Dear Editor, We read with interest the recent article of Yavas on the tracheostomy in the intensive care unit.1 The authors treated 205 patients needing tracheostomy, 65.4% with surgical tracheostomy (ST) and 34.6% with percutaneous tracheostomy (PT). The authors, while performing PT, used two procedures: the Ciaglia percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy technique using multiple dilators and t...

PURPOSE To describe a precannulated fenestrated endograft system utilizing externalized guidewires to facilitate aortic arch endovascular repair and to report its use in 2 patients with challenging anatomy. TECHNIQUE For distal arch repair, a fenestration for the left subclavian artery (LSA) is made onsite in a standard thoracic endograft tailored to the patient anatomy; it is precannulated w...

Vessel foreshortening is a major limitation of standard coronary angiography due to the 2-dimensional representation of 3-dimensional structures. Three-dimensional models may overcome it. The aim of this study was to compare measurements of coronary segments from quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) in an operator-selected "working view" of standard 2-dimensional coronary angiography with th...

AIMS Left ventricular (LV) lead implantation is feasible using remote magnetic navigation of a guidewire (Stereotaxis, St Louis, MO, USA). A novel software that performs a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of vessels based on two or more angiographic views has been developed recently (CardiOp-B system, Paeion Inc., Haifa, Israel). The objective of this paper is to evaluate: (i) the performa...

Transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) is a 30 year old procedure for diagnosing and staging of lung cancer. There has been renewed interest in TBNA due to the development of a curvilinear array endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) scope for TBNA. Reports indicate an increased diagnostic yield compared to standard TBNA. In 9 of 11 patients EBUS-TBNA is performed with the second generation Olympus E...

The aim of this study was to examine the procedural success and in-hospital outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic total occlusions in the current era during contemporary practice. The technique of PCI has improved over time with the introduction of novel equipment and guidewire crossing techniques. However, there is limited data available from contemporary practice...

Although intraprocedural coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) allows for scanning during intervention without relocation of the patient, studies have yet to report on its use during chronic total occlusion (CTO) intervention. Therefore, we investigated the role of CCTA during CTO intervention, particularly whether CCTA could be used to evaluate the location of guidewires. A total of...

Colorectal cancer, which includes colon and rectal cancer, is a common digestive tract tumor. Although surgery is the primary form of treatment, there are a number of drawbacks, including patients experiencing considerable pain and high cost. The present study was undertaken to examine the clinical value of transanal ileal tube placement under X-ray monitoring. Thirty-six cases of left colon ob...

Endoscopic transmural drainage by using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) guidance is not always safe because of the risk of bleeding and perforation. Additionally, the effective area of the EUS-guided procedure using a large diameter needle is relatively narrow. We evaluated the effectiveness and safety of EUS-guided drainage using fine needle and stiff fine guidewire without electrocautery. From No...

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) can be used to guide drainage of pelvic abscesses. Here, we present a case of successful pelvic abscess drainage using a dedicated, wide, flared-end, fully covered self-expandable metal stent (FCSEMS). A 68-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a high fever that had not settled after 4 weeks of antibiotic use. She had a history of renal transplantation and...