Transplant Hepatic Artery Stenosis: Endovascular Treatment and Complications.

Hepatic artery stenosis (HAS) is an infrequent complication of liver transplant; if left untreated, it can lead to hepatic artery thrombosis with high risk of biliary necrosis and graft loss. HAS is diagnosed with screening Doppler ultrasound, together with computed tomography angiography and magnetic resonance angiography. Endovascular treatment with angioplasty ± stent placement is safe and effective with infrequent major complications; however, when complications occur, they can devastate long-term graft survival. Herein, we present two cases of HAS treated with balloon angioplasty with resultant major complications requiring operative intervention.

Iliac vein compression syndrome from anterior perforation of a pedicle screw.

May-Thurner syndrome is an anatomic variant where the right common iliac artery compresses the left common iliac vein. The variant exists in a significant portion of the population, but is usually asymptomatic; however, clinically significant stenosis can occur by iatrogenic means. In this report, we describe a patient who presents with left lower extremity pain and swelling. Initial workup for deep vein thrombosis was negative. After being referred to our venous clinic, a magnetic resonance angiography revealed narrowing of the left common iliac vein with a tortuous right common iliac artery crossing over the constriction. During left iliac vein stent placement, a pedicle screw from a prior L2-S1 spinal fusion was noted to be perforated through L5 vertebral body impinging the posterior aspect of the vein. This case demonstrates that increased scrutiny must be applied when dealing with pathology in close proximity to any implanted medical device.

Design, synthesis and DNA binding properties of orthogonally positioned diamino containing polyamide f-IPI.

An orthogonally positioned diamino/dicationic polyamide f-IPI 2 was synthesized. It has enhanced binding affinity, and it showed comparable sequence specificity to its monoamino/monocationic counterpart f-IPI 1. Results from CD and DNase I footprinting studies confirmed the minor groove binding and selectivity of polyamides 1 and 2 for the cognate sequence 5'-ACGCGT-3'. SPR studies provided their binding constants: 2.4 × 10(8)M(-1) for diamino 2, which is ∼4 times higher than 5.4 × 10(7)M(-1) for its monoamino analogue 1.