BACKGROUND Despite recent progress in medical and surgical treatment, acute type B aortic dissection still carries a high mortality rate. We have developed a novel cylindrical balloon catheter for less invasive treatment to block the entry of the dissection and induce thrombotic occlusion of the false lumen. The balloon has the shape of a sheet when deflated but a double-cylinder shape when inf...

BACKGROUND Double lumen dialysis catheters are routinely heparin or citrate 'locked' to maintain patency. Heparin lock-related bleeding episodes and antibiotic lock-related toxicity have been reported. The aim of this study is to quantify the amount of leak during 'lock' procedures and to compare leakage for different double lumen dialysis catheters. METHODS In an experimental, in vitro study...

Using catheter-mounted two-dimensional array transducers, we have obtained real-time three-dimensional color flow and spectral Doppler ultrasound images in phantoms. We have constructed several transducers operating at 5 MHz with up to 137 channels inside a 12 French catheter lumen. The transducer configuration may be side scanning or beveled with respect to the long axis of the catheter lumen....

We present two cases of misplaced central venous catheters having in common the absence of free blood return from one lumen immediately after placement. The former is a case of right hydrothorax associated with central venous catheterization with the catheter tip in intra-pleural location. In this case the distal port was never patent. In the latter case there was an increased aspiration pressu...

Vascular access is the life-line of chronic haemodialysis patients. Its complications play a major role in morbidity and mortality [1]. Vascular access infection remains the leading cause for access failure when cuffed silicone catheters are used for long-term access and is the second most common cause of graft failure when polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts are used [2]. Most reports deal w...

INTRODUCTION Central Venous Catheters (CVC) are essential in everyday medical practice, especially in treating patients in intensive care units (ICU). The application of these catheters is accompanied with the risk of complications, such as the complications caused during the CVC insertion, infections at the location of the insertion, and complications during the use of the catheter, sepsis and...

NPOCT, Lumen detection, Fuzzy system, MLD. Intracoronary optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a catheter based medical imaging technique that provide high resolution imaging of coronary lumen structures. However these images affected by catheter and stents shadows during pullback procedure. In order to overcome this problem, we present a new approach to detect the lumen boundary automatically ...

BACKGROUND Alleviating vascular restenosis after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty remains a formidable challenge. Although multiple factors have been implicated in the pathophysiology of this vascular remodeling disorder, only limited therapeutic success has been achieved. Endothelin (ET)-1 has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of neointimal growth. We report the in vivo efficac...