OBJECTIVES The study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of off-pump transapical mitral valve-in-ring implantation and to test the performance of a custom-made self-expandable stent valve, in comparison with the standard SAPIEN valve. METHODS Acute experiments were performed in five pigs. Animals (mean weight 58.4 ± 7.3 kg) underwent mitral valve annuloplasties under cardiopulmonary bypass usin...

OBJECTIVE Report the invention and structural analysis of the new model of anterior spinal instrumentation (KKU expandable cage) that is expandable for space filling after vertebral body resection while simultaneously stabilize the upper vertebra with the lower vertebra, to tolerate the thoracolumbar physiologic load and augment the interbody arthrodesis of the spine. MATERIAL AND METHOD The ...

Case. A right-handed 8-year-old female patient presented with a conventional, high-grade osteosarcoma involving her right humerus; through-shoulder amputation was recommended. After consultation, total humerus resection with expandable, total humeral endoprosthesis reconstruction was performed with a sleeve to encourage soft-tissue ingrowth. At three-year follow-up she has received one lengthen...

The present study investigates time and click error differences when older and younger computer users traversed expandable and non-expandable online hierarchical information structures to reach a target. The results show that older users were slower but did not make more errors than their younger counterparts, suggesting more cautious decision making. The study did not show superiority of eithe...

Stent placement is an essential treatment for airway diseases. Although self-expandable metallic stents and silicone stents are commonly applied for the treatment of airway diseases, these stents are unsuitable for the treatment of small airway diseases encountered in pediatric patients and lung transplant recipients with airway complications. Currently, only vascular balloon-expandable metalli...

Implanting a self-expandable stent at the ostium of the common iliac artery (CIA) may lead to coverage of the orifice of the contralateral CIA. Here, we describe a novel application of the culotte stent technique using a balloon-expandable stent to bail out an ostial stenotic legion of a jailed CIA due to prior self-expandable stent placement. The bilateral CIAs were revascularized by culotte s...

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has become standard therapy for patients with severe aortic stenosis who are deemed at least intermediate risk for surgical valve replacement. Over the past decade, several technological advances have taken place to improve the quality and safety of these devices. The current commercially available valves are broadly grouped into balloon expandable ...

As the additive manufacturing industry grows, it is compounding global plastic waste problem. Distributed recycling and (DRAM) offers an economic solution to this challenge, but has been relegated either small-volume 3D printers (limiting throughput) or expensive industrial machines accessibility lateral scaling). To overcome these challenges, paper provides proof-of-concept for a novel, open-s...

Objective: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy is a progressive debilitating disease that favorably responds to surgical decompression. The objective of this study was to review the use of expandable titanium cages for reconstruction of the spine after cervical corpectomy. Methods: We searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases up to March 2013 to identify English articles reporting the use of exp...