Radiomics-Based Risk Assessment Correlates With Outcomes in Patients With Acute Type B Aortic Dissection Undergoing Thoracic Endovascular Repair.

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to investigate the correlations between radiomics-based assessment and outcomes, including positive aortic remodeling (PAR), reintervention for dissection at 1 year, and overall survival, in patients with Type B aortic dissection (TBAD) who underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). METHODS: This was a single-center, retrospective, cohort study. The cohort comprised 104 patients who had undergone TEVAR of TBAD in our institution between January 2010 and October 2022. We segmented preoperative computed tomography (CT) images of the patients' descending aorta regions, then extracted a comprehensive set of radiomic features, including first-order features, shape features (2D and 3D), gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), gray-level size zone matrix, gray-level run length matrix, gray-level dependence matrix, neighborhood gray-tone difference matrix, from the regions of interest. Next, we selected radiomics features associated with total descending aorta positive aortic remodeling (TDA-PAR) and reintervention by least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and features associated with survival by LASSO-Cox regression. This enabled us to calculate radiomics-based risk scores for each patient. We then allocated the patients to high and low radiomics-based risk groups, the cutoff being the median score. We used 3 different models to validate the radiomics-based risk scores. RESULTS: The patients' baseline characteristics did not differ between those who achieved TDA-PAR and those who did not. The radiomics-based risk scores were significantly and independently associated with all 3 outcomes. As to the impact of specific radiomics features, we found that GLSZM_SmallAreaLowGrayLevelEmphasis and shape_Maximum2DDiameterColumn had positive impacts on both reintervention and survival outcomes, whereas GLCM_Idmn positively affected survival but negatively affected reintervention. We found that radiomics-based risk for TDA-PAR correlated most significantly with zone 6 PAR. CONCLUSIONS: Radiomics-based risk scores were significantly associated with the outcomes of TDA-PAR, reintervention, and overall survival. Radiomics has the potential to make significant contributions to prediction of outcomes in patients with TBAD undergoing TEVAR. CLINICAL IMPACT: In this study of 104 patients with Type B aortic dissection, we demonstrated associations between radiomics-based risk and postoperative outcomes, including total descending aorta positive aortic remodeling, reintervention and survival. These findings highlight radiomics' potential as a tool for risk stratification and prognostication in acute Type B aortic dissection management.

Establishing a Classification System for Predicting Flow-Limiting Dissection After Balloon Angioplasty Using Explainable Machine-Learning Models: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is the primary method for treatment in peripheral arterial disease. However, some patients experience flow-limiting dissection (FLD) after PTA. We utilized machine learning and SHapley Additive exPlanations to identify and optimize a classification system to predict FLD after PTA. METHODS: This was a multi-center, retrospective, cohort study. The cohort comprised 407 patients who underwent treatment of the femoropopliteal (FP) arteries in 3 institutions between January 2021 and June 2023. Preoperative computed tomography angiography images were evaluated to identify FP artery grading, chronic total occlusion (CTO), and vessel calcification (peripheral artery calcium scoring system [PACSS]). After PTA, FLD was identified by angiography. We trained and validated 6 machine-learning models to estimate FLD occurrence after PTA, and the best model was selected. Then, the sum of the Shapley values for each of CTO, FP, and PACSS was calculated for each patient to produce the CTO-FP-PACSS value. The CTO-FP-PACSS classification system was used to classify the patients into classes 1 to 4. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to validate the effectiveness of the CTO-FP-PACSS classification system for predicting FLD. RESULTS: Overall, 407 patients were analyzed, comprising 189 patients with FLD and 218 patients without FLD. Differences in sex (71% males vs 54% males, p<0.001), CTO (72% vs 43%, p<0.001), FP (3.26±0.94 vs 2.66±1.06, p<0.001), and PACSS (2.39±1.40 vs 1.74±1.35, p<0.001) were observed between patients with and without FLD, respectively. The random forest model demonstrated the best performance (validation set area under the curve: 0.82). SHapley Additive exPlanations revealed CTO, PACSS, and FP as the 3 most influential FLD predictors, and the univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed CTO-FP-PACSS classification as an independent FLD predictor (multivariate hazard ratio 4.13; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The CTO-FP-PACSS classification system accurately predicted FLD after PTA. This user-friendly system may guide surgical decision-making, helping choose between PTA and additional devices to reduce FLD in FP artery treatment. CLINICAL IMPACT: We utilised machine-learning techniques in conjunction with SHapley Additive exPlanations to develop a clinical classification system that predicts the probability of flow-limiting dissection (FLD) after plain old balloon angioplasty. This classification system categorises lesions into Classes 1-4 based on three factors: chronic total occlusion, femoropopliteal grading, and peripheral artery calcium scoring. Each class demonstrated a different probability of developing FLD. This classification system may be valuable for surgeons in their clinical practice, as well as serving as a source of inspiration for other researchers.

Effectiveness and safety of coils plus glue in slope embankment technology versus coils plus sclerosant in embolization therapy for reflux-type pelvic venous disorders.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of coils plus glue (CPG) in slope embankment technology vs coils plus sclerosant (CPS) in treating reflux-type pelvic venous disorders. METHODS: The analysis included patients diagnosed with reflux-type pelvic venous disorders who were treated with CPG or CPS from 2019 to 2021. The inclusion criteria were noncyclic pain lasting more than 6 months, atypical varicose, and transvaginal Doppler ultrasound (TVDUS) and computed tomographic venography confirming the diagnosis and excluding compression factors and other diseases. Propensity score matching was performed at a 1:1.1 ratio based on the following covariates: age, pregnancy, body mass index, pretreatment visual analog scale (VAS), dysmenorrhea, dyspareunia, urinary urgency, tenesmus, low back pain, vulvar varicosities, vaginal varicosities, and lower limb varices. The pain was relieved by embolizing the target lesions with different embolic materials. The efficacy and safety of the different embolization materials were compared by VAS and TVDUS examinations at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36 months. RESULTS: From a total of 495 patients, 88 patients were selected from the CPG group and 77 patients from the CPS group by propensity score matching. The patients were followed up for 36 months. The preoperative VAS score of the CPG group was 8 (range, 6-8), and the CPS score was 8 (range, 7-8; P = .64). The postembolization VAS score of the CPG group was 2.05 ± 0.37, and the CPS score was 2.14 ± 0.35 (P = .55). A total of 28 cases (16.9%) showed complications, most of which were transient pain after embolization. No serious complications such as coil embolization to the lungs occurred. In addition, the CPG group used fewer coils than the CPS group by using the slope embankment technique. The mean coil length of the CPG group was 77.18 ± 33.82 cm, and the CPS group was 105.29 ± 71 cm (P = .001). The CPG group had an average operative time of 44.49 ± 5.72 minutes, whereas the CPS group took 43.45 ± 4.18 minutes on average (P = .19). The radiation dose in the CPG group was 398.40 ± 76.16 mGy, and the radiation dose in the CPS group was 388 ± 44.23 mGy (P = .30). The median recurrence-free survival in the CPG group was 34.23 months (95% confidence interval, 33.2-35.2), and the median recurrence-free survival in the CPS group was 30.39 months (95% confidence interval, 28.2-32.6; log rank P = .018). CONCLUSIONS: Embolization therapy for refluxing PeVD was safe and effective, and proficient use of slope embankment technique with CPG increased efficacy and reduced complications.

Syringe-assisted test-aspiration with mechanical aspiration thrombectomy results in good safety and short-term outcomes in the treatment of patients with deep venous thrombosis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the short-term outcomes and safety of syringe-assisted test-aspiration with mechanical aspiration thrombectomy in the treatment of deep venous thrombosis. METHODS: This was a single-center, retrospective study of hospitalized patients with iliofemoral and/or inferior vena caval deep venous thrombosis, excluding those with pulmonary embolism. We collected the following patient data from the electronic medical records: age, sex, provoked/unprovoked deep venous thrombosis, symptom duration, thrombosed segments, and the presence of a tumor, thrombophilia, diabetes, and/or iliac vein compression syndrome. Venography and computed tomographic venography were performed in all patients before the procedure. All patients underwent syringe-assisted test-aspiration with mechanical aspiration thrombectomy under local anesthesia and sedation, and all received low-molecular-weight heparin peri-operatively. All patients underwent implantation of an inferior vena caval filter. Rivaroxaban was administered post-procedure, instead of heparin, for 3-6 months, with lower extremity compression. RESULTS: Overall, 29 patients with deep venous thrombosis underwent syringe-assisted test-aspiration with mechanical aspiration thrombectomy from January 2022 to October 2022 in our institution. Technical success (>70% thrombus resolution) was achieved in all patients, and using a single procedure in 25/29 patients (86%). Concomitant stenting was performed in 18/29 (62%) of the patients, and 21/29 (69%) underwent angioplasty. The median (interquartile range) procedure time was 110 min (100-122), the median intra-operative bleeding volume was 150 mL (120-180), and the median decrease in the hemoglobin concentration from pre- to post-operative was 7 g/L (4-14). The median follow-up duration was 7 months (5-9). All patients obtained symptomatic relief, and 27/29 achieved near-remission or full remission (combined total). No patients experienced peri-operative bleeding complications, or symptom recurrence or post-thrombectomy syndrome during follow-up. CONCLUSION: The short-term outcomes following syringe-assisted test-aspiration with mechanical aspiration thrombectomy in the treatment of deep venous thrombosis were excellent, and the procedure was safe.

Efficacy Analysis of Drug-Coated Balloons in the Treatment of Ultra-Long Segment Lesions of Femoral Popliteal Artery.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the midterm clinical efficacy of paclitaxel drug-coated balloons (DCBs) in the treatment of femoral artery TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus (TASC) grades C/D lesions. METHODS: The clinical data of 73 cases with TASC grades C/D lesions of femoral artery treated with paclitaxel DCBs at the Department of Vascular Surgery, the First Hospital of Fujian Medical University from August 2016 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The primary endpoint was the primary patency rate. The secondary endpoints were freedom from reintervention, Rutherford classification, ankle-brachial index (ABI), amputation events, and all-cause death. RESULTS: A total of 73 cases of limb lesions received endoluminal treatment. The mean age of the patients including 49 males and 24 females was (72.66 ± 11.1) years, with an initial Rutherford classification of 2-5 and an ABI of 0.4 ± 0.1. The mean Rutherford classification was 3.70 ± 0.95. The mean lesion length was (25.75 ± 9.67) cm, including 61.64% chronic occlusive lesions and 27.39% stenotic lesions, the remaining 10.97% were mixed lesions, containing multiple segments of stenosis and chronic total occlusion lesions. 43.8% of the lesions were associated with severe calcification. Stent implantation rate was 8%. Overall mortality at follow-up was 4% at 1 year and 8% at 2 years, and no amputations seen. The ABI was 0.83 ± 0.07 at 1-year follow-up and 0.78 ± 0.05 at 2-year follow-up. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve predicted the 1-year phase I patency rate was 75.3% ± 5% and the 2-year patency rate was 63.3% ± 5.7%. Freedom from target lesion revascularization was 78.4 ± 4.9% at 1 year and 69.2% ± 3.6% at 2 years. Logistic regression analysis showed that diabetes mellitus, severe calcification, chronic renal insufficiency, and restenosis were the significant factors affecting the patency of target lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Paclitaxel DCBs in the treatment of femoral artery with TASC grades C/D lesions can achieve relatively satisfactory midterm clinical safety and efficacy results, provided there is an acceptable result on completion angiogram.

STOP-Bang Questionnaire Is Associated With Aortic Remodeling in Patients With Acute Type B Aortic Dissection Undergoing Standard Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair.

PURPOSE: To determine whether the STOP-Bang questionnaire, which is a tool for evaluating obstructive sleep apnea, is associated with aortic remodeling after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) in patients with type B aortic dissection (TBAD). METHODS: Patients with TBAD who underwent standard TEVAR at our center from January 2015 to December 2020 were enrolled. For the included patients, we recorded baseline characteristics, comorbidities, preoperative computed tomographic angiography findings, procedure details, and complications. The STOP-Bang questionnaire was administered to each patient. Total scores comprised points for 4 yes/no questions and 4 clinical measurements. STOP-Bang ≥5 and STOP-Bang <5 groups were then created using the STOP-Bang total scores. We evaluated aortic remodeling 1 year after discharge and the reintervention rate, as well as false lumen complete thrombosis (FLCT) and non-FLCT length. RESULTS: Fifty-five patients were enrolled in the study; STOP-Bang <5, n=36, and STOP-Bang ≥5, n=19. Compared with the STOP-Bang ≥5 group, the STOP-Bang <5 group achieved statistically significantly higher descending aorta positive aortic remodeling (PAR) rates in zones 3 to 5 (zone 3: p=0.002; zone 4: p=0.039; zone 5: p=0.023), higher total descending aorta-PAR rate (66.7% vs 36.8%, respectively; p=0.004), and lower reintervention rate (8.1% vs 38.9%, respectively; p=0.005). In the logistic regression analysis, STOP-Bang ≥5 had an odds ratio of 0.12 (95% confidence interval: 0.03-0.58; p=0.008). There was no significant difference in overall survival between the groups. CONCLUSION: STOP-Bang questionnaire scores were associated with aortic remodeling after TEVAR in patients with TBAD. Increasing the frequency of surveillance after TEVAR might be beneficial in these patients. CLINICAL IMPACT: We analysed aortic remodelling 1 year after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) in acute type B aortic dissection (TBAD) patients with STOP-Bang < 5 and STOP-Bang ≥ 5. Aortic remodelling was better, and the reintervention rate was higher in patients with STOP-Bang < 5 compared with patients with STOP-Bang ≥ 5. In patients with STOP-Bang ≥ 5, aortic remodelling was worse in zones 3-5 compared with zones 6-9. This study suggests that the STOP-Bang questionnaire results is associated with aortic remodelling after TEVAR in patients with TBAD.

Angiosome Oriented or Least Diseased Vessel, Which Is the Optimal Target Arterial Path for Endovascular Revascularisation in Patients With Diabetic Foot Ulcers?

OBJECTIVE: The aims were to determine whether, when treating diabetic foot ulcers (1), selecting an angiosome directed (AD) vessel as the target arterial path (TAP) when candidate vessels have comparably severe disease impacts outcomes and (2) whether a more severely affected AD vessel or a less severely affected non-angiosome directed (NAD) vessel should be chosen. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study. Patients with diabetic foot ulcers who had undergone endovascular revascularisation in the institution between January 2016 and May 2020 and had been followed up for two years were included. Eligible patients were identified retrospectively and relevant data were collected from the institution's electronic medical records. The severity of the lesions was classified using the Global Limb Anatomic Staging System (GLASS). Outcomes between various subgroups were compared according to the severity of the lesions to determine the optimal TAP choice in each case. RESULTS: The study cohort comprised 215 patients (216 limbs). The affected limbs were classified as follows: 93 (43.1%) as GLASS 1 - 2 AD; 27 (12.5%) as GLASS 1 - 2 NAD, 62 (28.7%) as GLASS 3 AD, and 34 (15.7%) as GLASS 3 NAD groups. In the GLASS 1 - 2 group, rates of ulcer healing, survival, and amputation free survival were higher and time to healing shorter in the AD than NAD group. In the GLASS 3 group, there were no significant differences between the AD and NAD groups for any studied outcome measures, including ulcer healing and overall survival. Using a more severely diseased AD as the TAP did not achieve significantly better outcomes than using a less severely affected NAD vessel. CONCLUSION: Selecting the AD vessel may achieve better outcomes when two candidate TAPs belong to GLASS 1 - 2, whereas selecting the least diseased vessel as the TAP regardless of AD or NAD status may be preferable in other situations.

The Relationship Between the Global Limb Anatomic Staging System Inframalleolar Modifier and the Outcomes of Diabetic Foot Ulcer with Peripheral Artery Disease.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate the relationship between the condition of the inframalleolar (IM) arteries, as assessed by the Global Limb Anatomic Staging System Inframalleolar (GLASS IM) modifier, and the outcomes of patients with diabetic foot ulcers. METHODS: The data of 215 patients, who underwent endovascular therapy from January 2016 to May 2020 at our center, were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into the P0, P1, and P2 groups according to the angiography results. The rates of ulcer healing, limb salvage, survival, and amputation-free survival were compared during the 2-year period after discharge. RESULTS: Of the 216 affected limbs, 35 (16%) were classed as P0, 122 (57%) as P1, and 59 (27%) as P2. Compared with the P2 group, the P0 + P1 group had a higher ulcer healing rate (P = 0.001), a shorter ulcer healing time (P = 0.004), and a higher survival rate (P = 0.044). GLASS IM Modifier classification P2 was an independent predictor of nonhealing ulcers. No significant difference was observed between the P0 versus P1 groups. CONCLUSIONS: GLASS IM modifier classification P2 is an independent risk factor for a poor outcome. GLASS IM modifier classification P0 versus P1 demonstrates similar outcomes to each other.

MHA-Net: A Multibranch Hybrid Attention Network for Medical Image Segmentation.

The robust segmentation of organs from the medical image is the key technique in medical image analysis for disease diagnosis. U-Net is a robust structure for medical image segmentation. However, U-Net adopts consecutive downsampling encoders to capture multiscale features, resulting in the loss of contextual information and insufficient recovery of high-level semantic features. In this paper, we present a new multibranch hybrid attention network (MHA-Net) to capture more contextual information and high-level semantic features. The main idea of our proposed MHA-Net is to use the multibranch hybrid attention feature decoder to recover more high-level semantic features. The lightweight pyramid split attention (PSA) module is used to connect the encoder and decoder subnetwork to obtain a richer multiscale feature map. We compare the proposed MHA-Net to state-of-art approaches on the DRIVE dataset, the fluoroscopic roentgenographic stereophotogrammetric analysis X-ray dataset, and the polyp dataset. The experimental results on different modal images reveal that our proposed MHA-Net provides better segmentation results than other segmentation approaches.

UCR-Net: U-shaped context residual network for medical image segmentation.

Medical image segmentation prerequisite for numerous clinical needs is a critical step in biomedical image analysis. The U-Net framework is one of the most popular deep networks in this field. However, U-Net's successive pooling and downsampling operations result in some loss of spatial information. In this paper, we propose a U-shaped context residual network, called UCR-Net, to capture more context and high-level information for medical image segmentation. The proposed UCR-Net is an encoder-decoder framework comprising a feature encoder module and a feature decoder module. The feature decoder module contains four newly proposed context attention exploration(CAE) modules, a newly proposed global and spatial attention (GSA) module, and four decoder blocks. We use the proposed CAE module to capture more multi-scale context features from the encoder. The proposed GSA module further explores global context features and semantically enhanced deep-level features. The proposed UCR-Net can recover more high-level semantic features and fuse context attention information from CAE and global and spatial attention information from GSA module. Experiments on the retinal vessel, femoropopliteal artery stent, and polyp datasets demonstrate that the proposed UCR-Net performs favorably against the original U-Net and other advanced methods.

Value of a quantitative model of axillary venous blood flow spectrum for the detection of central venous stenosis in patients undergoing hemodialysis via radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula.

Background: Central venous stenosis (CVS) of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula (RCAVF) affects RCAVF function and longevity. Ultrasound screening for CVS is limited by acoustic window. Herein, we analyzed the quantitative axillary venous (AxV) spectrum in hemodialysis patients via RCAVF, and constructed central venous stenosis index (CVSI) model based on the spectrum parameters to early detect resting asymptomatic CVS. Methods: From August 2017 to May 2021, stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients dialysed via RCAVF at the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University were included in this study. No CVS-related symptoms were found and the pulsation at the arteriovenous anastomosis was normal. However, the patients had the sensation of swelling in the ipsilateral upper limb during dialysis; the venous pressure advanced upon the completion of dialysis; or both (n=52). The inclusion criteria were as follows: (I) Ultrasound (US) showed that the temporal phases of the AxV spectrum were "normal"; and (II) CVS was confirmed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA). The exclusion criteria were as follows: (I) stent placement; (II) multiple stenosis; and (III) placement of central venous catheter. A total of 37 patients participated in the analysis. Eighteen patients were included in the CVS group, and 19 cases without CVS were included in the control group. Independent sample t-test was used to screen each parameter of the AxV spectrum, and a CVSI model was constructed by principal component analysis (PCA). The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was applied to analyze the diagnostic value of CVSI. Results: According to the independent sample t-test, 9 parameters were found to have statistical significance (all P<0.05); they were analyzed by PCA, and the CVSI model was constructed. The ROC showed that CVSI had diagnostic value for CVS. When the cut-off value of CVSI was 7.13, the maximum value of the Youden index was 0.842, with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 84.2%. Conclusions: The CVSI helps to early detect resting asymptomatic CVS and dramatically increases the detection rate of CVS.

Angiosome-Guided Endovascular Revascularization for Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers with Peripheral Artery Disease.

BACKGROUND: Because diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are difficult to heal and cause huge economic losses to the society, accelerating their healing has become extremely important. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of revascularization based on the angiosome concept on DFU. METHODS: Between January 2018 and July 2020, 112 consecutive legs with DFUs, in 111 patients who were discharged from the vascular surgery department of our hospital were retrospectively evaluated. The legs were assigned to two groups depending on whether direct arterial flow to the foot ulcer based on the angiosome concept was achieved. Comparisons of the ulcer healing rate, mean time to ulcer healing, major amputation rate, survival rate, and major amputation-free survival rate between the angiosome direct revascularization (DR) and angiosome indirect revascularization (IR) groups were performed. RESULTS: DR was achieved in 71 legs (63%) compared with IR in 41 legs. The ulcer healing rate (70.4% in the DR group versus 34.1% in the IR group, P < 0.01), the mean time to ulcer healing (7.01 ± 4.26 months versus 10.09 ± 3.24 months, P < 0.01), the survival rate (90.1 vs. 53.7%, P < 0.01), and the major amputation-free survival rate (81.7 vs. 48.8%, P < 0.01) were significantly higher in the DR group than in the IR group. Undergoing DR did not significantly reduce the major amputations rate compared to IR (13.4 and 34.1%, respectively, P = 0.15), but there might be a trend. In multivariate models, DR remained a significant predictor for ulcer healing (HR, 7.07; 95% confidence interval (CI), 6.54-7.60, P < 0.01). Opening multiple infrapopliteal arteries in the DR group compared with restoring only one infrapopliteal artery did not significantly improve the ulcer healing rate (P = 0.59), the mean time to ulcer healing (P = 0.70), major amputation rate (P = 0.83), the survival rate (P = 0.31), and the major amputation-free survival rate (P = 0.40). CONCLUSIONS: Attaining a direct arterial flow based on the angiosome concept may be important for ulcer healing, survival, and amputation-free survival in diabetic foot patients. Opening multiple infrapopliteal arteries in DR patients may not improve the ulcer healing, survival, major amputation or amputation-free survival compared with single DR vessel patency.

Therapeutic evaluation of sclerotherapy for limb venous malformations: A case series.

OBJECTIVES: To examine three different methods for evaluating the effect of percutaneous sclerotherapy on limb venous malformations in a series of patients with a relatively long follow-up. METHOD: The study was a retrospective study. RESULTS: Thirty-eight patients treated with percutaneous sclerotherapy underwent sclerotherapy, with a median number of sessions of 4 (range, 1-10). They were followed up for 1-60 months (average 12.5 months). The kappa between clinical manifestations and Doppler ultrasound was 0.684 (P < 0.001). The kappa between clinical manifestations and magnetic resonance imaging was 0.217 (P = 0.006). The kappa between Doppler ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging was 0.323 (P < 0.001). The rate of grade IV patients evaluated by clinical manifestations was significantly higher than that by Doppler ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. CONCLUSIONS: Magnetic resonance imaging is the gold standard for VM imaging. Its consistency with clinical examination and Doppler ultrasound is poor, and Doppler ultrasound and clinical examination could be more appropriate for follow-up imaging after sclerotherapy.

An Electrochemical Sense Array Based on Aptamer and Biotin-Avidin System for the Selective Detection of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1.

BACKGROUND: GLP-1 as an incretin, has the ability to decrease blood sugar levels in a glucose-dependent manner by enhancing the secretion of insulin. Besides the insulinotropic effects, GLP-1 has been associated with numerous regulatory and protective effects. Thus, the action of GLP-1 is preserved in patients with type 2 diabetes and substantial pharmaceutical research has therefore been directed towards the development of GLP-1-based treatment. METHODS: In this work, we reported an electrochemical sense array based on the aptamer and biotin-avidin system for the detection of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). The sense array employed a "stem-loop" conformation ap-tamer which was immobilized on the electrode of the 16-unit gold array via pre-labeled thiol group (-SH). Pre-labeled biotin serves as an affinity tag for the binding of avidin-horseradish peroxidase (avidin-HRP). The stem-loop structure of the aptamer kept the biotin from being approached by a bulky avidin-HRP by means of the steric hindrance. After the interaction of the target (GLP-1) and the aptamer, the aptamer would undergo a significant conformational change to force biotin away from the electrode, giving the avidin-HRP easy access to the labeled biotin. The HRP in the substrate could sensitively transduce the concentration of GLP-1 into the electrical signals, which were then measured by electrochemical technology of cyclic voltammetry and amperometric i-t curve. RESULTS: Under the optimal experimental conditions, the proposed sense array for GLP-1 had a good linear relationship from 0.1 pmol/L to 20 pmol/L with a detection limit of 0.05 pmol/L and can be used to accurately detect the GLP-1 in serum. CONCLUSIONS: The experimental results show that GLP-1 could be selectively detected by the electrochemical sense array, indicating that the proposed sense array based on the biotin-avidin system and the stem-loop aptamer has great potential in the detection of GLP-1.

Salvage endovascular septectomy in patients with chronic abdominal aortic dissection after failed endovascular aneurysm repair.

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of salvage endovascular septectomy in patients with abdominal chronic aortic dissection (CAD) after endovascular aneurysm repair. A study cohort comprising 6 patients with chronic abdominal aortic dissection after failed endovascular aortic repair [mean age 62.5 (36-69) years] were enrolled to undergo salvage endovascular septectomy. The procedure involved entering the false lumen via the intrinsic visceral entry to perform a confined septectomy using a 'Gigli wire' to merge the true and false lumens. The outcomes were assessed by Digital angiography and computed tomography angiography. All 6 patients were successfully operated on; the diameters of the visceral abdominal aorta and the infrarenal abdominal aorta were similar at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months compared with the baseline; the patency of the visceral branch arteries was also stable at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months compared with the baseline; no occlusion of the visceral branch arteries was noted; no major vascular adverse events or deaths were observed. In this preliminary study, it was proven that salvage endovascular septectomy is a potentially advantageous technique that is safe and effective in the treatment of patients with CAD after failed endovascular aortic repair.

Effects of ischemic preconditioning on cyclinD1 expression during early ischemic reperfusion in rats.

AIM: To observe the effect of ischemic preconditioning on cyclinD1 expression in rat liver cells during early ischemic reperfusion. METHODS: Fifty-four SD rats were randomly divided into ischemic preconditioning group (IP), ischemia/reperfusion group (IR) and sham operation group (SO). The IP and IR groups were further divided into four sub-groups (n = 6). Sham operation group (SO) served as the control group (n = 6). A model of partial liver ischemia/reperfusion was used, in which rats were subjected to liver ischemia for 60 min prior to reperfusion. The animals in the IP group underwent ischemic preconditioning twice for 5 min each time prior to the ischemia/reperfusion challenge. After 0, 1, 2, and 4 h of reperfusion, serum and liver tissue in each group were collected to detect the level of serum ALT, liver histopathology and expression of cyclinD1 mRNA and protein. Flow cytometry was used to detect cell cycle as the quantity indicator of cell regeneration. RESULTS: Compared with IR group, IP group showed a significantly lower ALT level in 1 h to 4 h sub-groups (P < 0.05). Proliferation index (PI) indicated by the S-phase and G2/M-phase ratio [(S+G2/M)/(G0/G1+S+G2/M)] was significantly increased in IP group at 0 and 1 h (26.44 +/- 7.60% vs 18.56 +/- 6.40%, 41.87 +/- 7.27% vs 20.25 +/- 6.70%, P < 0.05). Meanwhile, cyclinD1 protein expression could be detected in IP group. But in IR group, cyclinD1 protein expression occurred 2 h after reperfusion. The expression of cyclinD1 mRNA increased significantly in IP group at 0 and 1 h (0.568 +/- 0.112 vs 0.274 +/- 0.069, 0.762 +/- 0.164 vs 0.348 +/- 0.093, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Ischemic preconditioning can protect liver cells against ischemia/reperfusion injury, which may be related to cell proliferation and expression of cyclinD1 during early ischemic reperfusion.

Preconditioning effects on expression of proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun after hepatic ischemia/reperfusion in rats.

BACKGROUND: Ischemia/reperfusion is the main cause of hepatic damage in liver transplantation. Immediate early genes (IEGs) encode proteins can regulate expression of cellular response genes after injury, and is associated with tissue repair and cell apoptosis. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of preconditioning on expression of immediate early genes c-fos and c-jun following hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (IR) and its roles in cellular regeneration and apoptosis. METHODS: Ninety-six Wistar rats were randomly divided into IR group and hepatic ischemic preconditioning (IPC) group, and each group was further divided into eight sub-groups (n=6). The model of partial liver ischemia/reperfusion was used. The rats were subjected to 60-minute liver ischemia, preceded by 10-minute preconditioning. After 0-, 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, 12-, 24-hour reperfusion, the serum and liver tissue in each group were collected to detect the level of serum ALT/AST, liver histopathology, expression of c-fos, and c-jun mRNA. Flow cytometer was used to detect Ki67 and Sub-G1 as the quantity indicators of cell regeneration and apoptosis respectively. RESULTS: Compared with IR group, IPC group showed a significantly lower ALT/AST level in 0.5-hour sub-group to 8-hour sub-group (P<0.05). Ki67 elevated significantly at 0.5, 1, 2 hours, but decreased significantly at 24 hours (P<0.05). Ap index decreased significantly after 1-hour reperfusion (P<0.05). Expressions of c-fos and c-jun mRNA were low, especially c-jun at 0.5, 1 and 2 hours after reperfusion. CONCLUSION: Ischemic preconditioning can protect liver cells against ischemia/reperfusion injury, and this protective effect may be related to influence transcription levels of c-fos and c-jun.