Radiodermatitis afer heart catheterization

INCREASING INCIDENCE: The development of new interventional techniques in radiology, particularly angioplasty of the coronary arteries, has lead to a rise in the incidence of radioderimitis. Clinical presentations vary from skin rash to necrosis and chronic ulceration. Telangiectasic atrophy and poikilodermitis are also observed. CASE REPORTS IN THE LITERATURE: Twenty-three cases of radiodermitis after cardiac catheterism have been reported in the literature. Mean delay to onset after the first radiology examination varies from 15 days to 10 years. TO REDUCE THE RISK: The main risk factor is a long duration of scopy using the same incidence. Use of older non-digitalized radiology machines also increases the risk. Physicians performing endovascular procedures should be aware of the risk of radiodermitis after angioplasy and implement radioprotective measures. RETROSPECTIVE DIAGNOSIS: Patients who develop localized pigmentation disorders and/or telangiectasies should be questioned concerning prior, often forgotten, radiology examinations.     

Urgent device retrieval using partial left heart bypass

Percutaneous cardiovascular device implantation plays an important and increasing role in the treatment of congenital heart disease. Device related complications of malposition and embolisation are uncommon and can usually be retrieved by catheter. We present two interesting cases in which migrated devices resulted in thoracic aortic obstruction; both were refractory to percutaneous retrieval. Device retrieval was achieved by thoracotomy and utilising partial left heart bypass because of specific concerns of distal perfusion. Our experience is presented.     

Chronic left heart catheterization for microvascular blood flow determination in the rabbit: a minimally invasive technique using specially designed port devices.

BACKGROUND: This study describes a modified catheterization technique with subcutaneously implanted port catheters to be inserted in a retrograde manner across the aortic valve into the left heart ventricle through the right carotid artery to measure organ perfusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The specially designed arterial port catheters were implanted in New Zealand rabbits (n = 11, 3.7 +/- 0.1 kg [mean +/- SEM]) under iv anesthesia (medetomidine/ketamine) and single-shot perioperative antibiotic therapy. Hemodynamics were registered continuously during the operation via an ear artery catheter. RESULTS: Implantation of ports was performed in all animals (11/11) without major complications (mean operation time: 70 +/- 3 min). We did not observe catheter-associated arrhythmia, fall in mean arterial pressure (MAP before and post OP: 70 +/- 2 and 68 +/- 2 Torr, respectively), or change in arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2 before and post OP: 89 +/- 3 and 95 +/- 2%, respectively). With a specifically modified microsurgical insertion technique, cerebral blood supply was effectively preserved as evidenced from postmortem histological examinations, cerebral blood flow determination with fluorescent microspheres, and measurement of S-100b protein serum concentrations, a specific marker of neuronal damage. The positioning of the catheter tip in the left ventricle was found to be correct in 10/11 animals. CONCLUSIONS: Repeated and atraumatic microsphere injections into the left ventricle have become feasible by transcutaneous puncture of subcutaneous port systems over several weeks under light sedation. Hence, this new approach (i) avoids the necessity of repeated intracardiac injections and port insertions via thoracotomy, thus reducing the perioperative stress for the animals, and (ii) allows for the first time minimally invasive repetitive and chronic measurements of regional organ blood flow under various experimental settings.