BACKGROUND Elective thoracic endovascular aortic repair in selected patients with suitable aortic anatomy is associated with low morbidity and mortality, and is gaining widespread acceptance. Its benefit in acute thoracic aorta diseases, however, has not yet been demonstrated in high-numbered studies. This report presents data of the Talent Thoracic Retrospective Registry (TTR) of all patients ...

Smooth muscle myosin heavy chains occur in 2 isoforms, SMA (slow) and SMB (fast). We hypothesized that the SMB isoform is predominant in the faster-contracting rat vena cava compared to thoracic aorta. We compared the time to half maximal contraction in response to a maximal concentration of endothelin-1 (ET-1; 100 nM), potassium chloride (KCl; 100 mM) and norepinephrine (NE; 10 microM). The ti...

PURPOSE To investigate the relationship between the vascular diameter and the extent and histologic characteristics of atherosclerosis in the thoracic and abdominal aortas of patients who died of atherosclerotic disease. METHOD We measured the vascular diameter and evaluated the percentage atrophy of the medial layer of the thoracic and abdominal aortas of 19 patients who died due to atherosc...

OBJECTIVE Aortic aneurysm, focal dilation of the aorta, results from impaired integrity of aortic extracellular matrix (ECM). Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are traditionally known as ECM-degrading enzymes. MMP2 has been associated with aneurysm in patients and in animal models. We investigated the role of MMP2 in thoracic aortic aneurysm using 2 models of aortic remodeling and aneurysm. AP...

Background: The aim of this study was to assess geometrical modifications the aneurysmal Thoracic Aorta (TA) after Endovascular Repair (TEVAR) over 3 years follow-up, identify features predicting unfavorable evolution.

Objective(s):The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of nutritional saffron (Crocus sativus L.) stigma hydroalcoholic extract on blood pressure (BP) and histology of the aorta in normotensive and hypertensive rats. Materials and Methods:   Saffron (200 mg/kg/day) was given orally for 5 weeks to normotensive and hypertensive rats. Hypertension was induced by NG-nitro-L-arginine meth...

Young pigs raised on a copper-deficient diet develop severe abnormalities of connective tissue due to defective cross-linking of collagen and elastin. They eventually succumb to anemia and cardiovascular damage, the latter apparently due to the defective connective tissue metabolism. We evaluated the effects of nutritional copper deficiency upon collagen and elastin synthesis using short-term e...