartile range [IQR], 29-68.5 years) suffered severe traumatic injury, the median Injury Severity Score was 39.5 (IQR 37.3-43). All endovascular procedures were technically successful, and the median operating time for the endovascular procedure was 90 min (IQR, 65-120 min). The overall hospital mortality was 20% (n = 2), and all deaths were unrelated to the aortic rupture or stent placement. No incidence of paraplegia was present. No intervention-related mortality occurred during a median follow-up of 14.7 months (IQR, 9.7-55.8 months). CONCLUSION: The endovascular approach to acute traumatic thoracic aortic lesions is feasible, safe, and effective in multitrauma patients. The low endovascular therapy-related morbidity and mortality in the postoperative period is encouraging. The results seem to be favorable to those published of open emergency repair.