Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is an illdefined, poorly understood disorder that causes significant morbidity in those who suffer from it. It is estimated that up to 20% to 35% of patients will remain incapacitated indefinitely and that only 20% to 30% of patients will be able to return to their previous full-time employment. A number of treatments, interventional and noninterventional, ...

Major vascular complications related to pancreatitis can cause life-threatening hemorrhage and have to be dealt with as an emergency, utilizing a multidisciplinary approach of angiography, endoscopy or surgery. These may occur secondary to direct vascular injuries, which result in the formation of splanchnic pseudoaneurysms, gastrointestinal etiologies such as peptic ulcer disease and gastroeso...

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a rare syndrome affecting multiple organs. There is no sufficient evidence regarding the clinical cardiac manifestations of TTP. Nonetheless, pathologic cardiac involvement is quite frequent in acute TTP, which is predominantly manifested as myocardial necrosis due to coronary arteriolar microthrombosis. The present case report describes a 43-year-ol...

A 41-year-old woman presented with burning and erythema in her extremities triggered by warmth and activity, which was relieved by applying ice. Extensive workup was consistent with adult-onset primary erythromelalgia (EM). Several pharmacological treatments were tried including local anesthetics, capsaicin, ziconotide, and dantrolene, all providing 24-48 hours of relief followed by symptom fla...

Cardiac arrhythmias can develop complex electrophysiological patterns which complexify the planning and control of therapies, especially in the context of radio-frequency ablation. The development of electrophysiology models aims at testing different therapy strategies. However, current models are computationally expensive and often too complex to be adjusted with limited clinical data. In this...

CT and MR imaging modalities have long used intravenously injected contrast material to visualize blood flow in the microcirculation and larger vasculatures. The use of microbubbles enables ultrasound to complement CT and MR in a number of clinical areas where perfusion is an important clinical differentiator. In many countries, ultrasound contrast agents are transitioning from research to clin...

For the interventionalist, intracoronary thrombus remains an important marker for the presence of an acute coronary syndrome as well as a harbinger of potential complications during the percutaneous procedure. Acute complications include myocardial infarction either new and/or recurrent related to coronary embolization, slow coronary flow or acute closure and long term complications include sub...

BACKGROUND Randomized trials have shown that medical and interventional therapies improve outcomes for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. The extent to which hospital quality improvement translates into better patient outcomes is unclear. OBJECTIVES To determine hospital cardiac management markers associated with improved outcomes. RESEARCH DESIGN, SUBJECTS: Population-based longitud...

Interventional neuroradiology is a growing field of minimally invasive therapies that includes embolization of aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations, carotid angioplasty and carotid stenting, and acute stroke therapy. Treatment is performed using image-guided instrument navigation through the patient's vasculature and requires intricate combination of visual and tactile coordination. In thi...

Reperfusion, or restoration of blood flow, is an effective means of reducing disability in the setting of acute stroke. Reperfusion therapies, such as intravenous thrombolysis or endovascular and interventional procedures, fit within the existing stroke system of care. There are currently 4 devices cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for recanalization of arterial occlusion in patients ...