BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The fat embolism syndrome (FES) is characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of pulmonary and neurological symptoms as well as skin and mucosal petechiae in the setting of long-bone fractures or their surgical repair. Its pathophysiology is poorly understood, and effective treatments are lacking. We present 5 patients with long-bone fractures in whom in vivo microembol...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We undertook this study to evaluate the performance of an automated detection software in the detection of Doppler microembolic signals (MES) during cardiac surgery. METHODS Intraoperative monitoring was performed over two spatially separated vessel segments of each middle cerebral artery in 18 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery (n= 16) or cardiac valve ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Asymptomatic microembolic signals (MES) can be demonstrated in patients with cerebral ischemia using transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasonographic monitoring of the middle cerebral artery. However, the clinical relevance of MES remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to estimate the independent contribution of microembolism to the risk of early ischemic recurrence ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between carotid plaque characteristics and the occurrence of cerebral microemboli signals (MES) and subsequent ischemic events in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis (ACS). DESIGN Sixty-two asymptomatic patients with 50-99% carotid stenosis underwent transcranial Doppler (TCD) monitoring to determine the relationship between MES and plaque char...

PURPOSE To assess whether carotid plaque hemorrhage depicted with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was associated with thromboembolic activity as assessed with transcranial Doppler imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS The local research ethics committee approved the study, and all patients gave informed written consent. Between April 2005 and December 2006, patients with high-grade symptomatic carot...