Effect of diclofenac sodium on the healing process of end-to-end anastomosis in carotid arteries of rabbits. Histopathological and biomechanical studies

Aim. Diclofenac sodium is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug commonly used to attenuate painful inflammatory reactions in surgery. However, it may delay healing in the skin and gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of Diclofenac in vascular healing. Methods. Ninety rabbits had their carotid arteries sectioned and reconstructed by end-to-end anastomosis with interrupted sutures. The animals were randomly allocated into 3 groups of 30 each and treated by intramuscular route with saline (control), 5 mg/kg/day of diclofenac sodium (DS-5), and 10 mg/kg/day of diclofenac sodium (DS-10). Treatment began on the day of surgery and lasted 4 days. Angiography, biomechanical properties (failure load, failure elongation, yield point, yield point elongation, and stiffness were obtained from the load/elongation curve), macroscopic and histological examinations (hematoxylin-eosin, Masson, Calleja, Picrossirius-red), and scanning electron microscopy were studied in both arteries on the 3rd and 15th postoperative days. Results. No significant differences in biomechanical properties were observed either in the 3 groups or the experimental times. The carotid artery healing process was similar in the 3 groups. Conclusion. Diclofenac sodium did not cause alterations nor delayed carotid artery healing.

Carotid arteries in the dog: Structure and histophysiology

Light microscopy analysis of the mural structure of the common carotid artery, internal carotid artery and external carotid artery in mongrel dog revealed variability in the middle values of vascular diameter and thickness of the intimal plus medial coats and adventitial coat. The vascular diameter did not differ between the internal carotid artery and external carotid artery, but was significantly increased in the common carotid artery from which the other two arteries had origin. The increased thickness of the intimal plus medial coats of the common carotid artery revealed the constant mechanical adjustment of the arterial wall and local shearing stress that occurred among the arterial coats. The adventitial coat of the internal carotid artery was significantly thicker than those of the common carotid and external carotid arteries, with no significant difference noted between the latter arteries. These histomorphometric results were related to the qualitative observations regarding the mural structure of the three arteries analyzed, especially regarding to the increased thickness and structural complexity of the adventitial coat of the internal carotid artery. Perhaps it acted as an external protective sheath of the vascular wall during its long course until the carotid channel. © 2006 Sociedad Chilena de Anatomía.

Ligature of external carotid artery as an optional technique in a patient with von Willebrand disease

The von Willebrand disease (vWD) is a hereditary coagulopathy. There is no gender predilection. Clinically characterized by mucocutaneous bleeding, especially nose bleeding, menorrhagia and bleeding after trauma. This article reports a case of a 52-year-old Caucasian male patient with vWD, who presented with extensive bleeding in the tongue after a lacerating injury caused by accidental biting, and describes some clinical, pathological and treatment aspects of vWD. After repeated attempts to suture the wound and replace clotting factors, a decision was made to perform the ligature of the external carotid artery ipsilateral to the injury. There was favorable resolution of the case, with a good aspect of the scar 2 months after ligation. This case reinforces that it is extremely important to make a thorough review of medical history of all patients, searching for possible bleeding disorders or previous family history.

Panoramic radiography in the diagnosis of carotid artery atheromas and the associated risk factors

Atherosclerosis is a serious chronic disease, responsible for thousands of deaths worldwide and is characterized by thickening and loss of elasticity of the arterial walls, associated with the presence of atheromatous plaques. Various risk factors act directly on predisposition to the disease, among which the following are pointed out: diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension and inadequate diet and eating habits. More recent researches have elucidated new risk factors acting in the development of this disease, such as, for example: periodontitis, chronic renal disease and menopause. The panoramic radiograph, commonly used in dental practice, makes it possible to see calcified atherosclerotic plaques that are eventually deposited in the carotid arteries. The aim of this review article was to emphasize the dentist's important role in the detection of carotid artery atheromas in panoramic radiographs and the immediate referral of patients affected by these calcifications to doctors. In addition, the study intended to guide the dentist, especially the dental radiologist, with regard to differential diagnosis, which should be made taking into consideration particularly the triticeal cartilage when it is calcified. © Henriques et al.

Cross-talk with β2-adrenoceptors enhances ligand affinity properties from endothelial alpha1D-adrenoceptors that mediates carotid relaxation

Objectives Our main objectives were to investigate the affinity properties of endothelial and muscular α1D-adrenoceptors and to characterize the cross-talk between endothelial α1D- adrenoceptors and β2-adrenoceptors in rat carotid. Methods Relaxation and contraction concentration-response curves for phenylephrine (α1-adrenergic agonist) were obtained in carotid rings in absence or presence of increasing concentrations of BMY7378 (α 1D-adrenergic antagonist), combined or not with increasing concentration of ICI-118,551 (β2-adrenergic antagonist). Schild analysis was used to estimate the affinity constant from pA2 values of BMY7378. Key Findings BMY7378 produced an unsurmountable antagonism on phenylephrine-induced relaxation but a surmountable antagonism on phenylephrine-induced contraction. BMY7378 potency was higher in inhibiting the relaxation than the contraction induced by phenylephrine because the rightward shifts induced by BMY7378 were greater in the relaxation. The apparent pA 2 value for BMY7378 in phenylephrine-induced relaxation was greater than in contraction. When combined with ICI-118,551, BMY7378 yielded a surmountable antagonism on phenylephrine-induced relaxation and presented a pA2 value similar to that obtained in phenylephrine-induced contraction. Conclusions Endothelial α1D-adrenoceptors, which mediates rat carotid relaxation, present high ligand affinity because of the cross-talk with β2-adrenoceptors, which explains the higher potency of phenylephrine in inducing relaxation than contraction and the atypical unsurmountable antagonism produced by BMY7378 on phenylephrine-induced relaxation. © 2013 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Carotid artery atherosclerotic profile as a predictor of the aorta atherosclerotic profile in patients with cerebrovascular events

Background: It is well known that the presence of atheroma of the thoracic aorta is a risk factor for cerebrovascular events. We sought to evaluate whether the presence and the morphology of atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery detected by duplex ultrasonography is associated with disease in the proximal aorta visualized by transesophageal echocardiogram in patients with a cerebrovascular event. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional prospective study including 147 consecutive patients with prior stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). Neurological evaluations were performed by an expert neurologist using clinical and tomographic diagnostic criteria including the definition of etiology and whether the patient suffered from stroke or TIA. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiograms and carotid artery duplex ultrasonography were performed by the same examiner. Patients with and without plaque in the carotid artery were compared using Student's t test or the χ2 test. Regression analysis was used to determine whether the presence of plaque in the carotid artery was predictive of the presence of plaque in the proximal aorta and to analyze the relationship between the echogenicity of carotid and aortic plaques. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. Results: All 147 patients (95 men) were included in the analysis. Patients' ages ranged from 23 to 85 years (65 ± 12.4 years). Most of the patients (58.5%) were Caucasian, while 41.5% were African-Brazilian. Arterial hypertension, diabetes and tobacco use were more frequent among patients with atherosclerotic plaque in the aorta. A normal carotid intima-media thickness halved the risk of atherosclerotic plaque in the aorta [odds ratio (OR) 0.46, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23-0.91; p = 0.026]. The presence of carotid plaque increased the risk of aortic plaque by 70-fold (OR 73.2, 95% CI 25.6-2,018.6; p < 0.001) in univariate analysis. The absence of atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery reduced the risk of plaque in the aorta to almost 0 (OR 0.014, 95% CI 0.004-0.041; p < 0.001). Considering the 86 patients with both aortic and carotid plaques, the presence of hypoechoic plaque in the carotid artery was a predictor of hypoechoic plaque in the aorta (OR 10.1, 95% CI 3.3-31.2; p < 0.001). Conclusions: The carotid artery atherosclerotic profile defined by ultrasonography is a strong predictor of the atherosclerotic profile of the proximal aorta. This should be taken into consideration before referring patients with acute cerebrovascular events for transesophageal echocardiogram. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Ultrasound evaluation of common carotid artery blood flow in the Labrador retriever

Background: Doppler ultrasound (DUS) examination provides quantitative and qualitative information concerning the blood flow in veins and arteries, enabling their morphological evaluation and the collection of hemodynamic data. Dogs and cats as well as humans may display neurological signs of brain hypoperfusion secondary to common carotid alterations. Hence, DUS examination might aid in the differential diagnosis of neurological disorders of ischemic origin, among other causes. The objective of this study was to register normal values for systolic peak velocity, minimum diastolic velocity, diameter and resistance index of both common carotid arteries of 12 healthy Labrador retriever dogs between 2 and 5 years of age. By gathering these values, we might be able to improve the sensitivity of hemodynamic studies in clinically important brain disorders. Results: There were no statistical differences between the values for the right and left vessels: the systolic peak velocity was 75.8 ± 16 cm/s, minimum diastolic velocity was 12.2 ± 4 cm/s, common carotid diameter was 0.545 ± 0.063 cm, and resistance index was 0.83 ± 0.07. Conclusions: The results of this study might be used to establish normal parameters for Labrador retriever dogs and thus help in the diagnosis of neurological disorders associated with alterations of the carotid arteries. Similar studies must be performed to evaluate the same parameters in other dog breeds of different sizes and skull conformations. © 2013 Svicero et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Horner-s Syndrome following common carotid artery translocation in a horse: case report

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evaluation of clinical and inflammatory markers of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Pseudoaneurysm of the internal carotid artery presenting with massive (recurrent) epistaxes: a life-threatening complication of craniofacial trauma

Vascular lesions can be serious complications resulting of blunt or penetrating trauma(1,2). Internal carotid artery lesion is one of most serious and relatively frequent in all mechanisms of craniofacial trauma. Several clinical manifestations can occur as central neurologic and cranial nerves deficits as well as several degrees of bleeding (from mild symptomatic to fatal). Recurrent and massive epistaxis can occur after trauma due to pseudaoneurysms of the external and internal carotid artery (ICA)(3,4). Considering its life-threatening course, the assisting physician has a relatively narrow time to detect and treat these lesions.We present two cases of recurrent and massive epistaxis secondary to ICA pseudoaneurysm following blunt and perforating trauma. Evolution was fatal in the first case with delayed treatment and uneventfully in the second which was treated by occlusion of the pseudoaneurysm and ICA via endovascular intervention.