Atherosclerotic carotid stenosis is responsible for 10% of ischaemic strokes but until recently there has been uncertainty about the benefit of treating carotid stenosis. However, two randomised controlled trials, the North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET)l and the European Carotid Surgery Trial (ECST),' have now convincingly established the benefit of carotid endarter...

Purpose. Our objective was to evaluate the outcome of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) and particularly rePTA in a failing arteriovenous fistula (AV-fistula). Are multiple redilations worthwhile? Patients and Methods. All 159 stenoses of AV fistulas that were treated with PTA, with or without stenting, during 2008 and 2009, were included. Occluded fistulas that were dilated after suc...

BACKGROUND The aim of this prospective clinical study was to evaluate the clinical importance of Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potentials (VEMPs) in the assessment and differential diagnosis of otosclerosis and otologic diseases characterized by "pseudo-conductive" components. We also investigated the clinical appearance of balance disorders in patients with otosclerosis by correlating VEMP result...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To compare the effectiveness of monitoring cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in adult patients using extended high-frequency pure-tone audiometry (EHF-PTA) or distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DP-OAE) and to evaluate the concurrence of ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity in cisplatin-treated patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS EHF-PTA was measured at frequencies of 0.25, 0....

Unactivated partial thromboplastin antecedent (PTA) has been purified by sequential chromatography of plasma on quaternary aminoethyl Sephadex, sulphoprophyl Sephadex, Sephadex G-150, and passage over an anti-IgG immunoadsorbant. The preparation gave a single band after alkaline disc gel electrophoresis, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing in acrylamide gel...

BACKGROUND Although in antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA)-associated systemic vasculitis (AASV) patients, activation of T-cells has been described, persistence of these alterations has not been well characterized. This study was conducted to define persistent T-cell activation (PTA) in AASV patients and to assess whether this correlates with disease activity, disease severity, age...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of direct percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for patients with acute middle cerebral artery (MCA) trunk occlusion. METHODS Over the past 9 years, a total of 70 patients with acute MCA trunk occlusion were treated with intra-arterial reperfusion therapy. In the last 5 years, 34 patients were treat...

BACKGROUND Group A streptococci are commonly regarded as the most prevalent cause of acute bacterial tonsillitis and peritonsillar abscess (PTA). However, the majority of PTA aspirates also contain strains of anaerobes, and accumulating evidence indicates that Fusobacterium necrophorum (FN) could be involved in acute tonsillitis. The purpose of the present study was to describe the epidemiology...

BACKGROUND Randomized controlled trials have reported favorable 1-year outcomes with drug-coated balloons (DCBs) for the treatment of symptomatic peripheral arterial disease when compared with standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Evidence remains limited on the durability of the treatment effect with DCBs in the longer term. METHODS AND RESULTS IN.PACT SFA is a single-blind, ...

Objective: To compare the costs of coronary bypass surgery (CBS) and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTA) over a one-year follow up. Method: Eight-six patients were submitted to 87 CBS and 240 patients to 267 PTA, between October 2003 and April 2004. The mean age of the two groups was 62 years. The CBS group was submitted to a mean of 3.7 bypasses/patient, using 96.5% of arteria...