Spontaneous spinal epidural haematomas (SSEHs) are rare causes of spinal cord compression. We present 2 cases of thoracic SSEHs with similar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features. Patient 1 was on long-term oral anticoagulants and patient 2 had uncontrolled hypertension. Patient 1 presented with a dense motor deficit, whereas patient 2 developed progressive lower limb weakness. Decompressio...

Intravenous fluid is life-saving in hypovolemic shock, but fluid sometimes aggravates the bleeding. During the past 25 years, animal models have helped our understanding of the mechanisms involved in this unexpected effect. A key issue is that vasoconstriction is insufficient to arrest the bleeding when damage is made to a major blood vessel. 'Uncontrolled hemorrhage' is rather stopped by a blo...

We have generated a transgenic mouse where hVEGF-A(165) expression has been silenced with loxP-STOP fragment, and we used this model to study the effects of hVEGF-A(165) over-expression in mice after systemic adenovirus mediated Cre-gene transfer. Unlike previous conventional transgenic models, this model leads to the expression of hVEGF-A(165) in only a low number of cells in the target tissue...

INTRODUCTION We sought to determine and compare the effects of vasopressin, fluid resuscitation and saline placebo on haemodynamic variables and short-term survival in an abdominal vascular injury model with uncontrolled haemorrhagic shock in pigs. METHODS During general anaesthesia, a midline laparotomy was performed on 19 domestic pigs, followed by an incision (width about 5 cm and depth 0....

Hemospray (Cook Medical, Winston– Salem, North Carolina, USA) is a novel powder licensed for endoscopic treatment of nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB). It acts by forming a barrier over the bleeding site, increasing local concentration of clotting factors and activating the intrinsic clotting cascade [1]. Hemospray has been shown to be effective in peptic ulcer bleeding and oth...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) is commonly found in patients with cirrhosis, but it is also associated with other diseases in the absence of cirrhosis. Whether GAVE confers a different severity of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding between patients with and without cirrhosis remains unknown. We aim to examine whether there is a difference in clinically significant GI ble...

INTRODUCTION The objective of this study was to investigate regional organ perfusion acutely following uncontrolled hemorrhage in an animal model that simulates a penetrating vascular injury and accounts for prehospital times in urban trauma. We set forth to determine if hypotensive resuscitation (permissive hypotension) would result in equivalent organ perfusion compared to normotensive resusc...

BACKGROUND Although warfarin and other anticoagulants can prevent ischemic events, they can cause hemorrhage. Quantifying the rate of hemorrhage is crucial for determining the risks and net benefits of prescribing antithrombotic therapy. Our objective was to find a bleeding classification scheme that could quantify the risk of hemorrhage in elderly patients with atrial fibrillation. METHODS W...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) is a new therapeutic modality for variceal bleeding. In this study we compared the two year survival and rebleeding rates in cirrhotic patients treated by either variceal band ligation or TIPS for variceal bleeding. METHODS Eighty cirrhotic patients (Pugh score 7-12) with variceal bleeding were randomly allocated to ...

Patients with rare qualitative platelet disorders or platelet function disorders (PFDs) may present to the hospital physician with severe bleeding episodes or excessive surgical bleeding. Although standard treatment consists of platelet transfusions, repeated transfusions may result in the development of antiplatelet antibodies (APA) or clinical refractoriness, rendering further platelet therap...