Objective To summarize the advantages and key points of external fenestration in the treatment of aortic dissection involved visceral branch arteries after endovascular aortic repair (EVAR), and to explore the application effect of external fenestration in aortic dissection involved visceral branch arteries. Methods A patient with abdominal aortic aneurysm resulting in abdominal aortic dissection and involving multiple visceral arteries after EVAR was treated in Center of Vascular and Interventional Surgery, Department of General Surgery, The Third People’s Hospital of Chengdu. The surgical procedure of this patient was summarized, and the current status of total lumen technique in the treatment of such diseases was discussed and analyzed. Results The operation was successful, and it took only five hours, the intraoperative blood loss was about 100 mL, the patient was kept in ICU for one day and discharged one week after surgery and no serious postoperative complications occurred (such as spinal cord ischemia, liver and kidney insufficiency, infection, lower limb ischemia, puncture pseudoaneurysm, etc.). Aortic CT angiography was reexamined in three months after surgery, and the three-dimensional reconstruction showed that the aortic stent was stable, the blood flow of visceral branch arteries was smooth, and the aortic dissection was well isolated. Conclusion Endovascular repair of aortic dissection involving branch arteries of important organs can be achieved by external fenestration technique, it is a new treatment for aortic lesions involved visceral branch arteries.
Objective To assess the applied significance of carbon nanoparticles in central compartment lymph node dissection in treatment of cN0 papillary thyroid carcinoma. Methods Sixty-eight patients with cN0 papillary thyroid carcinoma who were treated in Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College from May. to Oct. in 2012 were randomly allocated to the control group （n=32） and the carbon nanoparticles trace group （tracer group， n=36）， receiving non-carbon nanoparticles trace and carbon nanoparticles trace respectively. All patients were received total resection of thyroid plus the affected side and （or） contralateral side central compartment lymph node dissection. The lymph node-related indexes（including number of dissected lymph node at Ⅵarea and lymph node metastasis rate at Ⅵarea） and operative indexs （including operation time， blood loss， drainage time， complication， and hospital stay） were collected and compared between the 2 groups. Results There were 205 and 324 dissected lymph node at central compartment in control group and tracer group respectively. The results of postoperative pathology showed that the number of lymph node in central compartment of the tracer group was much more than those of control group （8.99±2.24 vs. 6.41±1.56， P＜0.001）. The metastasis rate of central compartment lymph node were 40.6% （13/32） in control group and 47.2% （17/36） in tracer group， but there was no significant difference between the 2 groups （P=0.762）. But in medial area of laryngeal recurrent nerve， the metastasis rate in the tracer group （38.9%， 14/36） was much higher than those of control group （12.5%， 4/32）， P=0.029. There were no significant differences in the operation time， blood loss， drainage time， hospital stay， and complication incidence such as bleeding， temporary hypocalcemia， and injury of superior laryngeal nerve between 2 groups （P＞0.05）. All the patients in 2 groups had followed-up for 6 months without death， recurrence， and metastasis.Conclusions The lymphatic tracer technique of carbon nanoparticles may improve the number of dissected lymph nodes in central region of cN0 papillary thyroid carcinoma， without increasing （or prolonging） operation time， intraoperative blood loss， and postoperative hospital stay， and can accurately represent the metastasis of lymph node， thus to make the staging of the tumor accurately and guide postoperative treatment.