[Role of the homograft bypass in extremity inferior's reconstructions]. / Homograftok szerepe az alsó végtagi érrekonstrukciókban.

INTRODUCTION: Vascular homografts are used for limb salvage in cases of graft infection after previous reconstructive vascular surgery or inadequate autologous veins. During multi-organ donation the thoracic aorta segment, aortic bifurcation, iliac arteries, femoral arteries, popliteal arteries, femoral veins and greater saphenous veins can be harvested. Our aim was to optimize the use of homografts by analyzing the results of previous procedures. METHODS: The patient information was processed retrospectively, using the clinical computer system. 162 procedures were performed on 144 patients between 2007 and 2014. The short- and long-term patency, hemorrhagic complication rate, amputation rate and mortality was examined in our study. The location, graft type and length of cryopreservation were taken into consideration. Aortoiliac and femoropopliteal reconstructions with arterial and venous homografts were examined. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 63.6 ± 10.7 years, the mean follow-up period was 36 ± 28 months. The primary patency rates at the postoperative 1, 3 and 6 months were 83.7%, 75.0% and 63.4%. In this study the arterial and deep venous homografts had better primary patency rates compared to the superficial venous homografts: at the postoperative 1, 3, 6 months the arterial homograft results were 85.6%, 78.6% and 74.3%, the greater saphenous vein homograft results were 81.4%, 70.4% and 47.7% in the same intervals. CONCLUSION: The reconstructive surgical procedures in septic area mean serious challenge for the vascular surgeons. The AB0 compatibility of the graft and the recipient did not result better long-term outcomes compared to the non-compatible grafts. According to our data the ideal choice of homogenous graft is an arterial homograft which was not cryopreserved longer than 6 months.

[Ischemic origin of diabetic foot disease. Epidemiology, difficulties of diagnosis, options for prevention and revascularization]. / A diabeteses láb ischaemiás eredete. Epidemiológia, a diagnózis nehézségei, prevenciós és revascularisatiós lehetoségek.

"Diabetic foot" as definition covers a multifactorial clinical condition. According to the recent epidemiological data, the role of lower limb ischemia is getting more influential over other pathological causes, like neuropathy, infections and bone or soft tissue deformity. In diabetes, vascular disease leads to increased risk for leg ulcers and minor or major amputations. The traditional diagnostic tools for recognition of peripheral arterial disease have limited value because of diabetes specific clinical manifestations. Available vascular centers with special expertise and diagnostic tools are the prerequisite for efficient diagnosis supporting timely recognition of peripheral arterial disease. In course of treatment of diabetic foot with ischemic origin, beyond effective medical treatment revascularization (open vascular surgery or endovascular procedures) has paramount importance for prevention of limb loss. Vascular teams of vascular specialists, vascular surgeons and interventional radiologist in dedicated centers in multidisciplinary cooperation with other professions represent public health issue in effective prevention. Orv. Hetil., 2017, 158(6), 203-211.

Fenesztrált stent-graft beültetés Magyarországon.

CASE REPORT: The first case was a 77-year-old man with 5.6 cm juxtarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm who presented with multiple comorbidities. The patient had a single left kidney. A custom-made, single fenestrated stent graft was implanted successfully. The one-month follow-up showed a patent left renal fenestration without evidence of any endoleaks. Four months after the operation the patient was admitted with acute uremia. Imaging studies revealed an occluded left renal stent, which was successfully reopened. The second case was a 71-year-old man with 8.0 cm juxtarenal aneurysm. He presented with severe coronary artery disease among other multiple comorbidities in his medical history. He was successfully treated with a 3-vessel custom-made fenestrated stent graft to the renal and the superior mesenteric arteries. The one-month CT imaging revealed patent fenestrations without endoleaks. DISCUSSION: With the development of fenestrated endograft technology, complex aneurysms with visceral artery involvement can be treated with complete endovascular approaches. The first fenestrated endovascular case in Hungary was treated in the Heart and Vascular Center of Semmelweis University, Budapest. The short and middle-term results are offering improved clinical results when compared with conventional surgery, but the long-term outcomes are difficult to ascertain from the current published series.

The role and importance of gene polymorphisms in the development of atherosclerosis.

The development of atherosclerosis is a multifactorial process. The purpose of the study was to examine three genetic polymorphisms playing a role in the metabolic processes underlying the disease. We compared the data of 348 atherosclerotic non-diabetic patients with 260 atherosclerotic diabetic patients and 384 healthy controls. We analyzed the prevalence of myocardial infarction and stroke in three different groups of patients carrying different polymorphisms. It was proved that if the mutant TT eNOS Glu298ASP variant is present, a significantly higher number of myocardial infarctions can be observed than in patients carrying heterozygote GT or normal GG genotype. We proved that in the case of MTHFR 677CT heterozygote variants, the occurrence of myocardial infarction is significantly higher and the difference is also significant in case of the 677TT homozygote variant. It was verified that among patients with the mutant TNF-α AA genotype the occurrence of cardiovascular events was significantly higher. Screening the genetically high risk groups on the long run should be considered as an early detection opportunity that may give better chances for prevention and treatment. Understanding the inflammatory mechanisms of the atherosclerosis may give new therapeutical targets to pharmacologists.

Peripheral blood-derived autologous stem cell therapy for the treatment of patients with late-stage peripheral artery disease-results of the short- and long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND AIMS: Regeneration of the occluded peripheral arteries by autologous stem cell therapy is an emerging treatment modality for no-option patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). The purpose of this study was to assess safety and efficacy of in vitro-expanded, peripheral blood-derived, autologous stem cells (VesCell) in no-option patients with PAD. METHODS: A phase II, open-label, randomized clinical study was performed on 20 patients to investigate the safety and efficacy of VesCell therapy at 1 and 3 months of follow-up. The long-term (2 years) efficacy of the therapy was also evaluated. RESULTS: No side effects of VesCell therapy were found. During the 3 month follow-up in the control group, one death occurred and six major amputations were performed; in the treated group, there were no deaths or major amputations. The difference of limb loss is significant between the two groups. At 2-year follow-up in the control group, two deaths and six major amputations occurred; in the treated group, there were three major amputations. At 3-month follow-up, the change in hemodynamic parameters showed a significant increase in the treated group over the control group; in the treated group, further improvement was detected at 2 years. As the result of the VesCell treatment, change in pain score, wound healing and walking ability test showed an improvement compared with the control group; at 2 years, incremental improvement was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Peripheral blood-derived, in vitro-expanded autologous angiogenic precursor therapy appears to be a safe, promising and effective adjuvant therapy for PAD patients.

Tumornecrosis-factor-α 308 GA polymorphism in atherosclerotic patients.

The development of the atherosclerosis is a multifactorial process, where the clinical pattern is determined by environmental and genetic factors. Except for the classical risk factors of atherosclerosis (hypertension, lipid-metabolic disorders, diabetes, smoking) the clinical signs can be influenced by the genetic variants (polymorphisms) of the enzymes, which are responsible for the endothelial cell function and for the thrombotic factors. In our examination our aim was to define the TNF-α 308GA polymorphisms in atherosclerotic diabetic, atherosclerotic non-diabetic and healthy patients. We found correlation of the frequency of myocardial infarction and stroke in atherosclerotic diabetic and atherosclerotic non-diabetic patients. We proved that among patients with mutant TNF-α AA genotype the occurrence of cardiovascular events is significantly higher: Mutant AA homozygous genotype: control group 1, 6%, MI group 10,7%, p < 0,005, OR: 8,17 versus Normal GG allele: control group 76,7%, MI group 61,3%. The TNF-α AA genotype can have a clinical importance as a prognostic and therapeutic marker, although further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors - small molecular weight compounds inhibiting EGFR.

Abnormally elevated EGFR kinase activity can lead to various pathological states, including proliferative diseases such as cancer. The development of selective protein kinase inhibitors has become an important area of drug discovery for the potential treatment of a variety of solid tumors such as breast, ovarian and colorectal cancers, NSCLC, and carcinoma of the head and neck. There are three small molecule EGFR kinase inhibitor drugs in clinical use (gefitinib, erlotinib and lapatinib), and several others are currently undergoing clinical development. This review summarizes the development of EGFR kinase inhibitors, and includes descriptions of the binding modes, the importance of a multiple-targets strategy, the effects of sensitizing and resistance mutations in the EGFR, and molecular diagnostic approaches. In addition, the use of target fishing for selectivity profiling, off-target identification and quantitative structure-activity relationship modeling for the prediction of EGFR inhibition is discussed.

Methylentetrahydrofolate reductase and nitric oxide synthase polymorphism in patients with atherosclerosis and diabetes.

The development of the atherosclerosis is based on multifactorial causes. In addition to the traditional risk factors, gene polymorphisms can play a role in the disease. Therefore in this study we investigated whether the eNOS and MTHFR gene polymorphisms is associated with myocardial infarction and stroke in patients with or without diabetes. We have identified polymorphisms in the NOS 3 gene and one of these polymorphisms, Glu(298-->)Asp, was found to be a major risk factor for carotid artery disease and myocardial infarction. Our results indicate that the MTHFR G677T allele is significantly associated with MI. MTHFR 677 G/T genotyping may be of clinical importance as a prognostic and therapeutic marker, although further studies are needed to substantiate this hypothesis.

[Surgical treatment of acute type-B aortic dissection associated with cocaine use]. / B típusú aortadissectio sebészi kezelése kokaint használó beteg esetében.

UNLABELLED: Cocaine abuse is on a rise in Hungary as well. It is known that cocaine users have a higher risk developing cardiovascular complications, for example aortic dissection. Almost all patients in Hungary suffering from type B aortic dissection are referred to our department for treatment. AIM: We introduce the case of a regular cocaine user, who suffered an acute type B aortic dissection and was treated surgically. To our best knowledge this is the first similar case in our country to be published. METHOD: Case presentation. RESULTS: We performed a successful operation: acute thoracoabdominal aortic refenestration, no complication was detected. The patient is doing well three months after the procedure, returned to his regular activities, he is normotensively receiving medical treatment, and he gave up cocaine. CONCLUSIONS: Thoracoabdominal aortic refenestration can save the life of patients presenting with acute type B dissection. Good long-term result depends on adequate hypertension control and cocaine abstinence. As the frequency of cocaine abuse increases in Hungary, similar cases may be more often encountered.

[Bilateral internal carotid aneurysms]. / Bilateralis carotis interna aneurysma.

The authors discuss the treatment of five patients with bilateral carotid aneurysms and review the relevant literature. During the preoperative workup duplex scan, angiography and CT scan were obtained. The diameter of the aneurysms was in the range from 9 to 40 mm. Treatment plans were largely individualized. Two patients had bilateral and two had unilateral reconstructions carried out with end-to-end anastomosis. One patient was treated conservatively. In one case, a staged approach was chosen due to multiple aneurysms. As a postoperative complication, a reversible stroke was detected in one patient. All patients were followed up (between 3 to 14 years) by six monthly duplex scans. The authors suggest surgical treatment for carotid aneurysms with a diameter above 15 mm, increasing size, thrombotic plaques or neurological sings in order to avoid high risk complications (compression, rupture, embolisation).

[Secondary aorto-enteral fistula--material of 22 years and literature review]. / Szekunder aorto-enteralis fisztulák--22 év anyaga és irodalmi áttekintés.

INTRODUCTION: Aorto-enteral fistula is a pathological communication between the aorta and the bowel lumen. In its secondary form is a dreaded, often fatal complication of the aorto-iliac operations. METHODS: We report 34 secondary fistulas, a great number of patients treated in the last 22 years. One can rarely find such a number in the literature. RESULTS: The incidence of secondary fistulas is 0.42% following aorto-iliac operations. We give a detailed description of diagnostics. We prefer in situ solutions (graft change, aorto-aortic interposition, iliac desobliteration, homograft or deep venous bypass, aorto-bifemoral bypass) to extra-anatomical bypasses. We emphasize the importance of the postoperative care, and the necessity of adequate antibiotic therapy. CONCLUSION: Despite improved operations and intensive care mortality is still high (55.88%). We find that prevention is of great importance.