Influence of use of a vascular closure device on incidence and surgical management of access site complications after percutaneous interventions.

AIM: The study aimed to evaluate vascular access site complications (ASCs) after percutaneous interventions (PIs) in our institution for changes in annual incidence and surgical management after increased usage of a vascular closure device (VCD; in all cases: Angioseal™). MATERIAL AND METHODS: All patients who underwent repair of arterial pseudo-aneurysms or access site stenosis/occlusion leading to leg ischaemia (LI) or new-onset disabling claudication (CI) after PIs between 2001 and 2008 were included. Annual rates of procedures and methods of repair of ASC were evaluated. RESULTS: After a total of 58 453 PIs, 352 patients (0.6%) were operated on for: pseudo-aneurysms (n = 300; 0.51%); and local stenosis/occlusion leading to LI/CI (n = 52; 0.09%). Numbers increased significantly with more widespread VCD use: group A (2001-2004: 2860 VCDs; 28 284 PIs; 10.1%): n = 132 (0.47%); and group B (2005-2008: 11,660 VCDs; 30,169 PIs; 38.6%): n = 220 (0.73%) (p < 0.001). In contrast to similar rates of pseudo-aneurysms (group A: n = 124; 0.44%; group B: n = 176; 0.58%; not significant), a significant increase of operations for local stenoses/occlusions was seen with widespread VCD use: n = 8 versus n = 44 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In the era of VCDs, complications are rare. However, use of these devices is not without complications, and may require complex reconstructions.

[The tinnitus questionnaire. A standard instrument for grading the degree of tinnitus. Results of a multicenter study with the tinnitus questionnaire]. / Tinnitus-Fragebogen (TF). Standardinstrument zur Graduierung des Tinnitusschweregrades. Ergebnisse einer Multicenterstudie mit dem Tinnitus-Fragebogen (TF).

The clinical examination of patients with severe and chronic tinnitus must include associated psychological disturbances. The present paper describes traditional diagnostic methods of ENT practice as well as the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ) which has been evaluated in a number of studies. This instrument differentiates between emotional and cognitive distress, auditory perceptual difficulties and self-experienced intrusiveness produced by the tinnitus. The results of a German multicenter study are presented which show that the TQ can be used to demonstrate differences of tinnitus distress under different clinical conditions (e.g., ENT clinic vs psychosomatic clinic and in- vs out-patient care). The TQ can be employed for comparative studies in different tinnitus-related institutions and for the evaluation of the relative effects of different treatment approaches.

[New aspects of complex chronic tinnitus. I: Assessment of a multi-modality behavioral medicine treatment concept]. / Neue Aspekte des komplexen chronischen Tinnitus. Teil I: Uberprüfung eines multimodalen verhaltensmedizinischen Behandlungskonzeptes.

"Complex tinnitus" is a diagnostic term denoting a disturbance pattern where the patient hears highly annoying and painful noises or sounds that do not originate from a recognisable external source and can be described only by the patient himself. It seems that the suffering mainly depends upon the extent to which the tinnitus is experienced as a phenomenon that is beyond control. Part I reports on an examination of the treatment success achieved with 28 consecutive patients who had been treated according to an integrative multimodal behavioural medicine concept. This resulted--despite continual loudness--in a decrease in the degree of unpleasantness of the tinnitus, by 17% (p less than 0.01) with corresponding normalisation of decisive symptom factors in Hopkins Symptom-Check-List (SCL-90-R) and Freiburg Personality-Inventary (FPI-R). On the whole, 19 out of the total of 28 patients showed essential to marked improvement of the disturbance pattern. Part II presents a multidimensional tinnitus model and the essential psychotherapeutic focal points of a multimodal psychotherapy concept in complex chronic tinnitus, as well as the parallel phenomena in the chronic pain syndrome.

Assessment of periodontal disease and dental caries in a population survey using the CPITN, GPM/T and DMF/T indices.

2263 randomly selected subjects, aged 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, and greater than 64 yr, were assessed for periodontal status, caries status and treatment needs using the Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPITN), the ratio of Gingivitis: Periodontitis: Missing teeth (GPM/T index) and the DMF/T index. The advantages of full mouth examination were compared to partial recordings. The CPITN underestimated deep pocketing especially in older age groups and in younger groups overestimated the need for scaling. Although the mean GPM/T number of periodontally affected teeth is in the range of 9-13 teeth and stable throughout the age groups there were age-dependent high risk groups for developing shallow pocketing (20-24 yr) and deep pocketing (45-54 yr), whereas adolescents were at high caries risk. The increase in the number of missing teeth was dramatic after the age of 54 yr only one decade after the high risk age for deep pathologic pockets.