Faculty Bibliography

In a previous study we have shown that perioperative monitoring for silent myocardial ischemia can noninvasively identify those patients undergoing peripheral vascular surgery who are at significantly increased risk for perioperative myocardial infarction. In the present study a group of 385 patients undergoing peripheral vascular surgery was studied long-term as well as short-term to determine whether perioperative monitoring for silent ischemia can identify those patients who are at significantly increased risk of late cardiac death or late cardiac complications as well as those patients at increased risk of perioperative myocardial infarction. All patients were monitored before, during, and after operation and were divided into two groups on the basis of results of monitoring: patients whose total duration of silent ischemia as a percentage of the total duration of perioperative monitoring was 1% or greater (group I, n = 120) and those for whom this value was less than 1% (group II, n = 265). Among patients in group I 13.3% (16 of 120) suffered a perioperative myocardial infarction in contrast to only 1.1% (3 of 265) patients in group II (p less than 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis of preoperative and perioperative characteristics showed that the presence of a total perioperative percent time ischemic 1% or greater and age were the only significant predictors of perioperative myocardial infarction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To determine the accuracy of magnetic resonance angiography in assessing patients with cerebrovascular disease, we performed a study comparing the results of conventional cerebral angiography, duplex scanning, and magnetic resonance angiography. METHODS: From 42 patients, a total of 25 carotid arteries were evaluated by all three techniques. The studies were independently read and sorted into five categories according to the degree of stenosis: 0-15%, normal; 16-49%, mild; 50-79%, moderate; 80-99%, severe; and totally occluded. RESULTS: Magnetic resonance angiography correlated exactly with conventional angiography in 39 arteries (52%); duplex scanning correlated with conventional angiography in 49 cases (65%). Compared with conventional angiography, both magnetic resonance angiography and duplex scanning tended to overread the degree of stenosis. The most critical errors associated with magnetic resonance angiography were three readings of total occlusion in vessels found to be patent on conventional angiograms. CONCLUSIONS: Although magnetic resonance angiography offers great hope of providing high-quality imaging of the carotid artery with no risk and at less cost, data from this study suggest that misreading the degree of stenosis, or misinterpreting a stenosis for an occlusion, could lead to errors in clinical decisions. Guidelines for use of magnetic resonance angiography in a clinical setting are offered

The development of aneurysmal disease involving the rarely encountered celiomesenteric anomaly is extremely unusual. Aneurysmal disease of the celiac or superior mesenteric arteries is itself an extremely uncommon finding, accounting for less than 10% of all visceral artery aneurysms. The existence of aneurysmal disease involving a celiomesenteric anomaly has been alluded to only briefly in two previous clinical reports. We review the case of a young woman with aneurysmal disease involving a common celiomesenteric trunk. The patient underwent excision of the aneurysm with successful vascular reconstruction. Although extremely unusual, the development of this extremely rare lesion can be predicted on the basis of specific etiologic theories. Variations in the patterns of embryologic formation of the visceral arteries account for the development of celiomesenteric anomalies, whereas atherosclerosis, medial degeneration, and infection lead to the development of most visceral aneurysms. Surgical treatment of celiac or mesenteric aneurysms is almost always indicated. Awareness of potential vascular anomalies and patterns of collateral circulation are necessary for appropriate surgical intervention

Four of 32 reported sarcomas related to the aorta have arisen around previously placed aortic vascular prostheses suggesting that the graft may have been an etiologic factor. Our recent experience with such an angiosarcoma arising around a Dacron aortic graft prompted a review of the lesion to identify risk factors, diagnostic approaches, and treatment options. The diagnosis of these sarcomas is seldom made before operation. Animal studies have implicated plastic polymers including Dacron as carcinogenic materials capable of inducing sarcoma in 7% to 50% of exposures. Because of the rarity of these tumors and the thousands of vascular implants used over the past 30 years, it is unlikely that this degree of risk can be extrapolated to humans. However, a tumor should be included in the differential diagnosis of any mass or thromboembolic event associated with a vascular prosthesis

From a registry of 2406 carotid endarterectomies performed on 1818 patients over a 19-year period, 29 patients (1.6%) underwent reoperations for recurrent stenosis. Reoperations were performed for symptomatic stenosis for 23 and asymptomatic greater than 80% stenosis for six patients. Compared to the entire series, there was no difference in the incidence of restenosis for men and women. The pathologic findings were myointimal hyperplasia in 27%, atherosclerosis in 53%, thrombus with vessel dilatation in 17% and extrinsic scar in 3%. Redo endarterectomy with patch angioplasty was used for reconstruction in 27 patients and patch angioplasty alone in two. There were no operative deaths or strokes. Late follow-up (mean 50 months) revealed only one stroke and six other deaths. Although 21 (75%) were alive and stroke-free, follow-up studies suggest a high incidence (21%) of tertiary lesions among patients who have undergone redo endarterectomy for recurrent stenosis

Since 1964 we have performed 136 vertebral artery reconstructions representing 4% of all operations on extracranial cerebral arteries by our staff. Fifteen of our patients were under age 55 years and had symptoms of dizziness, bilateral visual disturbances, ataxia, presyncopal episodes, and occasionally localized extremity weakness. Dizziness, often severe and incapacitating, has been the most common and consistent symptom. The diagnosis of vertebral artery lesions was made using aortic arch four-vessel cerebral arteriography. Operations were performed for severely obstructing bilateral vertebral artery lesions and included only unilateral vertebral vein patch angioplasty with or without suture plication of the artery in 13 patients. Unilateral carotid vertebral bypass was performed in one patient and unilateral vertebral reimplantation to the carotid in another. Follow-up averaged 8.9 years, ranging from ten months to 20 years. Eleven of 15 patients have remained asymptomatic and without strokes. Recurrent dizziness was present in three, two of whom had vertebral arteriography showing patent vertebral reconstructions. Another had a stroke related to the anterior circulation in follow-up at nine years. Atherosclerotic obstruction of vertebral arteries does occur in patients in the preatherosclerotic age group. Even atypical symptoms suggestive of vertebrobasilar insufficiency may be associated with isolated correctable bilateral flow-impeding vertebral lesions. These symptoms warrant evaluation with cardiac neurological and cerebrovascular studies. Vertebral angioplasty relieves symptoms and the incidence of stroke during follow-up is low

Fifty patients underwent 2DFT time-of-flight MR angiography and intraarterial contrast angiography for evaluation of possible carotid atherosclerotic disease. The MR angiography technique employed contiguous axial flow-sensitive (short TR/TE) slices that were reformatted and postprocessed by using a maximum-intensity projection algorithm to provide 16 angiographic views of the carotid arteries. Both studies were independently reviewed by two observers in a blinded manner. Carotid arteries were categorized as normal, mildly stenotic, moderately stenotic, severely stenotic, or occluded. For the 94 carotid arteries available for review, one observer reported a 70% agreement between the two techniques and the second observer reported a 56% agreement (p = .0001). The best correlation was in the severely stenotic category and the worst was in the occluded category. Agreement between observers was 67% for MR angiography and 72% for contrast angiography, which was similar to that between the two techniques. Although not all carotid atherosclerotic disease was visualized equally well, 2DFT time-of-flight MR angiography had a good overall correlation with the 'gold standard' of intraarterial contrast angiography, supporting its use as a screening technique. While further improvements are needed, use of MR angiography as the primary diagnostic tool for many patients with suspected carotid stenosis should continue to increase

Carotidynia is a syndrome of pain in the neck and face accompanied by local tenderness of the carotid artery. The symptoms are often misdiagnosed due to similarities with more common syndromes involving the cervical region. Spontaneous remission is common; more severe cases generally respond to anti-inflammatory medication or prophylactic drugs used for migraine. A case of severe carotidynia, unassociated with migraine is reported. Failure to respond to medical therapy led to surgical denervation of the carotid bulb. The immediate relief of symptoms following surgery confirms earlier observations regarding the mechanism of the symptoms. In severe cases of carotidynia, surgical denervation of the carotid artery may be indicated if medical therapy has failed

Reluctance to use saphenous vein (SV) for patch closure of the carotid arteriotomy is due in part to the concern of vascular surgeons that the SV should be preserved for possible future coronary or lower extremity reconstruction. Even among those who favour vein patch closure of the arteriotomy for improved immediate and late results, an effort has been made to use the ankle portion of the SV, preserving the upper, larger segment for later surgery. Recent reports of rupture of the patches formed from ankle SV and a study showing a decrease in strength of the ankle segment of vein, raised the question of the importance of trying to preserve the proximal SV and the impact of use of this segment in those patients requiring secondary vascular procedures. We reviewed 134 consecutive carotid patients from 1981 who had proximal SV harvested for patch angioplasty. Of those 122 were available (mean 44.9 months). Thirteen had secondary vascular procedures. Adequate saphenous vein was available in twelve. We conclude from this study that (1) less than 15% of patients undergoing carotid surgery will require a secondary vascular surgery within 5 years and (2) harvesting SV from the thigh rarely compromises future revascularisation