This text evolved as a response to numerous requests to present a simplified approach to the diagnosis and management of most of the common aspects of both cosmetic and medical venous disorders. The authors, representing experienced plebologists from several different primary disciplines, have attempted to present simplistic paradigm-oriented approaches on how to thoughtfully evaluate and manage common vein issues with contemporary solutions. Several areas of phlebology were not addressed in this text. The management of vascular malformations are beyond the scope of this text and were not covered in detail. Although indications for the appropriate use of IVC filters are discussed, the details about the specific devices, their placement and removal are also beyond the scope of this text. Deep venous obstruction from prior thrombosis, venous compression by arteries such as the compression of the left common iliac vein by the right common iliac artery and pelvic venous insufficiency can now be managed with minimally invasive image guided treatments; the technical aspects of such treatments are complex and not discussed in detail in this handbook. This book will increase the therapeutic skill of the practicing phlebologist and thus increase the quality of care for patients faced with problems related to venous disorders.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed world. Despite advances and new developments in primary and secondary prevention, the prevalence of the disease and its complications remain high. Early detection has been shown to reduce significantly the risk of cardiac events such as myocardial infarction and death, while modern cardiology now provides specialists and general physicians with a variety of procedures for the assessment of IHD using noninvasive methods. This book reviews the currently available imaging techniques for the diagnosis and management of IHD. In addition, the role of cardiac imaging for the detection of viability and hibernation is discussed in detail.

This book is a state-of-the-art reference work covering every aspect of the field of renal cell cancer, from diagnostics to clinical management. It provides an overview of new information concerning epidemiology, molecular and immunologic characteristics, as well as surgical therapy. Particular focus is given to the latest diagnostic tests and genetic counseling. Associated topics such as pain management and palliative care are also covered. It is a vital reference tool for urologists, oncologists and radiologists alike, being the most comprehensive volume available on the subject.

A book such as this, correlating radiologic findings with the associated gross and microscopic pathologic findings, has never been offered to the medical community. It contains radiologic images, in a variety of formats (ultrasound, CT scan, MRI scan) correlated with gross photos and photomicrographs of a wide spectrum of pathologic entities, including their variants, occurring in the following organs or anatomic sites. This book would be of particular interest to radiologists and radiologists-in training, who naturally are very cognizant of radiologic abnormalities, but who rarely, if ever, encounter visual images of the pathologic lesions that they diagnose. It will also be of interest to pathologists and pathologists-in-training, urologists, GU radiation oncologists, and GU medical oncologists.

This pertinently illustrated and well referenced text serves as an up-to-date, attractive book of oncologic imaging for radiologists, oncologists, radiation therapists and others involved in oncologic care. This volume, with chapter contributions from world-renowned experts, provides clinical and research information that underpins accurate interpretation and sensible use of cancer imaging. The book also highlights new developments and advances in oncologic imaging.

This atlas presents over 160 illustrations, with 116 in color, and illustrates the capacity of multidetector CT for the analysis of the anatomy of the coronary arteries. The multidetector CT scanner speeds diagnosis and treatment of patients. One of its many uses is to perform CT coronary angiography. Multidetector CT provides clear pictures and takes less time than other non-invasive techniques. The book is written by cardiologists and radiologists.

While many comprehensive texts have been written on the treatment of breast cancer, the most common cancer among women, there are relatively few which cover in depth the prevention and early detection of the disease. The goal of this work is to present what experts in the ?eld feel is the current knowledge and future direction of breast cancer prevention and early detection. We begin Part I of the book with a review of risk factors, both genetic and environmental. We next review progress in the use of chemoprevention. Notably, chemoprevention risk reduction studies have led to FDA approval of two medications which measurably reduce disease incidence among women at increased risk, although with some risk of treatment related side effects. Newer agents in the pipeline, which may also reduce risk among normal risk women, are also discussed. Surgical risk reducing strategies complete the section on prevention, including both the bene?ts and downsides to this more aggressive approach. Even with aggressive prevention strategies, some women will develop breast cancer. For these women, early detection is critical to minimize disease spread and maximize long term survival. Part II of this book reviews current and upcoming approaches to early detection. Imaging strategies, including mammography, breast ultrasound, MRI, and PET imaging are reviewed. The potential for molecular tumor targeting to detect disease prior to the formation of a mass visible by anatomic imaging is presented.

Low- and middle-income countries have seen a dramatic rise in the incidence of breast and gynecological cancers in the past decade. Organized cancer screening programs are not widely available in developing countries, leading to disproportionately higher mortality rates compared to those in the developed world. This book addresses cost-effective strategies for implementing programs aimed at screening for the early detection of breast, cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. A well woman clinic concept providing such services as part of women's health examinations is proposed, aiming to ensure patient compliance by limiting clinic visits required for initial testing and diagnosis of screen positive cases.

Advances in digital technology led to the development of digital x-ray detectors that are currently in wide use for projection radiography, including Computed Radiography (CR) and Digital Radiography (DR). Digital Imaging Systems for Plain Radiography addresses the current technological methods available to medical imaging professionals to ensure the optimization of the radiological process concerning image quality and reduction of patient exposure. Based on extensive research by the authors and reference to the current literature, the book addresses how exposure parameters influence the diagnostic quality in digital systems, what the current acceptable radiation doses are for useful diagnostic images, and at what level the dose could be reduced to maintain an accurate diagnosis. The book is a valuable resource for both students learning the field and for imaging professionals to apply to their own practice while performing radiological examinations with digital systems.

Colorectal Cancer Screening and Computerized Tomographic Colonography: A Comprehensive Overview is an authoritative volume on CT colonography. Structured in a manner that will allow the reader to understand the practical and larger public health issues surrounding both CT colonography and CRC screening in general, the text is designed to reach a broad audience of specialist clinicians and primary care physicians. The book provides an overview of the disease and risk factors of colorectal cancer, as well as the history and development of CTC as both a colorectal imaging and screening modality. The text also reviews the controversies, potential pitfalls, and exciting new directions and capabilities inherent in the practice of CTC. Filled with high quality images and authored by experts in the field, Colorectal Cancer Screening and Computerized Tomographic Colonography: A Comprehensive Overview is the definitive reference for clinicians interested in computerized tomographic colonography and CRC screening.

Until recently, it was thought that the adult brain is modifiable only during early stages of ontogenesis. However, neurophysiological and neuroimaging studies now indicate that the mature human brain is, under certain conditions, capable of substantial neuroplastic changes. Neuroplasticity reflects the ability of the human brain to alter the pattern of neural activation in response to previous experience, and recent findings indicate that the effects of experience can lead to both structural as well as functional reorganization. It has been shown that pathological neuroplastic changes can be reverted/normalized and that the modulation of the neuroplastic changes can be paralleled by improvement of the patient's status. However, there is a gap between the potential of neuromodulation, technical progress and actual preparedness of medical personnel to provide this type of treatment. A prevalent opinion among medical professionals indicates that training programs and educational materials in neuromodulatory techniques are well needed and appreciated. Neuromodulation will focus on the description and discussion of methods currently available for invasive and non-invasive neuromodulation, their clinical potential, significance and practical applications. In order to facilitate understanding of the topic, the initial part of the textbook will review neurophysiological systems involved in neuromodulation and will provide readers with basic principles of neuroplasticity that constitutes the rationale for neuromodulation in human medicine. Additionally, the clinical use of these techniques will be described with special regard to safety and avoidance of complications.

Over the past three decades, carotid artery stenting has evolved to become a promising and viable alternative to carotid endarterectomy, especially for patients deemed to have high surgical risks. In Carotid Artery Stenting: The Basics, Jacqueline Saw and a panel of international experts on carotid artery stenting discuss in depth the details of all contemporary aspects of carotid stenting, while reviewing supporting studies, guidelines, technical perspectives, and peri-procedural management. This textbook serves as a learning resource on the multifaceted management of patients with carotid artery stenosis, with the key focus on extracranial carotid artery stenting. Additional sections detail the specifics of setting up and maintaining a laboratory and discuss the preparation of the carotid artery stenting procedure from both the patient and operator's perspective. Authoritative and highly practical, Carotid Artery Stenting: The Basics is an accessible guide and valuable resource for today's cardiologists, radiologists, and vascular surgeons.

In recent years, molecular imaging techniques have grown to be invaluable tools for molecular biology research and, to a more modest extent, clinical medicine. In Molecular Imaging: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers explore the latest advances in the field, describing a rich variety of practical procedures and methods for diverging imaging technologies. Chapters are divided into sections that cover the imaging of basic molecular and biochemical events, imaging in pre-clinical settings, and imaging in clinical settings. Composed in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, each chapter contains a brief introduction, step-by-step methods, a list of necessary materials, and a Notes section which shares tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and ground-breaking, Molecular Imaging: Methods and Protocols is an essential handbook for students, established practitioners, and research fellows alike.

Forensic anthropology deals with human remains usually in the skeletonized form. The application of microscopy to skeletal tissues is well established and used routinely in biomedical science. Its adaptation to forensic questions is an increasing area of interest, and publications utilizing microscopy have increased in the scientific literature. In Forensic Microscopy for Skeletal Tissues: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the forensic, archeological and paleontological disciplines, and detail many of the methods which are now commonly used to study skeletal material. These methods include differing forms of light, confocal, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Forensic Microscopy for Skeletal Tissues: Methods and Protocols bring together differing forms of microscopy that are used in association with forensic anthropology, or have relevance to questions concerning forensic anthropology.

Visualization of chemicals in tissues has seen incredible advances in the past several years. Visualization Techniques: From Immunohistochemistry to Magnetic Resonance Imaging provides practical advice from experts in the field as well as an excellent overview of some of the most important recent advances in visualization. This timely volume explores topics from immunohistochemistry for multiple neurochemicals, detecting expression levels of neurochemicals, following cellular processes and ionic movement, identifying polysynaptic pathways subserving physiological responses to identifying functional changes in vivo. Written for the popular Neuromethods series, this work includes the kind of detailed description and implementation advice that is crucial for getting optimal results in the lab. Meticulous and concise, Visualization Techniques: From Immunohistochemistry to Magnetic Resonance Imaging will prove invaluable for scientists seeking to gain a greater understanding of the practical skills, strengths, and pitfalls that these wonderful and exciting visualization techniques provide.

Cardiac tumors were once a nosographic entity of scarce clinical interest because of the rarity and of the intrinsic diagnostic and therapeutic impossibilities, and were considered a fatal morbid entity. It has now become a topical subject due to advances in clinical imaging (echo, magnetic resonance, computed tomography) as well as innovation in technologies of in-vivo diagnosis. Cardiac Tumor Pathology presents a spectacular example of these advances with clinico-pathologic correlations. This timely volume covers history, epidemiology, demographics, clinical diagnosis, pathology, imaging by echo, CT and MRI of both benign and malignant cardiac tumors, either primary or secondary. Chemotherapy of malignant neoplasms is also addressed. Special emphasis is given to clinico-pathologic correlations. With all chapters written by experts in their fields, this volume will serve as a useful resource for physicians dealing with, and interested in, this special branch of cardiac oncology and will represent a useful guide for pathologists, clinicians, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, and radiologists as well as for postgraduate students training in these areas.

For more than a century, microscopy has been a centerpiece of extraordinary discoveries in biology. Along the way, remarkable imaging tools have been developed allowing scientists to dissect the complexity of cellular processes at the nano length molecular scales. Nanoimaging: Methods and Protocols presents a diverse collection of microscopy techniques and methodologies that provides guidance to successfully image cellular molecular complexes at nanometer spatial resolution. The book's four parts cover: (1) light microscopy techniques with a special emphasis on methods that go beyond the classic diffraction-limited imaging; (2) electron microscopy techniques for high-resolution imaging of molecules, cells and tissues, in both two and three dimensions; (3) scanning probe microscopy techniques for imaging and probing macromolecular complexes and membrane surface topography; and (4) complementary techniques on correlative microscopy, soft x-ray tomography and secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging. Written in the successful format of the Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and accessible, Nanoimaging: Methods and Protocols highlights many of the most exciting possibilities in microscopy for the investigation of biological structures at the nano length molecular scales.

Leading interventional cardiologists, including Patrick Serruys, provide the gold-standard reference on the treatment of restenosis for interventional cardiologists. Dr. Serruys, who pioneered the use of drug-eluting stents, and other pioneers in the field, cover everything from non-invasive imaging, to eluting stents, to brachytherapy through to the latest molecular biology-based treatments including antisense, stem cells and gene therapy.

Now a routine tool in biomedical and life science research, live cell imaging has made major progress enabling this core biochemical, cell, and molecular biology technique to become even more powerful, versatile, and affordable. In Live Cell Imaging: Methods and Protocols, a panel of expert contributors provide a comprehensive compendium of experimental approaches to live cell imaging in the form of several overview chapters followed by representative examples and case studies covering different aspects of the most current methodology. By examining a range of state-of-the-art protocols extensively validated in complex biological studies, this volume highlights new experimental and instrumental opportunities and helps researchers to select appropriate imaging methods for their specific biological questions and measurement tasks. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and notes on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Live Cell Imaging: Methods and Protocols promises to contribute greatly to the further development and dissemination of this fundamentally important technology which spans across many disciplines including molecular and cell biology, chemistry, physics, optics, engineering, cell physiology, and medicine.

Quantitative elucidation of structural, energetic and dynamic aspects of macromolecular interactions is indispensable for understanding the functional activities of biomolecules and their interactions. The optical spectroscopic methods are not confined to small molecules or macromolecules but permit the studies of even the largest biological systems in their full splendor, including the living cell. In, Spectroscopic Methods of Analysis: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail many of the methods which are now commonly used to study properties of individual macromolecules, their complexes, organelles, and cells, using optical spectroscopic techniques. These include methods and approaches for experimental and theoretical analyses of fluorescence properties of the examined systems, single molecule approaches, electronic absorption, and electro-optical analyses of macromolecular interactions, structures, and dynamics. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology(tm) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Spectroscopic Methods of Analysis : Methods and Protocols seeks to aid scientists in the further study of optical spectroscopic methods.

With its ability to explore the surface of the sample by means of a local scanning probe and its use of dedicated software allows to be visualize results, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has revolutionized the study of the smallest aspects of life. Atomic Force Microscopy in Biomedical Research: Methods and Protocols proves that this technology is no longer simply just another form of microscopy but has given rise to a completely new way of using microscopy that fulfils the dreams of all microscopists: being able to touch, move, and interact with the sample while it is being examined, thus making it possible to discover not only morphological but also chemical and physical structural information. Covering such topics as molecule imaging, nanoscale surface analysis and cellular imaging, force-spectroscopy, investigating drug action, and AFM as a nanotool, this volume features the most up-to-date techniques currently in use. Written in the Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials, step-by-step, readily reproducible protocols, and expert tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Atomic Force Microscopy in Biomedical Research: Methods and Protocols brings together different types of applications in order to provide examples from diverse fields in the hope of inspiring researchers to apply their ingenuity in their own specialization and add significant originality to their varying studies.

The field of interventional bronchoscopy is rapidly expanding and has emerged as a new and exciting subspecialty in pulmonary medicine. To date, the impact of interventional bronchoscopy procedures has been felt in diagnosis, staging, and management of lung cancer, the most lethal cancer worldwide. Interventional Bronchoscopy: A Clinical Guide provides a state-of-the art description of interventional bronchoscopy procedures, addressing the scientific basis, indications, techniques, results, complications, and cost issues. Chapters address the current status, the advantages of new techniques and, most importantly, when to choose new techniques over the existing techniques. Each chapter will discuss the future of these procedures. Interventional Bronchoscopy: A Clinical Guide is an essential resource for a successful interventional pulmonology service and will be useful for the bronchoscopist, anesthesiologist, radiologist, thoracic surgeon and oncologist as well as practicing pulmonologists who do not perform these procedures but have to make decisions regarding appropriate referral of their patients to advanced airway centers.

PNL is the gold standard for the management of large and/or otherwise complex renal stones. Since its introduction in the seventies PNL has undergone considerable evolution, mainly driven by the improvement in access techniques, endoscopic instrument technology, lithotripsy devices and drainage management. The conventional prone position for PNL has been challenged in the last two decades by a variety of modifications, including the supine and Galdakao-modified supine Valdivia positions, which make simultaneous retrograde working access to the collecting system possible and have proven anesthesiological advantages. The Galdakao-modified supine Valdivia position allowed the development of ECIRS (Endoscopic Combined IntraRenal Surgery), a technique exploiting a combined antegrade and retrograde approach to the upper urinary tract, using both rigid and flexible endoscopes with the related accessories. The synergistic teamwork of ECIRS provides a safe and efficient, minimally-invasive procedure for the treatment of all kinds of urolithiasis. The aim of this book is to share with the urologic community worldwide our experience, our standardization of all the steps, and tips and tricks for the procedure.

This is the first textbook in DECT focussing especially on the cardiovascular field. DECT was developed many years ago but has recently spread its clinical utility. Many new applications have been developed over the last years and the cardiovascular system has benefited from these advances. New protocols will be used in the near future which will help to optimize results obtained until now with single energy CT, such as a more precise quantification of coronary artery stenosis using either different monochromatic levels or material decomposition, reduction of beam hardening artifacts in perfusion studies and optimizing endovenous contrast, among others.

Percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) closure is an emerging technology for thromboembolic prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The first human implantation of an LAA device occurred in 2001, and since then four devices have received CE mark approval. These devices are being widely used in Europe for LAA closure in patients who are poor candidates for long-term oral anticoagulation. In the US, the WATCHMAN device (Boston Scientific) is anticipated to receive FDA approval imminently for AF patients who are warfarin-eligible. This approval is projected to significantly expand the indications for LAA closures worldwide. Thus, the volume of procedures is anticipated to escalate. This book discusses the epidemiology of AF as a cause of stroke; the use of LAA closure in the reduction of thromboembolism with AF; early surgical approaches and novel surgical devices for LAA closure; and current percutaneous approaches and devices available for LAA closure. The emphasis of this book is on percutaneous technical approaches and contemporary trial results on the leading devices (PLAATO, WATCHMAN, Amplatzer Cardiac Plug, and LARIAT). It also reviews unapproved devices in development, in both clinical and pre-clinical phases.