UNLABELLED In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the changes in respiratory thoracoabdominal mechanics result from both hyperinflation and functional and structural skeletal muscle alterations. AIM Evaluation of the particularities of respiratory movement in COPD and identification of inter-relations between respiratory thoraco-abdominal mechanics and clinical and functional respira...

BACKGROUND To address the lack of information about the size of ruptures associated with chronic dissection in the descending and thoracoabdominal aorta, we evaluated the natural history of this pathology. METHODS AND RESULTS We analyzed data from 571 patients (mean age, 69.4±11.6 years) with unrepaired chronic aortic dissection in the descending or thoracoabdominal aorta with a maximal aorti...

The mortality and morbidity of extensive thoracoabdominal aorta replacement has improved markedly in recent years [1]. However, postoperative paraplegia from spinal cord infarction remains the most devastating complication that faces patients undergoing surgery on the thoracoabdominal aorta because loss of lowerlimb function imposes severe constraints on the quality of life. Additionally, parap...

Esophago-pleural fistula associated with thoracic aortic aneurysm is a rare and lethal complication. We report the case of a 62-year-old male who suffered from esophago-pleural fistula 56 days after thoracoabdominal aortic surgery. Contrasted CT showed that the fistula occurred at the level of the esophagus compressed by rapid dilatation of thoracic aorta and endoscopy revealed no ischemic sign...

Graft infection remains a serious complication of prosthetic aortic repair. Infection of thoracoabdominal aortic prosthetic grafts, in particular, is a significant clinical challenge and is associated with high mortality. We report successful in situ reconstruction of an infected thoracoabdominal aortic prosthetic patch graft with autogenous superficial femoral vein. To our knowledge, this is t...

Advent of antiretroviral therapy has increased survival of patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections, with the result that some of these patients now develop degenerative diseases, such as atherosclerotic aneurysms. Degenerative thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm is rare in HIV patients. In this report, a 63-year-old male patient with HIV submitted to open repair of thoracoabdom...

Open surgical repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms has evolved significantly over the last decades thanks to technical improvements, especially in the area of organ protection. However, despite adjunctive strategies, morbidity and mortality rates are still not negligible. Repair of the thoracoabdominal aorta represents a formidable challenge for surgeons, anesthesiologists and patients a...

We successfully treated a case of a 65-year-old female with an abdominal aortic aneurysm coexisting with an atypical coarctation of thoracoabdominal aorta and celiac axis and superior mesenteric artery occlusion. A dilated inferior mesenteric artery was supplying the celiac artery and superior mesenteric artery regions. The patient also had mitral regurgitation. After a mitral valve plasty, we ...

A 54-year-old man underwent aortic repair for the infected thoracoabdominal aneurysm with a woven Dacron graft (Vascutek, Renfrewshire, Scotland) treated with gentian violet. Four months later, he complained of sudden back pain, resulting in preshock status. Computed tomographic scans showed massive hematoma around the Dacron graft, suggesting graft rupture. Initially, emergency thoracic endova...

Traumatic asphyxia is a rare syndrome caused by blunt thoracoabdominal trauma and characterized by cyanosis, edema, and subconjunctival and petechial hemorrhage on the face, neck, upper extremities, and the upper parts of the thorax. Traumatic asphyxia is usually diagnosed by history and inspection; however, the patient should be monitored more closely due to probable complications of thoracoab...