Traumatic aneurysms of the descending thoracic aorta

From July 1979 to December 1985 we observed 51 patients with traumatic lesions of the descending thoracic aorta. Twenty-nine had acute ruptures, mostly accompanied by multiple injuries, and 27 had to be operated upon immediately. Twenty-two patients (19 males, 3 females) had chronic traumatic aneurysms of the descending thoracic aorta (more than six weeks after trauma). Mean age at the time of trauma was 24 years. Mean age at time of surgery was 36.5 years. Twelve patients were symptomatic. All were treated surgically. At surgery, complete aortic disruption was found in 15 patients and partial rupture in seven. We did not use aortic shunting of any kind, only aortic cross-clamping. Hypertension was controlled by intravenous drug infusion. The ruptured aortic segment was replaced in all cases by prosthetic Dacron graft. There were no operative deaths. One patient (age 77) died 11 weeks after surgery from multiple organ failure. One case of postoperative paraplegia was observed. This patient recovered almost completely from his neurological deficit.     

Detection of stenoses in the internal carotid artery by waveform analysis of continuous wave ultrasound signals (II)

Analysis of the morphological aspects of continuous-wave Doppler examination is a reliable means of detecting carotid stenosis involving 50% or more of the diameter of the arterial lumen. This study was undertaken to evaluate the indexes likely to increase the diagnostic accuracy of this noninvasive investigation method. The indexes studied were the variations of the maximal frequency and the systolic peak frequencies, measured proximal to and at the level of stenosis, and the ratio of the systolic peak frequency measured in the internal carotid artery and in the common carotid artery. After obtaining data on an experimental model, the study was conducted in healthy volunteers (n = 24) and in patients with carotid atherosclerotic disease (n = 23). The experimental study confirmed that stenosis greater than 50% leads to a reduction of blood flow and that there is a mathematical relationship between the frequency measured proximal to and at the level of the stenosis and the degree of stenosis. Clinical data showed that there was a significant decrease in the frequency of the systolic peak in elderly "healthy" subjects as compared with younger subjects. However there was no difference between patients with and without stenosis. The index was 0.8 in young subjects, 1.3 in healthy elderly subjects, and greater than 1.3 in subjects who had a stenosis. There was no statistically significant difference between these two last groups. At the threshold value of 2.3, the sensitivity of the FI index was 22% and the specificity was 94% in the detection of carotid artery stenosis. In the assessment of the tight stenosis, sensitivity was 44%.     

Penetration of teniposide (VM-26) into human intracerebral tumors

Thirty-four consenting patients received VM-26 50–100 mg/m² I.V. before surgical resection of intracerebral tumor, and drug was measured using a high pressure liquid chromatographic technique. Sufficient tumor for analysis was obtained from 29 patients. Brain metastases (13 patients) had higher concentrations of V M-26 than did gliomas (13 patients). Concentrations were comparable in brain metastases and meningiomas (3 patients). Prolonged (24 h) infusion of V M-26 did not appear to result in higher tumor drug concentrations in 5 patients than did rapid (1 h) infusion in 24 patients. Pretreatment with Amphotericin-B 10 mg/m² 12 h and 1 h before VM-26 did not appear to have any effect on VM-26 uptake into 4 intracerebral tumors, although data were limited, and VM-26 concentrations were very high in 1 metastasis. Pretreatment with oral glycerol 500 mg/kg 18 h, 12 h, 6 h, and immediately before I.V. VM-26 may have resulted in increased penetration of VM-26 into 9 tumors, although confirmation is required. Amphotericin-B, glycerol, and operative conditions did not appear to alter VM-26 plasma pharmacokinetics.VM-26 4-demethylepipodophyllotoxin 9-(4-6-O-thenylidene-B-D-glucopyranoside) - VP-16 4-demethylepipodophyllotoxin 9-(4-6-O-ethylidene-B-D-glucopyranoside) Presented in Part at the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, San Diego, California, May 25–28, 183(1).     

Comparison of efficacy and safety of daily oral L-arginine and PDE5Is alone or combination in treating erectile dysfunction: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

The meta-analysis was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of daily oral L-arginine and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE5Is) alone or combination in treating patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). We performed a search of randomised controlled trials in the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases. Four articles including 373 patients were studied. Erectile functions were significantly improved in three therapy groups compared with baseline. Patients who received the combination of L-arginine and PDE5Is showed significant improvement compared to those treated with L-arginine and PDE5Is alone, as assessed by sexual function index (p <0.00001 and p =0.005, respectively) and total testosterone (p <0.00001 and p =0.0007, respectively). Furthermore, patients who treated with PDE5Is alone exhibited the better efficacy than those treated with L-arginine alone in respects of sexual function index (p <0.00001) and total testosterone (p =0.0001). However, the combination of L-arginine and PDE5Is had no obvious difference relative to PDE5Is alone in terms of various adverse events (AEs). Conclusively, compared with monotherapy, the combination of L-arginine and PDE5Is showed a greater improvement of sexual function and total testosterone, and did not significantly increase the AEs. Besides, PDE5Is alone revealed a better effect than those treated with L-arginine alone for patients with ED.     

Metastatic embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the breast: A case report and literature review

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a common malignancy in children, but embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) deposits rarely occur in the breast in adults. Therefore, little is known about magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of breast metastases from RMS, especially the embryonal type. We reported a case of a 22-year-old woman who was diagnosed with ERMS at left foot 2 years ago and accepted operation and chemotherapy. She was confirmed to have breast metastases from the left foot. Successive imaging examinations were performed 3 months apart. Breast ultrasound indicated a benign lesion, and further examination did not reveal any bone metastases. However, predominant restricted diffusion and rim contrast enhancement on MRI combined with the patient's medical history suggested a malignancy of BI-RADS 5. After 3 months, breast ultrasound revealed masses detected last time became larger and lobulated. In addition, internal heterogeneous intensity and rim contrast enhancement with restricted diffusion were revealed on MRI. We speculated that typical MRI findings of breast metastases from RMS may include iso- to hypointensity on T1WI, heterogeneous hyperintensity on T2WI, and circular enhancement with restricted diffusion. Moreover, mild peritumoral edema, rapid expansion of necrosis, and ascending time-intensity curve detected on MRI may be features of the ERMS type.     

Comparison of multiple oncotype DX® from the same patient

For women with breast cancer in whom multiple Oncotype DX^® Recurrence Scores (RS) are obtained, RS concordance utilizing current NCCN recommendations has not been evaluated. Patients with two or more RS were identified. RS were stratified by NCCN guidelines and compared for concordance. Twenty-four patients were evaluated. RS concordance varied by tumor type: 100% in the same tumor, 91.7% in multiple ipsilateral tumors, 71.4% in contralateral tumors, and 66.7% in in-breast recurrent tumors. RS concordance for multiple assays in the same patient is not high enough to omit Oncotype DX^® testing for each tumor.     

Skin angiography assisted mastectomy in secondary breast angiosarcoma: Complete clinical response after neoadjuvant immunotherapy

Radiation-induced breast angiosarcoma, or secondary angiosarcoma (SAS), is a rare entity with a high risk of metastatic recurrence. Herein, we describe the use of intraoperative fluorescence-based skin angiography to guide surgical resection following a novel immunotherapy-based regimen for SAS resulting in a complete pathological response.