BACKGROUND: Surgery to prevent aspiration has complications related to tracheostomy tube, such as the trachea-brachiocephalic artery fistula. Glottic closure procedure makes tracheostoma at a position higher than the first ring of the trachea and theoretically has a potential to prevent such complications owing to a longer distance between the tip of tracheostomy tube and the tracheal membrane adjacent to the brachiocephalic artery. Our aim is to evaluate the safety of glottic closure in neurologically impaired patients by comparing outcomes with laryngotracheal separation.
METHODS: This study is a single-center retrospective study from 2004 to 2019, using data of 15 and 12 patients who underwent glottic closure (GC) and laryngotracheal separation (LTS). The primary outcome was the incidence of postoperative complications induced by tracheostomy tube placement and adjustment of the tracheostomy tube position to prevent these complications, such as by converting to a length-adjustable tube and/or placing gauze between the skin and tube flange. Additionally, we analyzed the anatomical relationship between the tracheostomy tube tip and brachiocephalic artery and measured the distance between them using postoperative CT images.
RESULTS: No patients in either group had trachea-brachiocephalic artery fistula. Erosion or granuloma formation occurred in 1 patient (7%) and 4 patients (33%) in the GC and LTS groups, respectively. Adjustment of the tracheostomy tube was needed in 2 patients (13%) and 6 patients (50%) in the GC and LTS groups. CT revealed a higher proportion of patients with the tracheostomy tube tip superior to the brachiocephalic artery in GC than LTS group. The mean tracheostoma-brachiocephalic artery distance was 40.8 and 32.4 mm in the GC and LTS groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Glottic closure reduces the risk of postoperative complications related to a tracheostomy tube. This may be due to the higher position of the tracheostoma at the level of the cricoid cartilage, increasing the distance between the tracheostoma and brachiocephalic artery.

本文报道了1例发生于老年男性气管切开术后的气管无名动脉瘘。患者男，60岁，因“意识下降5 d”就诊于天津市环湖医院神经外科。查头颅CT示脑积水、小脑出血术后，为求进一步诊治于7月20日至天津市环湖医院神经外科入院治疗。住院过程中发生气管切开造瘘口大出血，于手术室全身麻醉下行气管切开伤口探查术与血管造影术，见头臂干中段上壁造影剂溢出，证实出血原因为气管无名动脉瘘，予以压迫填塞后再次造影见头臂干血流通畅，无造影剂溢出，证实破裂点压迫稳定，患者转至外院血管外科行支架植入过程中因过度失血死亡。.

BACKGROUND: Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that induces stenosis, occlusion, or aneurysmal degeneration of the aorta and its major branches. Though rarely reported, proximal aneurysmal lesions from the aortic root to the arch are more common in Asian populations than in Western populations. In the surgical treatment of TA, anastomotic aneurysm can be problematic. Furthermore, atherosclerotic complications should be considered in surgical treatment for elderly TA patients.
METHODS: Here, we report a case of brachiocephalic artery (BCA) aneurysm with TA for which surgical treatment was successful. Though it was solely a lesion of the brachiocephalic artery, after considering the patient\'s clinical background and the features of TA, we chose a partial arch replacement. Further, for avoidance of anastomotic aneurysm, both distal and proximal anastomosis were reinforced with Teflon felt strips. Preoperative computed tomography detected severe atherosclerotic changes in the arch vessels. The patient underwent partial arch replacement using isolated cerebral perfusion (ICP) for brain protection and recovered without any neurological deficits.
CONCLUSIONS: In avoidance with anastomotic aneurysm, reinforcement of the anastomosis was introduced. ICP was effective for brain protection in case with severe atherosclerotic changes.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to clarify the positional relationship between the left brachiocephalic vein and its surrounding vessels and to analyse the association between this positional relationship and ageing.
METHODS: Chest contrast-enhanced computed tomography was performed for 100 adults. The contact number between left brachiocephalic vein and surrounding vessels (aorta, brachiocephalic artery, left common carotid artery and left subclavian artery) was determined. The correlations of ageing with the cross-sectional areas of left brachiocephalic vein crossing brachiocephalic artery and left common carotid artery and peripheral end of left brachiocephalic vein were analysed.
RESULTS: LBV was in contact with aorta in 19, brachiocephalic artery in 97, left common carotid artery in 90 and left subclavian artery in 21 patients. There were significant negative correlations of ageing with the cross-sectional areas of left brachiocephalic vein crossing brachiocephalic artery and left common carotid artery and peripheral end of left brachiocephalic vein.
CONCLUSIONS: Brachiocephalic artery and left common carotid artery have easy contact with left brachiocephalic vein. There was a negative relationship between the cross-sectional area of left brachiocephalic vein and age.

Tortuous brachiocephalic artery may lead to procedural difficulties among patients undergoing right transradial cardiac catheterization. By prospectively identifying patients with this anatomic barrier, operators may choose an alternate catheterization site to avoid complications from switching midway. To assess brachiocephalic artery tortuosity, 23 patients who underwent challenging diagnostic coronary angiography by right transradial access were compared to a control group of 29 patients who lacked brachiocephalic artery tortuosity. Preprocedural, plain chest x-rays were analyzed for measurable anatomic parameters and assessed for statistical significance between groups. The vertebrocarinal distance-the distance in centimeters between the spinous process of the first thoracic vertebra (T1) and the most caudal point of tracheal bifurcation, measured at and parallel to the midline-was the most reliable and statistically significant radiographic predictor of brachiocephalic artery tortuosity. Using this novel concept reduces procedure duration and radiation exposure by decreasing transradial cardiac catheterization failure rates.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the anatomical relations between brachiocephalic trunk (BT), trachea, spine and sternum in patients with Innominate Artery Compressing Syndrome (IACS) and control patients.
METHODS: Retrospective case-control study of patients diagnosed with IACS in our center, in whom vascular computerized tomography (CT) was performed. The CT were compared with those of control patients free of obstructive respiratory pathology, without congenital heart disease and free of deforming thoracic mass, in whom CT was performed due to other reason. Each case was paired with three controls per case, in similar age groups. The significance value was set as p<0,05.
RESULTS: Nine cases were included (7 boys and 2 girls) with their 27 respective controls (20 boys and 7 girls). The BT origin position with respect to the trachea, thought as a clock face, was 01:30 (00:30- 03:00) in cases and 01:30 (00:30-02:30) in controls. No differences were observed (p=0.72). The relation between anteroposterior/transversal tracheal diameters was 0.44 (0.184-0.6) in cases, 0.885 (0.64-1.16) in controls. The sternum-trachea/sternum-vertebra relation was 0.685 (0.6-0.76) in cases, 0.67 (0.49-0.79) in controls. No differences were observed (p=0.75). The angle of thoracic kyphosis was 29º (9º-34º) in cases, 24º (4º-33º) in controls. There were no statistically significant differences (p=0.45).
CONCLUSIONS: We found no differences between the two groups in the BT origin in relation to the trachea. In all cases, the origin was on the left side of the body. Therefore, we question the premise that IACS is due to a more left origin of BT.
UNASSIGNED: Analizar las distintas relaciones anatómicas entre el tronco braquiocefálico (TB), la tráquea, la columna vertebral y el esternón en pacientes diagnosticados de síndrome de compresión de la arteria innominada (SCAI) y compararlas con las de los pacientes controles.
UNASSIGNED: Estudio retrospectivo de casos y controles de los pacientes diagnosticados de SCAI en nuestro centro, a los que se realizó una tomografía computarizada con contraste (TC) y/o resonancia magnética (RM). Se compararon con pacientes controles, elegidos entre enfermos sin malformación cardiaca ni masa torácica deformante, y a los que se les había realizado una TC vascular torácico por distintos problemas respiratorios no obstructivos. Por cada caso, se seleccionaron tres controles, agrupándolos por grupos de edades. Se estableció pp<0,05 como valor de significancia estadística.
UNASSIGNED: Se incluyeron 9 casos (7 niños y 2 niñas) y 27 controles (20 niños y 7 niñas). Se estudió en cortes transversales de la TC la posición horaria del nacimiento del TB respecto a la tráquea, resultando en los casos una posición mediana correspondiente a las 01:30 (00:30- 03:00) y en los controles a las 01:30 (00:30-02:30), sin hallarse diferencias significativas (p= 0,72). Se midió el ratio entre el diámetro anteroposterior/diámetro transverso de la tráquea, este fue de 0,44 (0,184-0,6) en los casos y 0,885 (0,64-1,16) en los controles (p=0,00001). El ratio de la distancia esternón-tráquea/esternón-columna fue 0,685 (0,6-0,76) en los casos y 0,67 (0,49-0,79) en los controles (p=0,75). El ángulo de la cifosis torácica fue 29º (9-34) en los casos y 24º (4-33) en los controles (p=0,45).
UNASSIGNED: No observamos la existencia de diferencias en el nacimiento del TB en pacientes con SCAI respecto a la población general. El TB nace en todos los niños en el lado izquierdo del cuerpo, poniendo en duda que el SCAI sea debido a un nacimiento más izquierdo del TB.

The aneurysms of the innominate artery represent a rare form of aneurysmal disease. Management in an early elective basis is recommended due to the risk of stroke and rupture. Treatment options include open surgery, which is the gold standard, and endovascular repair. We describe the debranching-first technique and proximal arch replacement for a huge innominate artery aneurysm and discuss the surgical strategy for cannulation, perfusion and organ protection.

Neurological injury remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality following open aortic arch repair. Systemic hypothermia along with antegrade cerebral perfusion (ACP) is the accepted cerebral protection approach, with axillary artery cannulation being the most common technique used to establish ACP. More recently, innominate artery cannulation has been shown to be a safe and efficacious method for establishing ACP. Inasmuch as there is a lack of high-quality data comparing axillary and innominate artery ACP, we have designed a randomised, multi-centre clinical trial to compare both cerebral perfusion strategies with regards to brain morphological injury using diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI).
110 patients undergoing elective aortic surgery with repair of the proximal arch requiring an open distal anastamosis will be randomised to either the innominate artery or the axillary artery cannulation strategy for establishing unilateral ACP during systemic circulatory arrest with moderate levels of hypothermia. The primary safety endpoint of this trial is the proportion of patients with new radiologically significant ischaemic lesions found on postoperative DW-MRI compared with preoperative DW-MRI. The primary efficacy endpoint of this trial is the difference in total operative time between the innominate artery and the axillary artery cannulation group.
The study protocol and consent forms have been approved by the participating local research ethics boards. Publication of the study results is anticipated in 2018 or 2019. If this study shows that the innominate artery cannulation technique is non-inferior to the axillary artery cannulation technique with regards to brain morphological injury, it will establish the innominate artery cannulation technique as a safe and potentially more efficient method of antegrade cerebral perfusion in aortic surgery.
NCT02554032.

The aim of this study was to compare power versus manual injection in bolus shape and image quality on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA).
Three types of CE-MRA (head-neck 3-dimensional [3D] MRA with a test-bolus technique, thoracic-abdominal 3D MRA with a bolus-tracking technique, and thoracic-abdominal time-resolved 4-dimensional [4D] MRA) were performed after power and manual injection of gadobutrol (0.1 mmol/kg) at 2 mL/s in 12 pigs (6 sets of power and manual injections for each type of CE-MRA). For the quantitative analysis, the signal-to-noise ratio was measured on ascending aorta, descending aorta, brachiocephalic trunk, common carotid artery, and external carotid artery on the 6 sets of head-neck 3D MRA, and on ascending aorta, descending aorta, brachiocephalic trunk, abdominal aorta, celiac trunk, and renal artery on the 6 sets of thoracic-abdominal 3D MRA. Bolus shapes were evaluated on the 6 sets each of test-bolus scans and 4D MRA. For the qualitative analysis, arterial enhancement, superimposition of nontargeted enhancement, and overall image quality were evaluated on 3D MRA. Visibility of bolus transition was assessed on 4D MRA. Intraindividual comparison between power and manual injection was made by paired t test, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and analysis of variance by ranks.
Signal-to-noise ratio on 3D MRA was statistically higher with power injection than with manual injection (P < 0.001). Bolus shapes (test-bolus, 4D MRA) were represented by a characteristic standard bolus curve (sharp first-pass peak followed by a gentle recirculation peak) in all the 12 scans with power injection, but only in 1 of the 12 scans with manual injection. Standard deviations of time-to-peak enhancement were smaller in power injection than in manual injection. Qualitatively, although both injection methods achieved diagnostic quality on 3D MRA, power injection exhibited significantly higher image quality than manual injection (P = 0.001) due to significantly higher arterial enhancement (P = 0.031) and less superimposition of nontargeted enhancement (P = 0.001). Visibility of bolus transition on 4D MRA was significantly better with power injection than with manual injection (P = 0.031).
Compared with manual injection, power injection provides more standardized bolus shapes and higher image quality due to higher arterial enhancement and less superimposition of nontargeted vessels.

UNASSIGNED: In this experimental study, we primarily aimed to show the hemodynamic effects and superiority of this newly designed cannula for perfusion compared to standard subclavian cannulation. The new cannula (Figure 1) allows bidirectional axial flow and it directly fits in the brachiocephalic trunk (innominate artery).
UNASSIGNED: We used a cardiopulmonary bypass roller pump, reservoir, 3/8- 1/2- 1/4-inch Y-connectors and tubing set. Lines were set as seen in Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5. The anatomy of the aorta (ascending, arch, branches, descending) was mimicked, using tubing sets with different sizes and the connectors yielding similar angles and configurations. In this experimental vascular system, systemic vascular resistance was created with partial clamping of the common tubing set. The cannulation sites were created in the subclavian artery and the innominate artery. Perfusion was established with the same pump rate and the same occlusion pressures (systemic vascular resistance). The pressure readings were obtained in the right carotid artery, the left carotid artery and the left subclavian artery.
UNASSIGNED: These experimental models of vasculature allowed us to measure pressures in the carotid system for different cannulation set-ups, using both our newly designed double-outflow cannula, which was introduced via the innominate artery, and the standard arterial cannula, which was introduced via the subclavian artery. Higher pressure recordings were obtained in the carotid system with the new cannula introduced through innominate artery.
UNASSIGNED: Higher cerebral perfusion readings were obtained with our newly designed bidirectional cannula introduced via the innominate artery compared to standard cannulation through the right subclavian artery.