any questions you have, and the dates you intend to go. Tell them how many are in your group, and what skills you can offer. If you are accepted in one placement, don't forget to let the others know you won't be coming. Once you have a confirmation, book your flights as soon as possible. If you are a student, try for student deals. For any obscure destinations, ask the contact person if they kn...

BACKGROUND Elective intraaortic balloon pump (IABP) may reduce acute complications during unprotected left main (ULM) stenting. However, few data exist on criteria for elective IABP support during ULM stenting. METHODS Since January 1993, 219 consecutive patients underwent elective ULM stenting: 69 had elective IABP support (elective IABP group), whereas 150 patients had conventional procedur...

 ABSTRACT Background: To compare pregnancy outcomes in women at risk for cervical incompetence after elective versus ultrasound- indicated cerclage. Methods: In a prospective randomized tlial, singleton pregnancies with at least one previous spontaneous midtrimester loss or early preterm delivery (between 15 and 32 weeks' gestation) who met clinical crite1ia for the diagnosis of cervical incomp...

Introduction: Elective upper and lower GI endoscopy is usually performed in children on an outpatient basis with the child under sedation or general anesthesia (GA). The objective of this study was to describe Anesthesia related complications in   children undergoing elective GI endoscopy.   Materials and Methods: The study design was descriptive on 1388 patients undergoing elective GI endoscop...

BACKGROUND Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures worldwide, and it may be accompanied by postoperative neurocognitive impairment. Although this complication has been attributed to the use of cardiopulmonary bypass, it is still a matter of debate whether the switch from on-pump to off-pump technique affects the cognitive function. ...

Critical closing pressures have been measured in the hand vessels of anaesthetized patients undergoing elective surgery by a method as close as possible to that used in previous studies on conscious subjects. The critical closing pressure has been found to vary considerably during anaesthesia. In general, the variations are parallel to those of the systolic blood pressure. No correlation has be...

Fat mobilization during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a recognized risk of the procedure. Intravascular mobilization of fat emboli subsequent to CPB has been implicated in some of its recognized pathophysiologies, particularly with regard to cerebral embolic injury. The aim of this study was to investigate whether fat mobilization is still a real issue in modern perfusion practice and to dete...