OBJECTIVE: To review our long-term use of the thermo-expandable metallic ureteric stent, (model 051, PNN Medical, Denmark) for ureteric obstruction, and review current reports on its use. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected prospectively on all patients who had a Memokath 051 ureteric stent inserted between November 1996 and November ...

To evaluate medium-term technical and clinical success after endovascular treatment of stenosis or occlusion at the aortoiliac bifurcation with a distal aortic stent or kissing stents. Between 1995 and 2004, 25 patients were included in the study. Nine patients were treated with an aortic stent, and 16 patients were treated ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of low-dose MDCT for radiologic monitoring of patients who have undergone placement of bronchial stents for airway bypass. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In a prospective study, seven patients underwent MDCT according to a low-dose protocol (40 mAs, 120 kVp) before ...

BACKGROUND: The type of stent used for the management of patients with malignant dysphagia is chosen according to subjective physician's preference. There is no recent study available to provide updated evidence on early outcomes related to the use of different types of stents. METHODS: A literature search was performed using ...

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of transrenal ureteral occlusion with microcoils in patients with ureterovaginal fistulas METHODS: Five women (median age 44 years, range 26-51 years) with ureterovaginal fistulas were treated by transrenal ureteral occlusion with microcoils. The underlying diseases were uterine fibroids (n = 3), a primitive ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate long-term outcomes of patients receiving percutaneous stent placement for cancer recurrence at the anastomotic hepaticojejunostomy site after curative or palliative biliary surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen patients (mean age, 60.1 years; range, 43-81 years) who received stent placement for malignant biliary anastomotic recurrence were enrolled. The median ...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of temporary metallic stenting in 55 patients with treatment-resistant benign esophageal strictures and to identify factors associated with clinical outcomes. Under fluoroscopic guidance, covered retrievable stents were placed in 55 patients with benign esophageal strictures and were removed with retrieval ...

BACKGROUND: To analyze the outcomes of a series of endoscopically placed polyester self-expanding polyflex stents (SEPSs) for the management of anastomotic leaks after Roux-en-Y bypass. Anastomotic leaks after gastric bypass cause significant morbidity and mortality. Covered polyester SEPSs might have a role in the treatment of these leaks. METHODS: A ...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Biliary strictures are a major cause of morbidity following liver transplantation. In the present prospective comparative trial, we evaluated balloon dilation vs. balloon dilation plus stenting with regard to technical and clinical efficacy as well as complications. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 32 patients with ...

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to provide an accurate account of current practice of laryngeal mask airway (LMA) use within SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) and identify issues that could lead to constructive training for paramedics and improve clinical care and patient safety. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A clinical audit ...

BACKGROUND: Anastomotic leaks after colorectal operation continue to be a significant cause of morbidity. A covered endoluminal stent could seal a leak and eliminate the need for diversion. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of a temporary covered stent to prevent leak related complications. METHODS: Sixteen ...

OBJECTIVE: Endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) may facilitate insertion of self expandable metal stent (SEMS) and also help avert the development of pancreatitis from stent-related occlusion of the pancreatic duct. On the other hand, ES is also independently associated with pancreatitis, bleeding, and perforation. We evaluated whether ES before SEMS placement was ...

The experimental oral antiplatelet agent AZD6140 causes dyspnea in randomized trials. Whether clopidogrel may also cause dyspnea remains controversial. We sought to define the incidence and causes of dyspnea in a large post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) cohort based on open-labeled consecutive registry analysis of in-hospital charts and discharge diagnoses. Data ...

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of nitinol stenting of superficial femoral artery (SFA) lesions with a maximum length of 10 cm (TASC-II A or B) on 1-year outcomes compared to a historical study cohort from the Femoral Artery Stent Trial (FAST). METHODS: Between January 2004 and August 2005, 6 study ...

The aim of this study was to test the removability of fully covered self-expandable metal stents (FCSEMS) in patients with a benign common bile duct (CBD) stricture. A FCSEMS was inserted in six patients with a CBD stricture due to chronic pancreatitis who were considered to be unfit for surgery, ...

BACKGROUND: Benign and postoperative anastomotic esophageal strictures remain a common problem in the management of esophageal diseases and cancer. Repeated dilation remains the most common treatment algorithm. Esophageal stenting with a removable plastic stent is another option. This study evaluated the dysphagia effects and cost of removable silicone stents in ...

HYPOTHESIS: Although total gastrectomy (TG) has been generally accepted as the treatment of choice for upper and middle gastric cancers, some issues are still debated. The objective of this retrospective study was to analyze short- and long-term results of TG (radical and palliative) in a series of 400 patients consecutively ...

AIM: Thoracic endografting is a very attractive therapeutic approach for thoracic aorta pathologies. Still some technological limitations need to be solved. Relay represents a new endograft specifically designed for thoracic aorta. The two-year clinical outcomes are presented. METHODS: RESTORE is a multicenter, European, prospective and monitored clinical registry. Patients with ...

OBJECTIVES: To describe our laparoscopic technique of ureterolysis and omental wrapping using the LigaSure device for the treatment of idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis. METHODS: Four bilateral laparoscopic ureterolyses (LUs) and two unilateral LUs were performed in 6 male patients (mean age 47 years). Of the 6 patients, 4 underwent LU without ...

We evaluated the long-term results of recanalization with primary stenting for patients with long and complex iliac artery occlusions. This was a retrospective nonrandomised study. Between 1995 and 1999, 138 patients underwent recanalization of an occluded iliac artery with subsequent stenting. Patency results were calculated using Kaplan-Meier analysis. The mean ...

PURPOSE: To investigate the technical and clinical efficacy of a retrievable stent-graft in the treatment of benign biliary strictures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From February 2004 to December 2006, 29 patients with 32 benign biliary strictures (17 patients with 18 chronic cholangitis strictures and 12 with 14 postoperative strictures) were enrolled ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We sought to compare the clinical outcomes between primary angioplasty and stent placement for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and angiographic data of 190 patients treated with 95 primary angioplasty procedures and 98 intracranial stent placements (total of 193 procedures) in 3 tertiary ...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Stent migration occurs in about 5-10% of patients undergoing biliary stenting. The aim of this study was to analyze the risk factors for stent migration in patients with benign and malignant strictures. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed records of 524 biliary plastic stent placement procedures. ...

BACKGROUND: Acute bleeding from nontreated esophageal varices is associated with a mortality rate of 30% to 50%. Various pharmacologic and interventional methods to stop acute bleeding are available. However, for 10% to 20% of patients, therapy fails to stop the bleeding. This study aimed to assess the SX-ELLA Stent Danis ...

The objective of this study is to describe a single-center experience of caval thrombectomy in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and tumor thrombus extension into the inferior vena cava (IVC). We retrospectively reviewed 23 patients undergoing radical nephrectomy with caval thrombectomy. Follow-up included an office visit and computed tomography ...

PURPOSE: To compare objective fellow and expert efficiency indices for an interventional radiology renal artery stenosis skill set with the use of a high-fidelity simulator. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Mentice VIST simulator was used for three different renal artery stenosis simulations of varying difficulty, which were used to grade performance. ...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term outcomes of a percutaneous transhepatic approach in benign bilioenteric anastomoses with calibration of the stenosis to 15 F and extended internal/external drainage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between February 2000 and May 2007, the efficacy of this percutaneous transhepatic procedure was retrospectively studied in 39 patients with ...

OBJECTIVE: Review of our experience in the management of pediatric tracheal stenosis using endoscopic techniques and self-expanding intraluminal stents. METHODS: Thirteen children (aged 1 week to 14 years) with various causes of tracheal stenosis were treated. A total of 15 stents were used, 13 self-expanding nitinol stents and 3 silicone ...

OBJECTIVES: Percutaneous coronary intervention of unprotected left main (ULM) stenosis is increasing despite surgical revascularisation being the recommended treatment by the current guidelines. We compared the 30-day and 9-month mortality after ULM stenting with the predicted surgical outcome as determined by the EuroSCORE. METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 81 consecutive ...

PURPOSE: To compare the outcome of tubeless percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) with small-bore nephrostomy drainage after PCNL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We tested the hypothesis that tubeless PCNL is superior to small-bore nephrostomy drainage after PCNL in terms of postoperative pain, analgesic requirement, and hospital stay. To show a 10% difference in ...

The authors report their experience in treating a group of 6 high-risk patients with severe bilateral carotid disease by carotid artery stenting in a single session. The patients were men aged 53 to 83 years. All had bilateral, synchronous, symptomatic ischemic disease. Five of the 6 patients had severe bilateral ...

The incidence of adenocarcinoma of the esophago-gastric junction is constantly increasing. Curative treatment is no longer possible at the time of diagnosis in more than 50% of patients with esophageal carcinoma, and palliative treatment focusing on eliminating dysphagia is required. Endoscopic therapy with stent implantation is an established method of ...

PURPOSE: The authors hypothesized that internally covered stents can reduce the rates of stent migration or mucous retention. The authors performed this study to report their experience with use of a retrievable metallic stent internally coated with silicone in patients with benign or malignant central airway obstructions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ...

This report summarizes the 30-day and 12-month results of endovascular treatment using the Medtronic Vascular Talent Thoracic Stent Graft System (Medtronic Vascular, Santa Rosa, Calif) for patients with thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) who are considered candidates for open surgical repair. The study was a prospective, nonrandomized, multicenter, pivotal trial conducted ...

Common femoral artery (CFA) endarterectomy with iliac stenting or stent grafting can be an alternative to traditional open surgery in patients with aortoiliac occlusive disease. We report the long-term outcomes of this approach. Patients undergoing CFA endarterectomy with simultaneous iliac stenting/stent grafting between 1997 and 2006 were retrospectively reviewed. Technical ...

BACKGROUND: Vertebrobasilar artery stenosis is an important cause of ischemic posterior circulation strokes. This study aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of treatment including conservative therapy alone and conservative plus endovascular therapy for elderly patients with symptomatic vertebrobasilar artery stenosis. METHODS: Patients older than 60 years with symptomatic vertebrobasilar ...

AIMS: To re-audit national radiotherapy practice in head and neck cancer to assess the effect of new guidelines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A two-part electronic audit assessing departmental policies and the management of interruptions was carried out from April to June 2005. All patients commencing treatment within this audit period were ...

BACKGROUND: The treatment of nostril stenosis is difficult. The aim is to restore facial profile and balance and an adequate airway that is not prone to restenosis. METHODS: Fourteen patients with an age distribution of 18 months to 71 years are presented. The management of the patients involved a surgical ...

PURPOSE: To develop and prospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of an algorithm for tailoring neuroprotection devices (NPD) and stent types to the patient/lesion in carotid artery stenting (CAS). METHODS: From November 2002 to October 2007, 499 patients (360 men; mean age 65.2+/-8.4 years, range 36-88) were prospectively enrolled in ...

PURPOSE: A metallic stent for tracheobronchial stenosis provides a possible solution for poststenting complications such as sputum retention. We describe our experience with a novel anatomy-conforming metal stent placement at the carina. DESCRIPTION: A windowed stent was designed to match the tracheobronchial anatomy. The lateral window was used as a ...

OBJECT: The use of intracranial stents in stent-assisted coil embolization is now a current neurosurgical practice worldwide. The clinical utility of these stents in the sole stenting (SS) technique, however, has not been thoroughly described, and the published reports of this experience are scarce. This study was designed to evaluate ...

BACKGROUND: The new generation of expandable plastic esophageal stents (Polyflex; Boston Scientific, Natick, MA), combine the features of plastic and self-expanding metallic stents. The main objective of this study is to evaluate our initial experience with Polyflex expandable stents in the treatment of esophageal disease from two institutions. METHODS: A ...

Carotid stenting has been in evolution for the past 15 years. Initially limited by a lack of dedicated equipment, pivotal trials using both dedicated stent technology and embolic protection filters in patients at high risk for surgical endarterectomy have been largely completed, and results have compared favorably to both direct ...

Introduction: Many patients present for aortocoronary bypass (ACB) surgery having had previous coronary artery stent placement. Existing literature suggests that previous stent placement is associated with increased mortality after ACB surgery, possibly because of stent-induced endothelial injury, reduced collateral blood flow, or greater technical difficultly.1;2 The objective of this study ...

For treatment of complex superficial femoral artery lesions, suitable stent devices are required. The present study details the first long-term results with the long EverFlex nitinol stent. Forty-one EverFlex stents were implanted in 32 patients with either superficial femoral artery occlusions (n = 20) or stenoses (n = 12); mean ...

This article reports two cases of dilatative percutaneous tracheostomy performed on patients treated with double antiplatelet therapy. Both patients had cardiac arrest following myocardial infarction. After primary angioplasty with stent placement, a double antiplatelet therapy was started. Due to poor neurological outcome, dilatative percutaneous tracheostomy was performed on both patients. ...

Conduit obstruction is increasingly recognized as a complication of the Sano modified Norwood procedure. We report our experience with stent placement to ameliorate conduit stenoses and prevent premature surgical intervention. Records for all patients having undergone a Sano modified Norwood between September 2003 and December 2006 were reviewed. All patients ...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the long-term outcomes of treatment of symptomatic intracranial stenosis using primary angioplasty or stent placement. Both primary angioplasty and stent placement have been proposed as treatment modalities, but long-term outcome comparisons are not available. METHODS: We determined rates of technical success and rates of major stroke, second ...

BACKGROUNDS AND AIMS: Self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) have been used as a palliative treatment for malignant colorectal obstruction. However, the reports about primary stent patency rate and associated factors have been limited. This study was performed to evaluate clinical outcomes and factors associated with long-term complications and patency of SEMS ...

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic oesophageal stent insertion is a widely used procedure to alleviate dysphagia caused by malignant strictures of the oesophagus and gastric cardia. It can, however, be associated with significant complications, mortality and morbidity. Aim and method: This retrospective case note study was undertaken to assess success rates, complications and ...