Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) involve the genitourinary system in less than 1% of cases, with primary renal carcinoids comprising only 19% of reported genitourinary NETs (56 cases worldwide). We report a case of a renal NET presenting as a large renal mass with extensive local invasion, requiring definitive radical en bloc resection via a thoracoabdominal approach.

This is a report of a case of the rare ectopia cordis malformation of the thoracoabdominal type without intracardiac anomalies. The patient had a successful single stage repair with reduction of the herniating heart and reconstruction of a cartilaginous cover to protect the heart. The result was very good and the follow up for 13 months was very satisfactory.

OBJECTIVE Several techniques have been described for the treatment of thoracic and thoracoabdominal aneurysms in patients with mega aortic syndrome (MAS), but the incidence of stroke, spinal cord injury, and endoleaks remains high. We present the midterm results of a new hybrid, multistep technique to treat patients with MAS. METHODS From November 2005 to January 2011, 80 patients with MAS un...

OBJECTIVES To determine the incidence and risk factors for spinal cord ischaemia (SCI) following thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic intervention. METHODS A prospective database of all thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic interventions between 2001 and 2009 was used to investigate the incidence of SCI. All elective and emergency cases for all indications were included. Logistic regression wa...

INTRODUCTION Open repair for chronic aortic dissection remains a challenging surgical option. Different centers report diverse experiences and outcomes pertaining to thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair (TAAAR) for chronic type B dissection. We highlight our center's experience and results on a background of published literature and current evidence. METHODS We reviewed 214 open TAAAR perf...

BACKGROUND An objective method to evaluate thoracoabdominal movement is needed in daily clinical practice to detect patients at risk of hypoventilation and to allow for timely interventions in neuromuscular diseases. The clinical feasibility, reliability, and validity of a newly developed method for quantifying respiratory movement using fiber grating sensors, called the Respiratory Movement Ev...

Until recently, patients with aneurysms of the thoracic and thoracoabdominal aorta had only one treatment option: open surgical repair. For those patients who could not tolerate an operation because of medical comorbidities, continued aneurysm enlargement and eventual rupture was a constant, yet unpredictable threat to their lives. Several studies have documented improved survival rates in thos...

T he surgical repair of descending and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms began in the early 1950s, and has been traditionally associated with a high mortality rate and a significant risk of paraplegia and multiple organ complications. Crawford classified thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms into four categories based on the extent of the aneurysm (Figure 1). According to this classification, exten...

It would be helpful to be able to identify respiratory effort-related arousal (RERA) without needing to measure oesophageal pressure. Thoracoabdominal movements yield an indirect flow measurement from which reduction of amplitude and alteration of the inspiratory flow curve can be detected. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of using the shape and amplitude of signals from thora...

RATIONALE Atherosclerosis is a disease of large- and medium-sized arteries that is characterized by chronic vascular inflammation. While the role of Th1, Th2, and T-regulatory subsets in atherogenesis is established, the involvement of IL-17A-producing cells remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of the IL-17A/IL-17RA axis in atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS We bred apolipop...