DEDICATIONAfter studying medicine at Hanover Medical School and philosophy and social psychology at the Leibniz University Hanover, Omke E. Teebken joined the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel at the end of the 1990s as a research fellow at the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery headed by Professor Dr Axel Haverich, whom Omke E. Teebken later followed back to Hanover.In Hanover, besides working as a clinician, Omke E.Teebken was particularly active scientifically, contributing to the establishment of the then newly founded Leibniz Laboratories for Biotechnology and Artificial Organs (LEBAO). His work focused on regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, and subsequently he wrote his habilitation thesis in in this field. After basic training in cardiac surgery, he specialised clinically in vascular surgery and played a pioneering role in the development of this field. Before being appointed director of the Clinic for Vascular Surgery e Endovascular Surgery at the Peine Clinic in 2016, Omke E. Teebken headed the Vascular Surgery e Endovascular Surgery Division of the Department of Cardiothoracic, Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery at Hanover Medical School. Professor Teebken was a highly appreciated, committed, and competent colleague and teacher.On 8 April 2019, Professor Teebken passed away after a short and severe illness. He was member and author of the ESVS guideline writing committee, an esteemed colleague, and friend.We will always honor his memory.

Management of mycotic aortic aneurysms remains a challenging problem. The results of surgery depend on many factors. In our experience, in-situ repair remains a feasible and safe treatment option for patients who are in good general condition at the time of surgery.

in situ reconstruction with the lower extremity deep veins is in the long term a safe and attractive alternative in the treatment of infrarenal aortic graft infection.

Type III endoleak rarely (2.1%) occurs after EVAR, with a higher incidence in first- and second-generation endografts. In the majority of cases, the underlying mechanism is disconnection of the stent graft components. Type III endoleaks may occur early or late after initial EVAR and can, in most cases, be managed endovascularly, although type III endoleak may recur.

The development of biliary strictures (BSs) after liver transplantation (LT) continues to affect 10% to 30% of patients, causing substantial morbidity. The cause of BSs is multifactorial, including technical, immune, and, in particular, ischemic factors. The importance of adequate flushing of the peribiliary arterial tree has been stressed. We hypothesized that high-viscosity (HV) preservation solutions in the donor do not completely flush the small donor peribiliary plexus, leading to inadequate preservation of the bile ducts and posttransplant BSs. To test this hypothesis, we retrospectively compared the incidence of BSs in 2 groups of adults undergoing LT using different types of aortic preservation solution in the donor: group 1 (n ‫؍‬ 24), low-viscosity (LV) Marshall solution; and group 2 (n ‫؍‬ 27), HV University of Wisconsin (UW) solution. All donors in both groups received additional portal flushes with UW. All LTs were performed between November 1995 and August 1998 at 2 centers by the same surgeon, eliminating a technical bias. Terminal duct-toduct anastomosis was performed in all recipients except 1 patient in group 1, who underwent a bile duct-to-jejunum anastomosis. BSs were first suspected on clinical and biochemical grounds and then confirmed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Identical medical protocols were used in all patients. One-year patient survival rates in groups 1 and 2 were 92% and 100%, respectively (P ‫؍‬ .9). One-year graft survival was identical to patient survival. The incidence of BSs in group 1 was 4.1% (1 of 24 patients), compared to 29.7% in group 2 (8 of 27 patients; P ‫؍‬ .02). The BS in group 1 occurred 4 months post-LT and was anastomotic. BSs in group 2 occurred between 1 and 12 months post-LT and were anastomotic, extrahepatic, intrahepatic, or combined intrahepatic and extrahepatic. There were no significant differences in the following factors between groups 1 and 2: donor age, local versus imported liver, split-liver or full-liver transplantation, incidence of multiple vessels in the donor liver, indications for LT, recipient age, T-tube versus no T-tube, post-LT peak aspartate aminotransferase level, and treatment for rejection. There was no hepatic artery thrombosis or primary nonfunction in either group. Interestingly, cold ischemia time (CIT) was longer in group 1, which had the least incidence of BSs (692 ؎ 190 v 535 ؎ 129 minutes in group 2; P ‫؍‬ .001). Follow-up was longer in group 1 (28.9 ؎ 8.3 v 15.6 ؎ 8 months in group 2; P ‫؍‬ .0001). Preservation costs per procurement were 1.9 times greater in the UW group than in the Marshall group. S ince the National Institutes of Health consensus conference in 1984, results of liver transplantation (LT) have improved dramatically. In elective candidates, a 1-year survival rate of 90% can now be reached. This is caused by better patient selection and preparation, improvement in organ preservation, refinement in procurement and surgical transplantation techniques, improved anesthetic and intensive care ma...