SciCombinator

To investigate whether oral fluoroquinolone use is associated with an increased risk of aortic aneurysm or dissection.

Takayasu’s arteritis is an inflammatory arteriopathy which involves the aorta and its major branches, causing mainly stenosis of their lumen, though aneurysmal lesions can also occur. A young female with Takayasu’s disease presented to our hospital with acute lung oedema due to severe aortic insufficiency and ascending aorta dilatation. She had already undergone distal ascending aorta and hemiarch replacement due to Standford type A aortic dissection five years ago. The patient had also undergone reconstruction of abdominal arteries' stenoses with extraanatomical bypass. We performed a Bentall procedure with a valved conduit and implantation of the coronary ostia as buttons on the conduit. A mechanical valved graft was used instead of a bioprosthesis, due to possible early degradation of a bioprosthesis. The postoperative course was uneventful and the one year follow-up was normal. Valve-sparing aortic root replacement should be avoided in Takayasu’s arteritis due to high rate of recurrent regurgitation.

-This project by the International Consortium of Vascular Registries, a collaboration of 11 vascular surgical quality registries, was designed to evaluate international variation in the contemporary management of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with relation to recommended treatment guidelines from the Society for Vascular Surgery and the European Society for Vascular Surgery.

Thoracic aortic aneurysm is usually a clinically silent disease; timely detection is largely dependent upon identification of clinical markers of thoracic aortic disease (TAD); (bicuspid aortic valve, intracranial aortic aneurysm, bovine aortic arch, or positive family history). Recently, an association of simple renal cysts (SRC) with abdominal aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection was established. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of SRC in patients with TAD in order to assess whether the presence of SRC can be used as a predictor of TAD.

Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a multisystemic hereditary connective tissue disease. Aortic root aneurysms and dissections are the most common and life-threatening cardiovascular disorders affecting these patients. Other cardiac manifestations include mitral valve prolapse, ventricular dysfunction and arrhythmias. Medical treatment of cardiovascular features is ultimately aimed at slowing down aortic root growth rate and preventing dissection. Losartan has been proposed as a new therapeutic tool for this purpose. To which extent losartan affects cardiac function has not been studied previously.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a pathological condition characterized by an abnormal, localized dilatation of the lower part of the aorta. Due to a lack of data on the natural history of AAA and risk of death from other cardiovascular diseases attributable to AAA, the true number of AAA-attributable deaths may be higher than currently estimated. This study aims to produce more realistic estimates of the burden of AAA.

OBJECTIVESThe effect of the lunar cycle and seasonal variation on ascending aortic dissection surgery outcomes is unknown. We investigated these temporal effects on risk-adjusted hospital mortality and then on the length of stay (LOS) following surgery for survivors.METHODSWe examined prospectively collected data from cardiac operations at two major centres within a single state between January 1996 and December 2011. We first examined the relationship between the lunar cycle and seasonal variation, along with demographic and risk profile covariates, with mortality using univariate analyses, followed by multiple logistic regression modelling that controlled for demographic and patient risk variables including age, gender, risk profile (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and renal failure), and two surgical groups: Group A, consisting of patients having repair of ascending aorta dissection repair only, and Group B, with those having ascending aorta repair plus aortic valve surgery or coronary bypass surgery or both. We further examined the relationship with LOS using both univariate and multiple regression analyses.RESULTSThere were 210 patients who had repair of dissection in the study period, with 109 patients in Group A and 101 in Group B. The average age of this sample was 59.5 (standard deviation = 16.0), 65.7% were male and 18.1% died prior to discharge following repair. The greatest percentage of deaths occurred in winter (31.6%, n = 12), while the least were in summer (21.1%, n = 8) and fall (21.1%, n = 8). An overall χ(2) test found there was no difference in mortality for season (P = 0.55). Univariate analyses also found the age of patients who died vs lived was significantly higher (65.9 vs 58.1 years; P = 0.001), and a significantly greater (P = 0.029) percentage of patients with diabetes vs without diabetes died (41.7 vs 16.7%). Univariate analyses found all other covariates were not significantly related to mortality. In the multiple logistic regression model, there was no significant effect for season, while the odds of dying increased with age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.04, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.01-1.07, P = 0.012), and the odds of dying in the full-moon cycle vs the new moon cycle was significantly reduced (OR = 0.21, 95% CI = 0.05-0.81, P = 0.024). No other covariate significantly increased or decreased the odds of death, including diabetes risk, which had been significantly related to death in the univariate analysis. Within a linear regression model that examined the relationship with LOS, Group B (P = 0.020), male sex (P = 0.036) and the full-moon lunar phase (P = 0.001) were significantly related to shorter LOS.CONCLUSIONSSeason had no effect on mortality or LOS following aortic dissection repair, while patient age significantly increased the odds of death. The full-moon cycle appeared to reduce the odds of death, and the full-moon cycle, along with being male and requiring a concomitant cardiac procedure, was associated with shorter LOS.

Background Aortic-root dissection is the leading cause of death in Marfan’s syndrome. Studies suggest that with regard to slowing aortic-root enlargement, losartan may be more effective than beta-blockers, the current standard therapy in most centers. Methods We conducted a randomized trial comparing losartan with atenolol in children and young adults with Marfan’s syndrome. The primary outcome was the rate of aortic-root enlargement, expressed as the change in the maximum aortic-root-diameter z score indexed to body-surface area (hereafter, aortic-root z score) over a 3-year period. Secondary outcomes included the rate of change in the absolute diameter of the aortic root; the rate of change in aortic regurgitation; the time to aortic dissection, aortic-root surgery, or death; somatic growth; and the incidence of adverse events. Results From January 2007 through February 2011, a total of 21 clinical centers enrolled 608 participants, 6 months to 25 years of age (mean [±SD] age, 11.5±6.5 years in the atenolol group and 11.0±6.2 years in the losartan group), who had an aortic-root z score greater than 3.0. The baseline-adjusted rate of change (±SE) in the aortic-root z score did not differ significantly between the atenolol group and the losartan group (-0.139±0.013 and -0.107±0.013 standard-deviation units per year, respectively; P=0.08). Both slopes were significantly less than zero, indicating a decrease in the degree of aortic-root dilatation relative to body-surface area with either treatment. The 3-year rates of aortic-root surgery, aortic dissection, death, and a composite of these events did not differ significantly between the two treatment groups. Conclusions Among children and young adults with Marfan’s syndrome who were randomly assigned to losartan or atenolol, we found no significant difference in the rate of aortic-root dilatation between the two treatment groups over a 3-year period. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00429364 .).

Prediction of the age at aortic dissection for family members of aortic dissection patients would enhance early detection and clinical management. We sought to determine whether these dissections tend to cluster by age in family members of the dissection patients.

Valve-sparing aortic root reconstruction (VSRR) is an accepted method to treat patients with aortic root dilation. The role of the VSRR is less well defined for patients with bicuspid aortic valve, severe aortic valve insufficiency, congenital heart defects, and type A aortic dissection. We studied the clinical outcome of patients who underwent VSRR for expanded indications.