It is now recognized that Alzheimer disease (AD) is one of the most devastating problems confronting the practice of medicine today. This disease has severe social and economic consequences that will only increase greatly in the future. Currently, there are 1,000 new cases of AD diagnosed daily in the United States. 1 When these patients are added to the 4.5 million Americans already diagnosed ...

It has been widely believed that decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF), known to occur in Alzheimer's disease (AD), is the result of neuronal degeneration that causes a decrease in the need for adequate CBF. There is new interest in the idea, however, that it is not neuronal degeneration that leads to decreased CBF to critical neurons, but it is the decrease in CBF which is the cause of the neuro...

Sternal infection has become a rare but challenging problem with significant mortality and morbidity rates since the introduction of sternotomy. Reported rates of mediastinal and sternal infection range from 0.4% to 5%. The ideal reconstruction after sternal debridement is still controversial. Different methods, such as debridement and open packing with continuous antibiotic irrigation, or ster...

BACKGROUND We present a unique case of a cardiac transplant recipient who received an oversized heart. METHODS To allow the chest to accommodate the organ, extensive resection of the bony chest wall was performed. As both pectoralis major myocutaneous flaps and omental transposition were insufficient to cover the wound, a chest rotational flap was chosen. RESULTS The large size of the flap ...

Since alkaline substances can rapidly penetrate into the cornea and subsequently damage limbal stem cells, another source of stem cells may be necessary to reconstruct the ocular surface. Omentum has some such characteristics like ability to regenerate tissue as well as anti-inflammatory capacity. Presence of adult stem cells and pluripotent embryonic cell markers make it suitable in wound heal...

Purulent mediastinitis is a possible serious complication after mediastinal surgery. We report the case of a localized sternal plasmocytoma treated by sternectomy and prosthetic repair, who needed a second surgery for a fistulizing mediastinitis. Five months earlier, in another Hospital, the patient underwent sternal resection and reconstruction with a "sandwich" prosthesis (Methyl-methacrylate...

A 52-year-old man suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy underwent implantable left ventricular assist device (LVAD) insertion as a bridge to transplantation. He presented with evidence of LVAD-related mediastinitis and pump pocket infection 57 days after the LVAD implantation. The mediastinum was reopened and irrigated. A large amount of pus was observed around the outflow and inflow conduits a...