BACKGROUND Various randomized studies have evaluated techniques of abdominal fascia closure but controversy remains, leaving surgeons uncertain about the optimal method of preventing incisional hernia. METHOD Medline and Embase databases were searched. All trials with a follow-up of at least 1 year that randomized patients with midline laparotomies to closure of the fascia by different suture...

BACKGROUND The study aimed to assess the level of plasma Endothelin-1 (ET-1) in patients before and after transcatheter closure of atrial septal defect (ASD) and to evaluate the usefulness of measuring ET-1 levels for the diagnosis and selection of candidates for ASD closure. METHODS 80 patients (55 F, 25 M), mean age 42,2 ± 11,5 years were enrolled for an attempt at ASD closure. A group of 1...

Cardiac death consequent to acute vessel closure after coronary angioplasty occurred in 13 of 294 closures from 8,207 consecutive procedures performed at two centers since 1981 (0.16% cardiac mortality rate). To determine the predictors of cardiac death after acute coronary closure, 50 clinical, angiographic and procedural variables were analyzed by an observer unaware of the clinical outcome f...

– Building on the well-established form closure framework for holding rigid parts, this paper proposes a new framework for holding deformable parts. We consider the class of deformable parts that can be modeled as linearly elastic polygons with a triangular finite element mesh and given stiffness matrix. We define the D-space (deformation-space) of a part as the C-space of all its mesh nodes. F...

OBJECTIVES Conventional surgical closure has been considered the gold standard for the treatment of perimembranous ventricular septal defects (PVSDs) in infants for many years, but it requires a cardiopulmonary bypass and midline sternotomy which can lead to both physical and psychological trauma in the future. An intraoperative device closure can be performed with the advantages of reduced inv...

OBJECTIVE To identify clinical and echocardiographic indicators of the necessity for early surgical closure of patent ductus arteriosus in preterm neonates. METHODS The prospective study was conducted at the Neonatal Unit of Hospital Municipal Odilon Behrens between 2006 and 2010. The study population comprised 115 preterm neonates diagnosed with patent ductus arteriosus in the first week aft...

Male (n = 6/group) and female (n = 6/group) kittens were gonadectomized at 7 weeks (prepuberally) or 7 months of age (postpuberally), or left intact. Lateral radiographic projections of the right forelimb were made from 4 months of age until the distal radial physis was closed, or 24 months of age. In males, distal radial physeal closure was delayed in both groups of gonadectomized animals, com...

OBJECTIVES We sought to determine which surgical technique of left atrial appendage (LAA) closure is most successful by assessing them with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation is a risk factor for stroke, with 90% of clots occurring in the LAA. Several surgical techniques of LAA closure are used to theoretically reduce the stroke risk, with varying success r...

The PFA-100 is an in vitro system for measurement of platelet function in whole blood. To establish reference intervals in the Korean population, we investigated the relationships between PFA-100 closure times and gender, ABO blood group, citrate concentration, and time of blood collection in 120 well-characterized healthy Korean adults. Gender did not affect closure time values. Blood group O ...