BACKGROUND L-Arginine reduces platelet aggregation and adhesion in ex vivo studies, but there is no evidence as yet that it has a therapeutic effect on clinical end points. Doppler ultrasound can detect cerebral emboli noninvasively. Such embolic signals are common after carotid endarterectomy, and their frequency predicts risk of stroke recurrence. We used this situation to determine the antip...

clinically relevant embolic events during peripheral interventions is low, and most of these events can be successfully managed during the index procedure, as shown by the study of Shrikhande and colleagues and Dieter and Najundappa. However, nothing is known about the clinical consequences of initially silent distal embolic events in patients undergoing repetitive redo procedures. In particula...

PURPOSE To describe the use of the 5 × 300-mm Proteus embolic capture angioplasty (ECA) balloon catheter to reduce embolic burden in complex TASC II (TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus) C and D femoropopliteal interventions. METHODS A non-randomized safety and feasibility study was conducted at 2 centers enrolling 15 subjects (9 women; mean age 72.5 ± 9.5 years, range 53-85) suffering from...

AIMS In infective endocarditis, the true incidence of embolic events and metastatic infections remains unknown probably because a large number of events are asymptomatic. The consequences of the prognosis of such events have never been evaluated by a prospective follow-up. This study aimed to assess the incidence of symptomatic or asymptomatic embolic events and metastatic infections in definit...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Hydroxyapatite ceramic microparticles are newly developed embolic materials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics, embolic properties of hydroxyapatite ceramic microparticles, and effects of transcatheter embolization from an angiographic standpoint and to histopathologically evaluate the results of animal experimentation. METHODS After physical...

PURPOSE To study the safety, technical efficacy, and histopathology of the ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVAL) embolic mixture in an animal model. METHODS Microcatheterization of the rete was performed in 29 swine. The clinical, angiographic, and histopathologic consequences of superselective injection of the two principal embolic mixture components (EVAL and dimethyl sulfoxide [DMSO]) we...

In 20 patients (6 male; age 56.5+/-6.4 years; BSA 1.6+/-0.1 m(2)) undergoing port-access mitral valve surgery, automated intraoperative transcranial Doppler was used to monitor absolute amount, side distribution, and type of embolic events during selected phases of the procedure to evaluate the impact of specific surgical manoeuvres on cerebral microembolism. The rate of events per minute was a...

Abstract—The initially reported periprocedural neurological events rates associated with transcatheter aortic valve replacement raised concerns that ultimately led to the development and to the clinical research of novel embolic protection devices. Although the reduction of clinical stroke is a desired goal, the current research design of embolic protection devices focuses on surrogate markers ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Remote ischemic conditioning is cardioprotective in myocardial infarction and neuroprotective in mechanical occlusion models of stroke. However, there is no report on its therapeutic potential in a physiologically relevant embolic stroke model (embolic middle cerebral artery occlusion) in combination with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). METHODS We t...

BACKGROUND Stent placement in saphenous vein bypass grafts is associated with a high incidence of myonecrosis usually resulting from embolization of thrombus and friable atheroma. Embolic protection devices reduce the incidence of adverse events after vein graft stenting. However, first-generation balloon occlusion systems are still associated with a 10% incidence of periprocedural adverse even...