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Immediate and long-term results of endovascular treatment of multivessel coronary artery disease by using different revascularization strategies were analyzed in 171 patients. Duration of follow up ranged from 12 to 18 months. Complete myocardium revascularization was performed in 63 patients, culprit vessel revascularization--in 86 pts and incomplete revascularization--in 22 pts. Results of this study showed that strategy of complete and culprit vessel revascularization in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease has comparable immediate and long-term results. Strategy of incomplete revascularization reduce immediate clinical success and lead to increased number of myocardial infarctions and needs of coronary artery bypass surgery in long-term follow-up period.

The study included retrospective analysis of the results of treatment in 529 patients with CHD and multiple coronary lesions divided into 2 groups. Group 1 included 280 patients who underwent surgical myocardial revascularization, group 2 comprised 249 patients after coronary stenting. The groups did not significantly differ in the occurrence of serious clinical complications (death, acute myocardial infarction) in both early and mid-late postoperative periods. Patients in group 2 more frequently suffered anginal attacks and required repeat myocardial revascularization. The main factor limiting clinical efficiency of endovascular procedures was coronary restenosis in roughly 34% of the patients.

The paper presents an analysis of correlations between long-term results of coronary arterial stenting and anticholesterol therapy with statins in 131 patients with chronic forms of coronary heart disease. The study revealed that anticholesterol therapy, when administered regardless the initial cholesterol level, improved the clinical condition of patients with initial hypercholesterolemia, and lowered the necessity of repeated endovascular procedures for restenosis and the progression of atherosclerotic changes. The necessity of repeated interventions is lowered by statin application rather than by normal levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins.

The authors analyzed the results of aortocoronary bypass surgery in correlation with the condition of the shunts and the native blood vessels. According to this analysis, 92.9% of the shunts were passable within 7.2 +/- 0.8 months of the surgery. Twelve shunts (four arterial and eight venous ones) had been occluded by the time of the control examination. Another ten shunts (five arterial and five venous ones) had hemodynamically significant stenoses. Concurrent blood flow was revealed in eight patients. According to comparative analysis, in cases of arterial shunting a good condition of the shunts was found in 95.6% of cases, while in patients with venous shunts the shunts were in a good condition in 88.1% of cases. Depending on the type of connection, the passability was satisfactory in 91.2% of straight shunts, in 94.5% of sequential shunts, and in 71.4% of Y-shaped ones. Analysis of changes in the native coronary arteries revealed progression of atherosclerosis in the bypassed arteries proximally to the site of anastomosis in 27 (25.5%) patients. An increase in the degree of stenosis distally of the site of anastomosis was found in 8 (7.5%) of patients; in another 7 (6.6%) patients similar changes were revealed in non-bypassed arteries. The surgery led to the disappearance of anginous manifestations and a negative result of a physical load test in most patients.

The paper presents the results of treatment in patients with chronic heart disease by coronary stenting. Endovascular interventions have been found to be highly effective in attenuating the clinical manifestations, in improving the results of exercise tests, and in reducing needs for medical treatment. The late postoperative factors influencing the higher incidence of stent stenosis have been studied.

The study was undertaken to comparatively assess the results of stenting and transluminal balloon angioplasty (TBAP) of coronary arteries in patients with chronic forms of coronary heart disease concurrent with restenosis of primary TBAP. The data on 77 patients undergone endovascular procedures for restenosis of prior primary TBAP of coronary arteries at the Moscow Research and Practical Center of Interventional Cardioangiology in March 1997 to May 2003 were analyzed. Group 1 comprised 35 patients with a stent implanted at the site of coronary restenosis; Group 2 included 42 patients undergone repeated TBAP. These groups did not significantly differ in main clinical and functional characteristics, the extent coronary bed lesion, the number of diseased arteries and the morphological type of a coronary lesion (p0.05). The angiographic success of secondary TBAP, as well as coronary stenting was 100%. Survival was 100% in the late period. A control examination revealed the clinical picture of angina on exertion in 57.1% and 76.2% of the patients in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p = 0.039). In the late period, a satisfactory angiographic result of coronary stenting was revealed in most cases (74.3 and 35.7% in Groups 1 and 2, respectively); restenosis was detected in 20 and 59.5% of cases, respectively (p0.01); occlusion in 5.7 and 4.8% (p0.05). Need for repeated interventional and surgical (aortocoronary bypass surgery) procedures was significantly less after coronary stenting than that after repeated TBAP (20 and 40.5%, respectively). In the late period, the factors significantly increasing a risk for in-stent restenosis were hypercholesterolemia (cholesterolor = 5.5 mmol/l); the length of restenosis of an operated segment wasor = 18 mm and that of a stentor = 20 mm. It is expedient to use coronary endroprosthesis to reduce the incidence of repeated restenosis and needs for repeated procedures for myocardial revascularization in the late period.

The diagnosis of bulky formations of the parathyroid glands (PTG) has become possible since current high-resolution techniques of visualization, such as ultrasound study (USS), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), were introduced into practice. The presence of clinical and/or laboratory signs of hyperparathyroidism (HPT) is a signal to initiate a goal-oriented search for abnormal PTG formations. The complex diagnosis of HPT involves the methods of detecting osteoporosis ranging from routine X-ray study of the hand and foot to more in-depth techniques: dichromatic X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and quantitative CT (QCT). USS is an excellent method for screening if abnormal PTC changes are suspected; however, negative USS results in the presence of clinical and/or laboratory signs of HPT should not stop a diagnostic search. CT with intravenous contrast bolus specifies the site and structure of an formation, has some advantage in detecting retrosternal tumors. Due to its high tissue contrast, three-dimensional images, none ionizing radiation and osseous structural artefacts, MRI becomes a preferable tool for studying PTG when they are typically or atypically located. Needle biopsy is required when noninvasive methods cannot characterize the pattern of an abnormal PTG formation properly or their results are contradictory.

Effectivity of radiodiagnosis has been analyzed in 158 patients with adrenal disease, among them 112 and 117 hormone-active tumors, while 46 subjects had 54 hormone-inactive tumors. Computed tomography proved more sensitive in detection of hormone-active tumors and hyperplasia of the adrenals than ultrasonography (97% versus 62%). Radioimmunoassay of the blood outflowing from the adrenals adjuvant to their venography appeared informative in 18 out of 21 procedures. Computed tomography was also more effective in identification of adrenal hormone-inactive tumors (adenomas, metastases, cancer, etc.), its sensitivity being 100% against 44% for ultrasonography. In large-size tumors aortography only warrants determination of the tumor organic origin reliably. The diagnostic model is proposed for adrenal diseases. It uses stage-by-stage and purposeful application of radiologic investigations.

Comprehensive ultrasonic and x-ray computer-aided tomographic (RCAT) examinations were carried out in 97 patients with 120 pyo-inflammatory foci in the abdominal cavity and retroperitoneal space. On the whole the sensitivity of ultrasonic examinations was 68%, that of RCAT 88%. RCAT was superior to ultrasonic examinations in the diagnosis of extra-organic (inter-intestinal, subdiaphragm, etc.) involvement, pancreonecrosis, and splenic abscesses. The advantages of this method were not so evident in the detection of liver and kidney abscesses and of gauze postoperative foreign bodies. Potentialities of an ultrasonic method were somewhat superior in localization of a pathologic focus in the pancreas in differentiation from a common cyst. Ultrasonic examinations should be widely used as a primary method and should to a certain measure determine the necessity of RCAT use in the diagnosis of pyo-inflammatory diseases of the abdominal cavity and retroperitoneal space organs.

Based on diagnostic data in 35 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm, which were obtained during ultrasonic scan echography, X-ray computed tomography and radioopaque angiography, and on their comparison with intraoperative findings, a diagnostic algorithm for examinations has been developed, which enables errors in the diagnosis to be excluded. The major diagnostic technique for abdominal aortic aneurysms has been found to be X-ray computed tomography which provided no errors in the assessment of the extent of aneurysms and the presence of their complicating components in all 35 patients. In high aneurysms of the abdominal aorta and suspected stenoses in the visceral, renal, and iliac arteries, X-ray computed tomography should be supplemented by radioopaque angiography to clarify the status of aortic branches.

Computed tomography was performed before and after telelithotripsy to evaluate changes in renal parenchyma induced by the procedure in 34 patients with nephroliths. Piezolith-2300 lithotriptor ("Wolf", FRG) was employed. The images showed no serious parenchymal injuries or paranephric hematomas, on the one hand, but density changes in the parenchyma, on the other hand. These were of 3 types: focal reduction in 3, diffuse reduction in 4 and diffuse increase of the density in 2 patients. As shown by comparison with literature data, telelithotripsy on "Piezolith-2300" causes minimal changes in renal parenchyma and perirenal fat. In view of this, the procedure is recommended for wide clinical and outpatient practice.

The paper is concerned with analysis of the results of X-ray investigation of 45 patients with aneurysms of the distal part of the arch and descending part of the thoracic aorta. Errors were made in 16 of 35 patients (35.6%) before admittance to hospital. X-ray investigation helped to establish correct diagnosis of aneurysm of the aorta in 42 of 45 patients (93.3%) on the basis of the detection of intense additional shadow formation in left pulmonary field, inseparable from the aortic shadow. The use of a new method of ultrasound diagnosis--duplex scanning--made it possible to establish the presence of aneurysm and to determine its sizes as well as to visualize the relation of the left subclavicular artery to aneurysm in 17 of 21 patients. CT-semiotics of aneurysms of the descending part of the thoracic aorta consisted in its dilatation over 3.5 cm, wall calcification, thrombosis of the cavity and change of the adjacent structures. Basing on the analysis of these signs correct diagnosis was established in 34 of 35 examinees (97.1%).

Possibilities of noninvasive radial diagnostics were studied in examination of 27 patients with dissecting aneurysms of the aorta. Classical X-ray examinations of chest organs have diagnosed aorta wall dissection in 2 of 24 patients. In 19 patients the diagnosis of aorta dissection was suspected. The ultrasound examination gave correct diagnosis in 3 of 4 patients examined. The non-contrast computed tomography has revealed dissecting aneurysms in 8 of 24 patients, an investigation with the intravenous injection of the contrast substance--in 13 of 15 patients. The diagnosis was based upon the detection of 2 canals of the aorta with the dissected intima between them, thrombosis of the false aorta canal and accumulation of the liquid in the pleura and pericardium cavity. When planning operative procedures it becomes necessary to perform aortography.

The paper is concerned with the results of x-ray and CT investigations conducted in 62 patients with suspected aneurysm of the thoracic aorta. The diagnosis was confirmed in 56. Of them 38 patients were operated on, 2 died without surgical intervention. X-ray investigations permitted differential diagnosis of mediastinal formations in 91.5% of cases. However in 2 cases when the combined method of intravenous administration of a contrast medium by means of a syringe was not used, aneurysmal aortic dilatation was not detected by CT. This method was found to be effective for diagnosis of complications of aneurysms of the thoracic aorta (calcinosis, aortic wall stratification and thrombosis of aneurysmal cavity).