Cystic Adventitial Disease of the Common Femoral Artery: A Rare-Case Report

Herein, we report the case of a 59-year-old man with intermittent claudication of ~100 m, who complained of resting pain in his lower right extremity. A pelvic, contrast-enhanced, computed tomography scan showed the presence of cystic density in the lower segment of the right common femoral artery. Faced with the risk of acute limb ischemia, we navigated a challenging diagnostic procedure to choose an appropriate treatment for him. Additionally, we performed a pathological investigation of the excised common femoral artery following the excision bypass. On postoperative day 5, the patient was discharged from the hospital. During the 2-year follow-up, no new cysts were discovered, and the patient had favorable prognosis.

Atypical presentation of fistula dysfunction due to brachial arterial embolization mimicking stroke

Vascular access thrombosis is an important complication with great impact on access patency and, consequently, on a patient’s quality of life and survival. We report the case of a 73-year-old woman with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis with a radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula on the right arm that was brought to the emergency department with decreased strength in her right arm, ipsilateral hypoesthesia and facial hemi-hypoesthesia. The patient was given a brain computed tomographic scan that did not confirm suspicion of stroke. On re-examination, the patient had new-onset pain at arteriovenous fistula level, and her right arm was cold and pale. The nephrology department was called for arteriovenous fistula evaluation. On physical examination, her forearm fistula had a decreased thrill and arm elevation exacerbated its paleness. A bedside ultrasound was performed for arteriovenous fistula assessment. Doppler ultrasound revealed: partial thrombosis at brachial bifurcation, a flow of 80–105 mL/min at brachial artery level and a radial artery with a damped waveform. Anastomosis and draining vein were permeable. In this case, the diagnosis of acute embolic brachial artery occlusion was made by a fast bedside ultrasound evaluation. The patient underwent thromboembolectomy with Fogarty technique, recovering fistula thrill, radial and cubital pulses. Thromboembolism of the fistula feeding artery is a rare cause of vascular access thrombosis and it is rarely mentioned in the literature. In this report, failure to recognize the upper limb ischemia would have led to delayed treatment, potentially resulting in the fistula’s complete thrombosis and further limb ischemia. We highlight the importance of a diagnosis method like Doppler ultrasound, which allows for rapid evaluation at the patient’s bedside.

Embolism to the main limb arteries in patients with atrial fibrillation

Introduction. Acute limb ischemia due to embolism in patients with atrial fibrillation remains poorly studied. Objective – to study the clinical significance and role of atrial fibrillation (AF) in the development of embolism to the bifurcation of the aorta and the main arteries of the limbs. Materials and methods. Treatment results of 1816 patients with acute ischemia of the extremities due to embolism treated at a specialized vascular surgical department for the past 30 years were analyzed. 1611 (88.7 %) of them had AF. The distribution into studied groups was according to the period time factor. Group 1 (n = 744) consisted of patients admitted in the period from 1991 to 2000; in group 2 (n = 568) – admitted in the period from 2001 to 2010, in group 3 (n = 299) – from 2011 to 2020. Methods included clinical examination, electrocardiography, Doppler-ultrasound, echocardiography. Results. The role of rheumatic heart disease as a cause of AF has decreased over the past decades by almost 10 times (from 19.5 % in group 1 to 2.0 % in group 3). Currently, the main background diseases for the development of AF are arterial hypertension and various forms of coronary artery disease. Embolism in patients with AF may develop in the arteries of all vascular areas of the systemic circulation, but in the practice of a vascular surgeon more often in the main arteries of minor caliber – the brachial (24.5 %) and popliteal (13.0 %). Multiple embolisms to various vascular areas were found in 2.8 % of patients. Urgent surgical revascularization of the limb by open embolectomy was performed in 1481 (91.9 %) patients that allowed 1348 (83.7 %) to be discharged with limb-sparing. Conclusion. In patients with acute limb ischemia of embologenic ethiology, comorbid AF has 88.7 % of them. Urgent embolectomy allows 83.7 % of patients to be discharged without limb amputation. Hospital mortality in the period 1991–2000 was 15.6 %, the last decade has been reduced to 7.4 %.

Claudication due to adventitial cystic degeneration: A differential diagnosis of peripheral artery disease

Background Cystic adventitial disease (CAD) is an important and rare non-atherosclerotic cause of intermittent claudication and critical limb ischemia. Since the first case of CAD involving the external iliac artery was described by Atkins and Key in 1947, approximately 300 additional cases have been reported. Objectives The aim of this article is to report a rare vascular disorder, predominantly seen in young healthy men with minimal cardiovascular risk factors. Methods We report a rare case of cystic adventitial disease of a young policeman. To confirm the diagnosis, an ultrasonography and a conventional angiography were performed. The therapeutic approach was surgical first. Results The procedure was successful without any complication, and the patient was discharged to home 4 days after procedure. Conclusion While CAD is rare, the diagnosis should be suspected in a young patient who presents with arterial insufficiency and no risk factors for atherosclerosis. Catheter angiography is the investigation of choice in the absence of multislice CT and good MRA. It seems that the treatment that assures the best long-term results is reconstructive arterial bypass surgery.

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy Salvages Critical Limb Ischemia in B6 Mice through Upregulating Cell Proliferation Signaling and Angiogenesis

(1) This study tests hypothesis whether extracorporeal shock wave (ECSW) therapy effectively salvages mouse critical limb ischemia (CLI). In vitro result demonstrated that the angiogenesis parameters (i.e., tubular length/cluster/network formation) and protein expressions of EGFR/VEGFR2/RAS/c-Raf/MEK/ERK/VEGF/p-PI3K/p-Akt/p-m-TOR were significantly and progressively increased with stepwise augmentation of ECSW energy (0.1/0.14/0.20 mJ/mm2/140 impulses). On the other hand, they were suppressed by administration of Avastin (20 μM). Adult male B6 mice (n = 24) were equally categorized into group 1 (sham-operated control), group 2 (CLI), group 3 [CLI + ECSW (0.12 mJ/mm2/120 impulses/at days 1/3/7 after CLI induction)] and group 4 [CLI + ECSW (0.12 mJ/mm2/120 impulses) + Avastin (1 mg/intramuscular-injection)] at days 1/3/7 after CLI induction] and quadriceps were harvested by day 14. The laser Doppler result showed that the ratio of left (ischemia) to right (normal) limb blood flow was highest in group 1, lowest in group 2, and significantly higher in group 3 than in group 4 by days 7/14 after the CLI procedure (p < 0.0001). The protein expressions of cell proliferation/migration/angiogenesis receptors (EGFR/VEGFR2), angiogenesis biomarkers (VEGF/CXCR4/SDF-1) and cell proliferation/growth/survival (Ras/c-Raf/MEK/ERK)/(PI3K/Akt/m-TOR) and cell motility/proliferation (p-FAK/p-Scr) signaling biomarkers were significantly higher in group 3 than in groups 1/2/4, and significantly lower in group 1 than in groups 2/4, but they did not show a difference between groups 2 and 4 (all p < 0.001). The small vessel density and cellular levels of endothelial cell surface marker (CD31+) exhibited an identical pattern of blood flow, whereas the angiogenesis (CXCR4+/VEGF+) displayed an identical pattern of VEGFR2 among the groups (all p < 0.0001). The in vitro and in vivo studies found ECSW salvaged the CLI mainly through upregulating Ras-Raf-MEK/ERK/cell motility, cell proliferation/growth pathways and angiogenesis.

Sarcopenia is a risk factor for major adverse cardiac events after surgical revascularization for critical limb ischemia

Objectives We examined the effect of sarcopenia on early surgical outcomes in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) in terms of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and major adverse limb events (MALE), as well as the value of inflammatory markers of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios (PLR) as indicators of sarcopenia in CLI patients. Methods This was an observational retrospective single-center study. Patients who required surgical revascularization for CLI between October 2015 and December 2020 were identified. Psoas muscle areas were calculated from computed tomography images for psoas muscle index (PMI) calculations. Sarcopenia was defined as PMI < 5.5 cm2/m2 for men and PMI < 4.0 cm2/m2 for women. Risk factors for 30-day major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and major adverse limb events (MALE) were analyzed. NLR and PLR were compared between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic patients. Results The mean age of 217 study patients was 61.5 ± 10.9, and 16 (7.4%) patients were female. 82 (37.8%) patients were sarcopenic. Patients with sarcopenia were older (65.1 ± 9.3 vs 59.4 ± 11.2, p < .001) and history of myocardial infarction was more frequent (23.2% vs 12.6%, p = 0.042) among sarcopenic patients. Sarcopenic patients more frequently encountered MACE (9.8% vs 0.7%, p = 0.002), but not MALE. Sarcopenia increased early postoperative MACE in our cohort with an odds ratio of 11.925. NLR was not different between the two groups, while PLR was higher (127.16 vs 104.06, p = 0.010) among sarcopenic patients. The platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio of 125.11 had a sensitivity of 53.7% and a specificity of 68.1% for differentiating sarcopenia. Conclusions Sarcopenia was associated with more frequent 30-day MACE and perioperative mortality after revascularization for CLI. 30-day MALE was not increased in patients with sarcopenia. The use of PLR as a simple marker of sarcopenia is limited by its low sensitivity and specificity.