Management of concurrent thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Concurrent thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm is uncommon. It remains a formidable surgical challenge to vascular surgeons, as decision to treat in staged or simultaneous setting still debatable. We present, here, a case of a 62-year-old-man with asymptomatic concurrent thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms, which was successfully treated with two-stage hybrid endovascular repair. The aim of this case report is to discuss the treatment options available, possible associated complications and measures to prevent them.

Total percutaneous endovascular aneurysm repair (pEVAR): the initial experience in Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

INTRODUCTION: There has been a paradigm shift in the treatment of AAA with the advent of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Rapid progress and evolution of endovascular technology has brought forth smaller profile devices and closure devices. Total percutaneous endovascular aneurysm repair (pEVAR) involves the usage of suture-mediated closure devices (SMCDs) at vascular access sites to avoid a traditional surgical cutdown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed our experience of pEVAR between April 2013 and July 2014. Primary success of the procedure was defined as closure of a common femoral artery (CFA) arteriotomy without the need for any secondary surgical or endovascular procedure within 30 days. RESULTS: In total there were 10 pEVAR cases performed in the study period, one case in Queen Elizabeth Hospital during visiting vascular service. Patients have a mean age of 73.4 year old (66-77 year old) The mean abdominal aortic size was 7.2 cm (5.6-10.0cm). Mean femoral artery diameter was 9.0 mm on the right and 8.9 mm on the left. Mean duration of surgery was 119 minutes (98- 153 minutes). 50% of patients were discharged at post-operative day one, 30%- day two and 20%- day three. Primary success was achieved in 9 patients (90%) or in 19 CFA closures (95%). No major complication was reported. DISCUSSION: We believe that with proper selection of patients undergoing EVAR, pEVAR offers a better option of vascular access with shorter operative time, less post- operative pain, shorter hospital stay and minimises the potential complications of a conventional femoral cutdown.

Idiopathic Internal Thoracic Artery (ITA) Pseudoaneurysm treated with Endovascular Embolization.

A 44-year-old female was diagnosed with an ITA pseudoaneurysm in the right supraclavicular fossa. She was successfully treated with endovascular embolization. The challenges of diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

Popliteal artery pseudoaneurysm successfully treated with amplatzer vascular plug.

Popliteal artery pseudoaneurysm is uncommon. They usually result from penetrating or blunt trauma, arterial reconstructive surgery, invasive diagnostic or surgical orthopedic procedures. They can cause arterial thrombosis and limb ischeamia. We report a 53 year old Chinese gentleman with popliteal artery pseudoaneurysm who presented with right lower limb numbness and paralysis in toes extension. He gave a history of acupuncture treatment around the popliteal fossa of the affected limb. Clinical examination revealed a pulsatile mass in the popliteal fossa. Computed tomography angiography showed a large, 5 cm, pseudoaneurysm arising from the popliteal artery. A diagnostic angiogram was performed and revealed that there is no run off from the popliteal artery and the tibial vessels were reconstructed from collaterals. Endovascular intervention was carried out with an Amplatzer Vascular Plug to embolise the pseudoaneurysm. The pseudoaneurysm was successfully excluded and post-op follow up revealed no more pulsatile mass and improving lower limb function. To the best of our knowledge this is first reported case of pseudoaneurysm of the popliteal artery secondary to acupuncture in Malaysia.

Prevalence of Peripheral Arterial Disease and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm among Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome.

INTRODUCTION: Peripheral arterial disease(PAD) and abdominal aortic aneurysm(AAA) are two important underdiagnosed vascular pathologies. As they share common risk factors with coronary arterial disease, we conducted a study to look at their prevalence among patients with acute coronary syndrome(ACS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with ACS admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Malaysia, from February 2009 till August 2009 were screened prospectively for PVD and AAA. Patients' data and clinical findings were gathered and analyzed. Measurements of ankle brachial index (ABI) and abdominal aortic diameter were performed by a single assessor. PAD was defined as ABI ≤ 0.9 or diabetic patients with signs and symptoms of PAD and absence of pedal pulses. AAA was defined as abdominal aortic diameter ≥ 3cm. RESULTS: 102 patients were recruited with mean age of 59.5 years old. Male: female ratio was 6:1. 40.2% of patients had NSTEMI; 45.1%, STEMI and 14.7%, unstable angina. Risk factors profile is as follows: hypertension- 68.6%, smoking- 56.9%, hypercholesterolemia- 52.9%, diabetes mellitus- 35.3% and history of stroke- 5.9%. Median ABI was 1.1 with lowest reading of 0.4. Mean abdominal aortic size was 2.0cm with largest diameter of 3.3cm. PAD was present in 24.5% of patients and AAA in 2.0%. 68.0% of patients with PAD were asymptomatic. Smoking and age more than 60 years were independent predictors for PAD among ACS patients. CONCLUSIONS: PAD is strongly correlated with CAD with old age and smoker as independent predictors. However, association between AAA and ACS could not be established.

Tuberculosis of gallbladder with candidiasis, a rare entity.

Gallbladder tuberculosis (GT) is an extremely rare condition. This is thought to be due to the protective property of bile against the infection. Clinical and radiological diagnosis of GT is difficult. We describe a case of GT who initially presented to us with jaundice, a right hypochondrial mass and computed tomographic findings suggestive of gallbladder empyema. Diagnosis was made from histopathological examination of the resected gallbladder which revealed epitheloid granulomas with caseating necrosis and presence of Langhan's giant cells. From a literature search and to the best of our knowledge, this is the first GT to be reported in South East Asia.

Trends of breast cancer treatment in Sabah, Malaysia: a problem with lack of awareness.

INTRODUCTION: Sabah, formerly known as North Borneo, is part of East Malaysia. 52.2 percent of patients with breast cancer in Sabah presented at advanced stages and up to 20.4 percent of patients defaulted proper treatment, opting for traditional therapy. We performed a two-year prospective study looking at the treatment trends of breast cancer in Sabah. METHODS: Our subjects were all newly-diagnosed breast cancer cases seen at the hospital in 2005 and 2006. Type of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy and surgical complication for each patient were studied. RESULTS: Out of 186 newly-diagnosed cases, 152 (81.7 percent) had surgery, 126 (67.7 percent) had chemotherapy, 118 (63.4 percent) had radiotherapy and 92 (49.5 percent) had hormonal therapy. 18.3 percent did not have surgery either due to refusal of treatment or advanced disease. They were more likely to be non-Chinese (91.1 percent, p-value is 0.02). Only 15.8 percent had breast-conserving surgery. The most frequent surgical complication was seroma formation (15.0 percent) . The commonest chemotherapy regime and hormonal therapy were anthracycline-based regime (88.1 percent) and tamoxifen (95.8 percent), respectively. CONCLUSION: The proportion of breast-conserving surgery and usage of modern adjuvant therapies are low in Sabah. This can be attributed to lack of breast cancer awareness leading to late presentation and refusal of treatment, coupled with insufficient health service funding.

Successful endovascular treatment of post-traumatic inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery pseudoaneurysm.

True and pseudoaneurysms of the visceral arteries are uncommon. They represent 0.1-0.2 percent of all vascular aneurysms. Visceral artery aneurysms (VAAs) should be treated due to their propensity to rupture and associated high mortality. We describe a 58-year-old man with pseudoaneurysm of the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery and who presented with post-motor vehicle accident abdominal pain and a pulsatile epigastic mass. Computed tomography (CT) showed a pseudoaneurysm of the visceral artery, and selective mesenteric angiography showed the aneurysm to be arising from the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery. The aneurysm was successfully treated with endovascular coil embolisation. CT angiogram at one month post-procedure revealed persistent occlusion of the aneurysm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported pseudoaneurysm of inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery secondary to blunt abdominal trauma from a motor vehicle accident and also the first reported VAA from Malaysia.

Synchronous adenocarcinoma of caecum, transverse colon and jejunum.

Synchronous cancers are defined as malignant tumours that occur simultaneously, each of which must be distinct with no possibility of one being the metastasis of the other. A 65 year old gentleman presented to us with two month history of epigastric pain associated with anaemia, loss of appetite and weight. He has no history of malignancy in his family. Colonoscopy revealed tumours at transverse colon and caecum. Intra-operatively, tumours were sited at caecum, transverse colon and jejunum. Tumours were diagnosed as synchronous adenocarcinoma histopathologically with loss of expression of MLH1 and MSH2. From literature search, this is the first reported triple synchronous tumours of the caecum, transverse colon and jejunum. We believe that this gentleman developed triple synchronous tumour through the sporadic MSI pathway.