Outcomes of the paclitaxel-eluting Eluvia stent for long femoropopliteal lesions in Asian patients with predominantly chronic limb-threatening ischemia.

The fluoropolymer-coated, paclitaxel-eluting Eluvia stent has shown promising results for the endovascular treatment of femoropopliteal artery lesions in patients with claudication. The aim of the current study was to evaluate efficacy and safety outcomes of the Eluvia stent for the treatment of long femoropopliteal lesions in Asian patients. This is a single-center, retrospective study. The primary endpoint was primary patency at 1 year. Secondary outcomes were 30-days complication rate, technical success, 1-year freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD-TLR), limb salvage, survival, amputation-free survival (AFS), wound healing, and clinical improvement. A total of 64 patients with 67 femoropopliteal lesions were included; 78% suffered from diabetes and 84% had chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI). Of those with ischemic wounds, 79% did not have run-off to the foot. Mean lesion length was 193 ± 128 mm and 52% were severely calcified. Primary patency at 1 year was 84% in the overall cohort and 91% in patients with complete lesion coverage with the Eluvia stent. Technical success was achieved in 100% of the cases and 30-day complications occurred in six patients. Twelve-month freedom from CD-TLR, limb salvage, survival, and AFS were 92%, 93%, 85%, and 80%, respectively. In 80% of patients, complete wound healing was experienced and 84% had clinical improvement after 1 year. The Eluvia stent showed promising 12-month patency and clinical results for femoropopliteal treatment in this CLTI-dominant patient population with severely calcified, long lesions. Patient numbers were, however, small; larger trials are required to validate these findings. Aneurysmal change seen in some cases also needs further investigation.

ClariVein™ - One year results of mechano-chemical ablation for varicose veins in a multi-ethnic Asian population from Singapore.

OBJECTIVES: This study assessed the effectiveness and patient experience of ClariVein for varicose veins and chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) in a multi-ethnic Asian population from Singapore. METHODS: A total of 121 patients underwent mechano-chemical ablation. Patients were reviewed at an interval of one week, and at 3, 6 and 12 months post procedure and underwent Duplex ultrasound with patient satisfaction assessment. RESULTS: At three months of follow-up, the great saphenous vein and short saphenous vein occlusion rates were 90.8% and 96.0%, respectively. At six months of follow-up, the GSV and short saphenous vein occlusion rates were 86.9% and 90.9%, respectively. At one year, great saphenous vein and short saphenous vein occlusion rates were 84.8% and 94.3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Early results are similar to what is described so far in the mechano-chemical ablation literature but recurrences are more than expected at one year. This is disappointing but is tempered by the fact that the majority of patients were asymptomatic and required no reintervention.

Surgical and endovascular venous arterialization: ready to take the "desert" by storm?

Patients with critical limb ischemia have a poor life expectancy, and aggressive revascularization is accepted to maintain their independence in the end stage of life. Bypass surgery and, more recently, endovascular interventions with angioplasty and stenting have become the treatment of choice to prevent amputation and resolve rest pain. Up to 20% of patients with critical limb ischemia are not suitable candidates for a vascular intervention because of extensive occlusions of the outflow in the crural and pedal vessels. This "desert foot" can be treated with a venous arterialization. In this review, we discuss the mechanism, the techniques, outcome, and complications of venous arterialization.

Assessment of surgical trainees' quality of knot-tying.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess surgical trainees' knot tying technique and determine the type and security of knots created. METHODS: Twenty-five participants were requested to tie 40 knots each, using Vicryl 2-0 and Prolene 2-0 sutures. With each suture material, the participants tied: in series 1, 4 knots as they would normally do during surgery; in series 2, 4 knots with 3 throws, 4 knots with 4 throws, 4 knots with 5 throws, and 4 knots with 6 throws. All knots were tested for tensile strength using a tensiometer. Knots with tensile strength of less than 5 N were considered dangerous. RESULTS: Of the 25 participants, 2 created square knots consistently, 2 created a mixture of square and slip knots, and 21 created only slip knots. Square knots accounted for only 12.8% of all the knots. The incidence of knot slipping under tension was significantly lower with square knots (p < 0.001). Square knots had significantly higher tensile strength than slip knots (p < 0.001). For Vicryl, 4-throw square knots were superior to 6-throw slip knots (p < 0.001). For Prolene, 3-throw square knots were superior to 6-throw slip knots (p = 0.035). Some 12.6% of Vicryl knots and 5.6% of Prolene knots were dangerous and all of these were slip knots with up to 6 throws. Three out of 12 participants who thought they had created square knots actually created square knots and the rest produced slip knots. The participants' surgical experience did not have any correlation with their knot security (r = -0.044, p = 0.833). CONCLUSIONS: Knot tying is often executed with technical errors resulting in slip knots with less than optimal security and high incidence of dangerous knots. Tensiometry testing could be used as an objective assessment tool for knot-tying competency for surgical trainees.

Early diagnosis of early gastric cancer.

The prognosis of gastric cancer is closely related to the stage of disease at diagnosis. Early gastric cancer, whereby disease is limited to mucosa and submucosa, confers a survival rate of greater than 90% in 5 years in many centres. Gastric cancer is still a major cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In high incidence areas such as Japan, screening of asymptomatic population has been advocated. However, in Western countries, mass screening is not cost-effective. Hence, strategy has been directed to screen symptomatic individuals who are at higher risk of gastric cancer. Most patients with early gastric cancer present with symptoms indistinguishable from benign peptic ulcer disease. Screening for this group of patients improves detection rate of early gastric cancer and therefore its prognosis. Endoscopy for surveillance of premalignant lesions has been explored with this objective in mind. Serology testing for biomarkers such as pepsinogen, anti-Helicobacter pylori antibody and gastrin has been studied as an alternative to endoscopy. There is compelling evidence for the role of H. pylori in the initiation of Correa's cascade (stepwise progression from chronic active gastritis, atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia and finally adenocarcinoma). Regression of premalignant lesions has been demonstrated with H. pylori eradication. However, it is not known whether this might effectively prevent gastric cancer in either low or high-risk population.