Advances in instruments and visualization tools as well as circulatory systems for cardiopulmonary bypass during the late 1990s have stimulated widespread adoption of minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS). Today, MIMVS is the standard approach for many surgeons and institutions. There are m...

The pathogenesis of device-associated infections is related to biofilm bacteria that exhibit distinct characteristics with respect to growth rate, structural features, and protection from host immune mechanisms and antimicrobial agents when compared with planktonic counterparts. Biof...

We investigated the forces required to remove thoracic epidural catheters to determine the effect of patient position on removal. Eighty-four patients undergoing open thoracotomy and thoracic patient-controlled epidural analgesia were enrolled. Catheterisation was performed under fluoroscopic guidan...

The objective of the article was to determine the effect of a technical assistant for venepuncture and i.v. cannulation on triage performance and patient length of stay in an ED. An observational study of daily ED performance was conducted at an inner city tertiary re...

This technical note describes lysis of adhesions in the epidural space with the use of a 5F vascular catheter inserted on a 0.35-inch guide passed through the sacral foramen. Commonly employed in the administration of anesthetics, a vascular catheter can be advantageously used in pla...

Whether the method of local anesthetic administration for continuous femoral nerve blocks--basal infusion versus repeated hourly bolus doses--influences block effects remains unknown. Bilateral femoral perineural catheters were inserted in volunteers (n = 11). Ropivac...

We showed that cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC), but not macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2), is detected in plasma after intratracheal challenge with LPS or the particular chemokines. To further understand the differences between CINC and MIP-2 flux from the lung, we attempt...

We hypothesized that hemodynamics and organ recovery would improve after biventricular, apical cannulation compared with right atrial cannulation. Between 2003 and 2009, we treated 31 patients (21 men, 10 women; mean age, of 43 ± 15 years) with a paracorporeal BiVAD (Thoratec BVAD,...

We report here a case of acute clinical pancreatitis developing within 24hours after a first selective TACE into the proper hepatic artery, with two peaks of hyperlypasemia, and intend to discuss its mechanism. Since it may clinically mimic a postembolization syndrome, dosage of serum pancreatic enz...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the mechanisms of arterial distensibility and intravascular pressure stability in normotensive and spontaneously hypertensive rats. The experiments were performed on the anesthetized male Wistar, Wistar-Kyoto (WKY...