Aortic root dilatation was sought by echocardiography and radiology in 500 consecutive patients referred to an echocardiography laboratory from cardiac or medical clinics and wards. Forty-four of these patients (8.8%) had false echocardiographic evidence of aortic root dissection, but no clinical evidence of the disease. These false findings were attributed to the changing of the transducer ang...

Severely stenosed radiation-induced benign strictures around the level of cricopharyngeus post-radical chemoradiation for head and neck or upper esophageal cancers pose significant management problems. We report our technique of bidirectional assessment and dilatation of pharyngoesophageal strictures in patients with an in situ percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube. The upper gastroint...

INTRODUCTION Urethral stricture disease is still a major problem in men. Many procedures are available for the treatment of urethral strictures; urethral dilatation is one of the oldest. The blind dilatation of urethral strictures may be a difficult and potentially dangerous procedure. The purpose of this study was to describe safe urethral dilatation using amplatz renal dilator and to report o...

PURPOSE Bile duct dilatation is a relatively common sonographic finding; nevertheless, its clinical significance in children is controversial because little research has been done in the area. Therefore, we investigated the natural course and clinical significance of biliary duct dilatation in children. METHODS We performed a retrospective study of 181 children (range, 1-day-old to 17-year-ol...

Bicuspid aortic valve and/or coarctation of the aorta are consistently associated with ascending aortic and para-coarctation medial abnormalities. Medial abnormalities in the ascending aorta are prevalent in other types of patients with a variety of forms congenital heart disease (CHD), such as single ventricle, persistent truncus arteriosus, transposition of the great arteries, hypoplastic lef...

There is limited information about the size change of a knitted Dacron graft (Gelseal™) used in the thoracic aorta. We evaluated the diameters of the Gelseal™ grafts at a long-term follow-up for 3.7 ± 1.3 years (1-5.9 years; median, 4.0 years), which were used for replacement of the ascending aorta in 59 patients with acute aortic dissection. The early and late dilatation rates (LDRs) of the pr...

Four crossbred cows with mummified fetus were utilized for the study. The cows were subjected to gynecological examination and based on the findings the cases were diagnosed as mummified fetus. The cows were treated with 2 mg estradiol valerate and 500 µg cloprostenol and were examined every 12 hr after 24 hr of the treatment for cervical dilatation and other signs related to fetal expulsion. T...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of misoprostol in cervical ripening before evacuation of conception in the first trimester missed miscarriages, and to compare between oral and vaginal routes of administration. METHODS A randomized controlled study was carried out in Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq in 2006. One hundred and twenty women with first trimester missed miscarriages we...

BACKGROUND Stent underexpansion is the most powerful predictor of long-term stent patency and clinical outcome. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and predictors of stent underexpansion despite adjunctive post-dilatation with non-compliant balloon. METHODS After elective coronary stent implantation and adjunctive post-dilatation with non-compliant balloon and optimal angi...