Treatment of atrophic nonunions is a challenge to orthopaedic surgeons. Growth factors potentially are valuable factors for improvement of tissue healing. The use of growth factors, however, is limited by their short half-lives. Gene therapy has the potential to improve the treatment. This study aimed to establish and validate an atrophic nonunion model in a rabbit for the use of a percutaneous...

Percutaneous device closure for secundum atrial septal defects (ASDs) has been performed commonly and safely with high success rates. However, it is still challenging to close ASDs that are surrounded with deficient or hypermobile rims and could be compromised with an unexpected migration of device. We report a case of percutaneous Amplazter Septal Occluder (ASO; St. Jude Medical Inc., St. Paul...

The percutaneous treatment of valvular heart disease is rapidly progressing through clinical trials. For one valvular lesion, critical aortic stenosis, recent advances in technology and percutaneous techniques may potentially change the way in which we manage this disease in the most frail and elderly patients. Some of these new techniques blur the distinction between surgical and nonsurgical t...

BACKGROUND Percutaneous lysis of epidural adhesions is done worldwide. Over 1.7 million of these procedures were done in the U.S.A. by 2006. This interventional pain management technique is used to treat chronic low back pain (LBP) and/or radiculopathy. The primary object of the approach is to target drug delivery to areas of pathology in the spinal epidural space. The procedure involves removi...

percutaneous vertebroplasty is a promising therapeutic technique for pain control in patients with pathologic fractures of vertebral bodies. percutaneous vertebroplasty is an appropriate treatment for vertebral pathologic fractures, which is resistant to other usual treatment. it is a useful and only choice in special cases, because of less tissue damage and there is no risk of open surgery and...

Cardiovascular gene therapy is becoming a clinical reality due to improved vectors, delivery systems and careful experimental validation studies. Nearly all cardiovascular diseases are amenable to gene therapy, but the optimal combination of vector, delivery system and therapeutic gene is likely to be unique to each application. Currently, the most efficient vectors available are replication-de...

Non-aqueous system are well known as solvent or drug suspension vehicles and oleogels micro emulsion with no aqueous phase (anhydrous, non-aqueous oil-in-oil emulsion) have had relatively scant attention yet may have uses as drug reservoir as well as template for the preparation of microemulsion combination with a cosurfactant. Microemulsions have emerged as novel vehicles for drug delivery whi...

Introduction Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) has becoming the most common way of feeding patients who cannot take adequate oral nutrition in the intensive care unit (ICU). According to ESPEN guidelines after complicationfree placement of a PEG system,delivery of nutrients via the tube can commence within 1 hour. But traditionally many clinicians are waiting 24 or more hours to start f...

BACKGROUND Genetic modulation of ventricular function may offer a novel therapeutic strategy for patients with congestive heart failure. Myocardial overexpression of beta(2)-adrenergic receptors (beta(2)ARs) has been shown to enhance contractility in transgenic mice and reverse signaling abnormalities found in failing cardiomyocytes in culture. In this study, we sought to determine the feasibil...

KEY CLINICAL MESSAGE Retrograde coronary intervention of chronic total coronary occlusion remains challenging. We describe a successful retrograde intervention of chronically occluded right coronary artery ostium via an occluded vein graft. An occluded saphenous vein graft can be a useful means to access the distal coronary bed, enabling delivery of retrograde percutaneous coronary intervention...