Systemic immune-inflammation index for predicting poor outcome after carotid endarterectomy: A novel hematological marker

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the predictive role of systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) on postoperative poor outcome in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (CEA).

METHODS

A total of 347 patients undergoing elective isolated CEA between March 2010 and April 2022 were included in this multicenter retrospective observational cohort and risk-prediction study and were divided into two groups as poor outcome group (n = 23) and favorable outcome group (n = 324). Poor outcome was defined as the presence of at least one of the complications within 30 days of surgery including stroke, myocardial infarction, and death. The patients' baseline clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and hematological indices were derived from the complete blood count (CBC) analysis, and perioperative data, outcomes, and complications were screened, recorded, and then compared between the groups. Multivariate logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were conducted following univariate analyses to detect the independent predictors of poor outcome as well as the cutoff values with sensitivity and specificity rates.

RESULTS

A total of 23 patients out of 347 (6.6%) manifested poor outcome; and stroke, myocardial infarction, and death occurred in 13, 3, and 7 cases, respectively. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of basic clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and perioperative data, except for lengths of intensive care unit and hospital stays. Although the median values of PLT, PLR, NLR, and SII of the poor outcome group were found to be significantly higher than the favorable outcome group in univariate analysis, only SII was detected to be a significant and independent predictor of poor outcome in multivariate logistic regression analysis (OR = 1.0008; 95% CI: 1.0004-1.0012; p = 0.002). ROC curve analysis revealed that SII of 1356 × 103/mm3 constituted the cutoff value for predicting poor outcome with 78.3% sensitivity and 64.5% specificity (AUC = 0.746; 95% CI: 0.64-0.851).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study revealed for the first time in the literature that SII significantly predicted poor outcome after CEA.

REBOA Improves Outcomes in Hybrid Surgery for Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

BACKGROUND

Despite advancements in diagnostic methods and emergency interventions, mortality rates of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) continue to remain high. To address this issue, the resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) technique has been designed to provide temporary control of bleeding. We aimed to compare the impact of the REBOA technique during open aortic surgery for rAAA.

METHODS

Between January 2014 and November 2021, 53 consecutive patients (46 males, 7 females; mean age 71.9 ± 7.9 years; range 51-89 years) who underwent emergency open aortic surgery for rAAA were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into REBOA (21 patients) and non-REBOA (32 patients) groups. The primary outcomes were postoperative 24-hr and 30-day mortality. The secondary outcomes were intensive care unit (ICU) stay, in-hospital stay, bleeding, postoperative renal failure, bowel ischemia, and transient ischemic attack (TIA)/stroke rate.

RESULTS

The REBOA group showed a significant reduction in mortality rates at both 24 hr (9.5% vs. 37.5%, P = 0.029) and 30 days (14.2% vs. 43.7%, P = 0.035) compared to the non-REBOA group. In-hospital stay (12.8 ± 3.48 vs. 15.6 ± 4.74 days, P = 0.02) and ICU stay (2.42 ± 2.08 vs. 5.09 ± 5.79 days, P = 0.048) were shorter among the REBOA group. Total procedure time and bleeding were reduced among the REBOA group without significant differences in terms of postoperative renal failure, bowel ischemia, and TIA/stroke rate.

CONCLUSIONS

The REBOA group demonstrated significantly improved survival rates compared to the non-REBOA group, without a significant difference in complication rates. REBOA is considered a less invasive option compared to the traditional method for open aortic cross-clamping. This study demonstrated that the use of REBOA may be considered as a first-line treatment option for open surgery in cases of rAAA particularly when an off-the-shelf endovascular aneurysm repair device is not suitable.

The ımpact of radiofrequency ablation on quality of life/symptoms (VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire score) in patients with chronic venous ınsufficiency

Purpose

Chronic venous insufficiency is defined as a progressive disease that impairs the quality of life. Symptomatic patients can be treated with a 97% success rate through endovenous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) procedures. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect and impact of RFA therapy on both the Venous Insufficiency Epidemiological and Economic Study Quality of Life/Symptom Questionnaire (VEINES-QOL/Sym) scale and the VEINES-QOL/Sym severity score in patients with isolated vena saphena magna insufficiency.

Methods

Between March and June 2018, a retrospective analysis was conducted on 45 patients with a healthy vena saphena parva. They were divided into two groups based on the diameter of the great saphenous vein (GSV). Patients with GSV < 6 mm were assigned to group I (n = 22, 15 males, 7 females, mean age 52.45 ± 13.98 years), while patients with GSV ≥ 6 mm were assigned to group II (n = 23, 14 males, 9 females, mean age 55.04 ± 10.18 years). The pre-procedural Clinical-Etiology-Anatomy-Pathophysiology (CEAP) classification and post-procedural quality of life and symptom assessment at 12-24 months were evaluated using the VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire scale.

Results

When all patients were assessed in terms of the VEINES-QOL/Sym questionnaire scale, compared to the previous year, it was found that 57.8% of patients (n = 26) still experienced complaints, and 24.4% of patients (n = 14) reported slightly worse symptoms than the previous year. In group II, 56.5% of patients (n = 13) reported experiencing similar complaints as the previous year, while 30.4% (n = 7) noted slightly worse symptoms.

Conclusions

Our study findings revealed that the increase in vessel diameter does not significantly impact the severity of symptoms and quality of life outcomes after RFA therapy; however, it does have a notable impact on the improvement of symptom characteristics. As a result, early intervention for symptomatic patients is crucial in order to address their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

Perioperative intravenous Iloprost therapy in addition to percutaneous transluminal angioplasty improves patency for peripheral arterial occlusive disease

Introduction: In this study, we aimed to evaluate and compare whether perioperative additional intravenous (IV) Iloprost therapy to percutaneous balloon angioplasty for peripheral arterial occlusive disease improves patency and reintervention.Methods: Between January 2018 and August 2020, 183 patients underwent Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) with Drug-Eluting Balloons (DEB) for femoropopliteal lesions (TASC 2 A-C) due to claudication, and 161 patients (133 male, 28 female, mean age 63.65 ± 11.16 years, range 30-86 years) were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups as DEB+ Intravenous Iloprost administration and DEB alone. Primary patency, reintervention, bailout stenting, and survival rates were analyzed in this retrospective study.Results: Primary patency rate at 12 months (79 vs 57 patients, 89.7 vs 78%, p = 0.041) and assisted primary patency rate (81 vs 59 patients, 92 vs 80.8%, p = 0.035) were found to be higher and Bailout stent deployment was lower in DEB + Iloprost group (3 vs 9 patients, 3.4 vs 12.3% p = 0.031). The reinterventions rate at 12 months was also lower among the DEB + Iloprost group (9 vs 16 patients, 10.2 vs 21.9%, p = 0.041).Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that primary patency at 12 months and assisted primary patency rates, freedom from reintervention was significantly higher and bailout stenting was found to be significantly lower. We believe that perioperative Intravenous Iloprost therapy is beneficial for PTA and improves outcomes.

A nationwide survey of Turkish medical students' upon interest and decision for cardiovascular surgery as a future career: A cross-sectional survey

Background

In this study, we aimed to investigate the current interest of Turkish medical students to pursue a career in cardiovascular surgery and to identify possible factors which positively or negatively affected their decisions.

Methods

Between January 2022 and August 2022, a cross-sectional survey of 34 questions was created using the Google Forms online survey platform. Questions were directed to participants to evaluate demographic features, interest level in cardiovascular surgery, interest in other specialty programs, and interest in residency abroad using fivepoint Likert scales.

Results

A total of 5338 Medical Students were reached who were balanced to 7 geographical regions across Türkiye and 1233 (23%) medical students participated in the questionnaire. Of the respondents, 544 were males and 689 were females with a mean age of 21.2±0.5 (range, 17 to 28) years. More than half of the students (56.2%) considered residency training programs in Türkiye. Cardiology had the highest preference rate for residency training (8.3%), followed by cardiovascular surgery (7.5%). More than one-third of students (36.5%) who were interested in pursuing a career in cardiovascular surgery decided to be trained abroad. Achieving a prestigious job, motivation for life saving, prioritizing innovations, and high academic studies were the main factors that positively affected the perspective of students on cardiovascular surgery, while stressful surgeries, intense and tiring night shifts, and a relatively poor social life/work balance were the main deterrent factors. Attendance to cardiovascular surgeries positively affected the decisions of students (p=0.008).

Conclusion

Although it is thought that the interest in pursuing a career in cardiovascular surgery has reduced in recent years all over the world, our study shows that cardiovascular surgery still continues to be a popular specialty among Turkish medical students. Therefore, we believe that guiding medical students by using their current potential and encouraging the students to attend cardiovascular surgeries more frequently throughout their education life are essential in choosing cardiovascular surgery as a future career option.

Comparison of eversion carotid endarterectomy under local anesthesia and eversion/conventional carotid endarterectomy under general anesthesia

Introduction

Studies searching outcomes of eversion carotid endarterectomy (E-CEA) under local anesthesia are lacking.

Aim

To evaluate the postoperative outcomes of E-CEA under local anesthesia and compare it with E-CEA/Conventional CEA under general anesthesia in symptomatic or asymptomatic patients.

Material and methods

From February 2010 to November 2018 a total of 182 patients (143 males, 39 females; mean age: 69.69 ±9.88 years; range: 47 to 92 years) who underwent eversion CEA or conventional CEA with patchplasty under general or local anesthesia in two tertiary centers were included in this study.

Results

Overall in-hospital stay (p = 0.01), postoperative in-hospital stay (p = 0.022) took significantly less time in favor of E-CEA under local anesthesia. Overall, 6 patients developed major stroke (3.2%), among them 4 (2.1%) patients passed away, 7 (3.8%) patients developed cranial nerve injury (the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve and hypoglossal nerve), 10 (5.4%) patients developed a hematoma in the postoperative period. No difference was found in terms of postoperative stroke (p = 0.470), postoperative death (p = 0.703), postoperative bleeding rate (p = 0.521) or postoperative cranial nerve injury (p = 0.481) between the groups.

Conclusions

The mean operation time, postoperative in-hospital stay, overall in-hospital stay, and need for shunting were lower in patients who underwent E-CEA under local anesthesia. E-CEA under local anesthesia seemed to do better in stroke, death, and bleeding rate, however, this difference was not significant.

Evaluation of etiology of pericardial effusion in 81 patients who underwent pericardiostomy or pericardial window

<b>Introduction: </b>A wide variety of diseases lead to pericardial effusion including systemic inflammatory diseases, pericarditis, reduced pericardial fluid reabsorption due to increased systemic venous pressure, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, endocrine diseases, post-cardiotomy syndrome, trauma, hypothyroidism, renal-hepatic failure, collagen-vascular diseases, infectious, and malignancy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the underlying etiology of pericardial effusions in patients underwent surgical pericardial drainage or pericardial window and contemporary management.<br /> <b>Materials and methods: </b>Between January 2006 and January 2018, a total of 81 patients (49 males, 32 females; mean 52.9±10.6 years; range 5 to 84 years) who underwent subxiphoid pericardiostomy, pericardial window procedure with left anterior thoracotomy or subxiphoid approach, due to moderate or severe pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade, were retrospectively analyzed.<br /> <b>Results: </b>Malignancy was diagnosed either with histopathological examination of the pericardial biopsy and/or fluid in 17 (80.9%) of 21 patients had a previous history of malignancy. Of the 21 patients diagnosed with malignancy, six patients (7.5%) had leukemia/lymphoma, and six patients (7.5%) had thyroid papillary cancer. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified in only one (1.2%) patient’s culture of the pericardial fluid. No etiology was found in the remaining 38 patients (46.9%); thus, they were considered as idiopathic pericarditis.<br /> <b>Conclusion: </b>Tuberculosis is no longer the leading cause of pericarditis. Idiopathic pericarditis is the leading cause of pericardial effusion and malignancy is the next most common cause of pericardial effusion in our region.

Platelet distribution width in young patients with chronic venous insufficiency

OBJECTIVE

Platelet distribution width (PDW) has been reported in a wide range of pathological settings. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between PDW and lower extremity chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) by comparing the levels of PDW and other parameters derived from complete blood count (CBC) tests in young individuals with or without lower extremity CVI.

METHODS

This prospective clinical study was conducted between January 2020 and December 2020. A total of 108 patients, 72 patients with lower extremity CVI (study group) and 36 healthy volunteers (control group) were enrolled from the Bursa Yuksek Ihtısas Educatıon Research Hospıtal and the Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University Training and Research Hospital. The age range of the participants was between 18 and 50 years old. Participants' baseline clinical features and CBC parameters including PDW, white blood cell, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, red cell distribution width, neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet count, mean platelet volume, plateletcrit, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

The groups were statistically similar in terms of baseline clinical features. The median PDW value was significantly higher for the CVI patients relative to the control group (17.6 vs 16.8; p < 0.001). In terms of other CBC parameters, there were no significant differences between the groups. According to ROC analysis, area under the curve of PDW was 0.749 (95% confidence interval: 0.653-0.846 and p < 0.001). If the value of PDW was accepted as 17, it could predict CVI with 76% sensitivity and 59% specificity, whereas a PDW value of 17.5 could predict CVI with 51% sensitivity and 81% specificity.

CONCLUSION

Platelet distribution width might be a useful marker to determine an increased inflammatory response and thrombotic status in young patients with CVI.

Genetic variants rs1994016 and rs3825807 in ADAMTS7 affect its mRNA expression in atherosclerotic occlusive peripheral arterial disease

AIM

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a vascular disease affecting peripheral circulation. Recently, genome-wide association studies revealed a relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ADAMTS7 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin motif 7) and atherosclerosis. In this study, we aimed to determine ADAMTS7 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and the frequency of ADAMTS7 rs1994016 and rs3825807 polymorphisms in a sample of Turkish patients with PAD, and to evaluate the association of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) levels with PAD development.

METHODS

In this case-control study, ADAMTS7mRNA and protein expression was determined using reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blot, respectively, and rs1994016 and rs3825807 variants in ADAMTS7 were determined by real-time PCR in 115 PAD patients and 116 healthy controls. Plasma levels of nine MMPs were determined using a multiplex immunoassay system.

RESULTS

ADAMTS7mRNA levels were significantly higher in PAD patients than in controls (t=-2.75, P=.007). There was no significant difference in the frequencies of rs1994016 and rs3825807 between PAD patients and controls (P>.05). In PAD patients, ADAMTS7mRNA levels were significantly increased for the CC genotype of rs1994016 (t=-2.31, P=.026) and TT genotype of rs3825807 (t=-2.23, P=.032). Furthermore, plasma levels of MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-7, MMP-10, MMP-12, and MMP-13 were significantly higher in PAD patients than in controls (P<.05).

CONCLUSION

This is the first report of the relationship between PAD and ADAMTS7 expression and the effects of the rs1994016 and rs3825807 variants on PAD development. ADAMTS7 may be associated with PAD development.

Surgical treatment of posterior nutcracker syndrome presented with hyperaldosteronism

Posterior nutcracker syndrome is caused by the compression of left renal vein between the abdominal aorta and the vertebral body. Most seen symptoms are haematuria, left flank pain, abdominal pain and varicocele. The nutcracker syndrome may lead to left renal vein thrombosis due to blood congestion within compression of the vessel. Both endovascular and open surgical interventions can relieve symptoms; however, traditional surgical repair is still considered as the gold standard. Here, we present the surgical treatment of a 36-year old female with complaints of hypertension, hyperaldosteronism and diagnosed with posterior nutcracker syndrome.

Increased IL18 mRNA levels in peripheral artery disease and its association with triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels: a pilot study

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) typically refers to lower limb vessel ischemia caused by atherosclerotic stenosis of lower extremity arteries. IL18 is a pleiotropic pro-inflammatory cytokine reported to function as an inflammatory biomarker in cardiovascular diseases. IL18 activity is balanced by high-affinity naturally occurring IL18-binding protein (IL18BP). This study aimed to determine whether IL18, IL18 BP mRNA levels and -137 G/C (rs187238) polymorphism, which was previously associated with IL18 gene transcriptional activity, were associated with PAD etiology. IL18, IL18BP mRNA levels from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and -137 G/C (rs187238) polymorphism were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and RT-PCR, respectively, in 55 PAD patients (26 aorta-iliac, 29 femoro-popliteal) and 61 disease-free controls. IL18 mRNA levels were increased in PAD patients compared with healthy controls (p = 0.09); however, did not reach a statistical significant level, also did not significantly differ between aorta-iliac and femoro-popliteal occlusive PAD subgroups (p = 0.285). However, IL18BP mRNA levels were significantly lower in PAD group compared with controls (p < 0.001). Genotype frequencies of rs187238 polymorphism did not significantly differ between PAD patients and controls (p = 0.385). IL18 mRNA levels were significantly correlated with triglycerides and LDL cholesterol levels in PAD patients (p = 0.003, p = 0.014, respectively). HDL cholesterol levels were negatively correlated with IL18 mRNA levels in controls (p = 0.05). This report is a preliminary study to show an association between IL18, IL18BP mRNA levels and PAD and suggests that the IL18 gene may have a significant relationship with triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels in PAD patients.