Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and coronary atherosclerosis share common risk factors. In this study, a single-center management experience of patients with a coexistence of AAA and coronary artery disease (CAD) is presented. Methods: 271 consecutive patients who underwent elective AAA repair were reviewed. Coronary imaging in 118 patients was considered suitable for exploration of AAA coexistence with CAD. Results: Significant coronary stenosis (> 70%) were found in 65.3% of patients. History of cardiac revascularization was present in 26.3% of patients, myocardial infarction (MI) in 31.4%, and 39.8% had both. In a subgroup analysis, prior history of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (OR = 6.9, 95% CI 2.6-18.2, p < 0.001) and patients' age (OR = 1.1, 95% CI 1.0-1.2, p = 0.007) were independent predictors of significant coronary stenosis. Only 52.0% (40/77) of patients with significant coronary stenosis underwent immediate coronary revascularization prior to aneurysm repair: PCI in 32 cases (4 drug-eluting stents and 27 bare metal stents), coronary artery bypass graft in 8 cases. Patients undergoing revascularization prior to surgery had longer mean time from coronary imaging to AAA repair (123.6 vs. 58.1 days, p < 0.001). Patients undergoing coronary artery evaluation prior to AAA repair had shorter median hospitalization (7 [2-70] vs. 7 [3-181] days, p = 0.007) and intensive care unit stay (1 [0-9] vs. 1 [0-70] days, p = 0.014) and also had a lower rate of major adverse cardiovascular events or multiple organ failure (0% vs. 3.9%, p = 0.035). A total of 11.0% of patients had coronary artery aneurysms. Conclusions: Patients with AAA might benefit from an early coronary artery evaluation strategy.

Background The Augmented Reality (AR) blends digital information with the real world. Thanks to cameras, sensors, and displays it can supplement the physical world with holographic images. Nowadays, the applications of AR range from navigated surgery to vehicle navigation. Development The purpose of this feasibility study was to develop an AR holographic system implementing Vertucci’s classification of dental root morphology to facilitate the study of tooth anatomy. It was tailored to run on the AR HoloLens 2 (Microsoft) glasses. The 3D tooth models were created in Autodesk Maya and exported to Unity software. The holograms of dental roots can be projected in a natural setting of the dental office. The application allowed to display 3D objects in such a way that they could be rotated, zoomed in/out, and penetrated. The advantage of the proposed approach was that students could learn a 3D internal anatomy of the teeth without environmental visual restrictions. Conclusions It is feasible to visualize internal dental root anatomy with AR holographic system. AR holograms seem to be attractive adjunct for learning of root anatomy.

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Introduction:Recent studies indicate that the therapeutic effects of endocardial cell transplantation in chronic heart failure (iCHF) may be lost with an increasing number of injections.Aim: To evaluate global and regional contractility and diastolic function of the left ventricle of patients with advanced iCHF who received endomyocardial cardiopoietic mesenchymal stem cells (MCSs) or sham procedures.Material and methods: The study included patients (mean age: 60.8 ±7.1 years) with iCHF (left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 35%) and a history of hospitalization for heart failure within 12 months before the screening despite optimal medical therapy. The patients underwent transmyocardial MCS transplantation (n = 5) or a sham procedure (n = 5). The wall motion score index (WMSI), LVEF, transmitral E-velocity, E-wave deceleration time, E/A-ratio, and E/e′-mean were measured with two-dimensional echocardiography on days 1 and 30.Results: A total of 170 segments were analyzed, including 48 targeted segments where 92 injections of 0.5 ml of MCS were performed. In the MSC group, a decrease in regional contractility was observed in 30.6% and 18.9% of the segments on days 1 and 30, respectively. This was accompanied by an increase in WMSI by 0.32 ±0.06 and 0.19 ±0.18 (day 1, p = 0.02, day 30, p = 0.03) and a non-significant reduction in LVEF on day 1 (3.15 ±1.23%, p = 0.065).Conclusions: We did not observe differences in the parameters of diastolic function during the follow-up in both groups.