Carotid Artery Disease
Carotid artery disease is a condition that occurs when the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood to the brain become narrowed or blocked. Usually this narrowing is caused by a build-up of 'plaque.' Plaque is made up of fatty deposits (cholesterol), white blood cells, calcium, and other substances that collect over time in the wall of a carotid artery. This process is called 'atherosclerosis.' Atherosclerosis in the carotid artery may lead to stroke or death.
Iliac Artery Stenosis
The common iliac artery originates from the abdominal aorta, the main blood vessel in the abdominal area. Both the aorta and the systemic arteries are part of the systemic circulatory system, which carries oxygenated blood from the heart to the other areas of the body and back.
The aorta ends at the fourth vertebra of the lumbar spine. There it divides into the right and left common iliac arteries. These two arteries travel down and to each side of the body for about five centimetres towards the edges of the pelvis. They then each split again into internal and external iliac arteries at the pelvic inlet, the area where the abdomen ends and the pelvis begins.
SFA (Superficial Femoral Artery)
The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh and the main arterial supply to the lower limb. It enters the thigh from behind the inguinal ligament as the common femoral artery, a continuation of the external iliac artery. Here, it lies midway between the anterior superior iliac spine and the symphysis pubis. The common femoral artery gives off the profunda femoris artery and becomes the superficial femoral artery to descend along the anteromedial part of the thigh in the femoral triangle. It enters and passes through the adductor (subsartorial) canal, and becomes the popliteal artery as it passes through an opening in adductor magnus near the junction of the middle and distal thirds of the thigh.
BTK (Below the Knee)
Occlusive disease affecting the below-the-knee (BTK) arteries is a common and often serious manifestation of atherosclerosis.
Varicose Veins
Varicose veins are veins that have become enlarged and twisted. The term commonly refers to the veins on the leg, although varicose veins can occur elsewhere. Veins have pairs of leaflet valves to prevent blood from flowing backwards (retrograde flow or venous reflux).
Peripheral Guide Wires
Guide wires are designed to navigate vessels to reach a lesion or vessel segment. Once the tip of the device arrives at its destination, it acts as a guide that larger catheters can rapidly follow for easier delivery to the treatment site.
Hydrocephalus
Hydrocephalus is an abnormal build-up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles of the brain. The fluid is often under increased pressure and can compress and damage the brain. Hydrocephalus can arise before birth or any time afterward.
Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a nondegenerative, noncongenital insult to the brain from an external mechanical force, possibly leading to permanent or temporary impairment of cognitive, physical, and psychosocial functions, with an associated diminished or altered state of consciousness.
Tumours
A brain tumour is a collection, or mass, of abnormal cells in your brain. Your skull, which encloses your brain, is very rigid. Any growth inside such a restricted space can cause problems. Brain tumours can be cancerous (malignant) or non-cancerous (benign).
Spinal Surgery
Back surgery is a procedure that aims to change a patient's anatomy, such as removing a herniated disc that is causing pain, with the purpose of providing pain relief. Back surgeries vary, with some procedures minimally invasive and allowing for quick recovery and others more extensive and requiring longer recoveries.
General Surgery
Liver surgery is the complete or partial removal of a liver known as a Hepatectomy. During this procedure there is often extensive bleeding and this needs to be managed.
Burns
A burn is a type of injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or radiation. These can be superficial, partial-thickness or full-thickness.
Nerve Damage
Nerve injury is injury to nervous tissue. There is no single classification system that can describe all the many variations of nerve injury. Most systems attempt to correlate the degree of injury with symptoms, pathology and prognosis.
Cavity Wounds
A cavity wound can be defined as a loss of continuity of the skin or mucous membrane with associated tissue loss, and which involves the dermal layer of the skin.
Venous Leg Ulcers
Venous ulcers are wounds that are thought to occur due to improper functioning of venous valves, usually of the legs (hence leg ulcers).
Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Diabetic foot is one of the most significant and devastating complications of diabetes, and is defined as a foot affected by ulceration that is associated with neuropathy and/or peripheral arterial disease of the lower limb in a patient with diabetes
Pressure Ulcers
These can manifest through many situations such as, tight bandages or restrictive clothing as well as bedsores — also called pressure sores or pressure ulcers — are injuries to skin and underlying tissue resulting from prolonged pressure on the skin. Bedsores most often develop on skin that covers bony areas of the body, such as the heels, ankles, hips and tailbone. Pressure ulcers can occur anywhere.
Chronic Wounds
A chronic wound is a wound that does not heal in an orderly set of stages and in a predictable amount of time the way most wounds do; wounds that do not heal within three months are often considered chronic. Chronic wounds seem to be detained in one or more of the phases of wound healing.
Surgical Wounds
A surgical wound is a cut or incision in the skin that is usually made by a scalpel during surgery. A surgical wound can also be the result of a drain placed during surgery. Surgical wounds vary greatly in size.
Renal Artery Stenosis
Renal artery stenosis is a narrowing of arteries that carry blood to one or both of the kidneys. Most often seen in older people with atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), renal artery stenosis can worsen over time and often leads to hypertension (high blood pressure) and kidney damage. The body senses less blood reaching the kidneys and misinterprets that as the body having low blood pressure. This signals the release of hormones from the kidney that lead to an increase in blood pressure. Over time, renal artery stenosis can lead to kidney failure.
ADVANCED WOUND MANAGEMENT
Successful treatment of difficult wounds requires assessment of the entire patient and not just the wound. Systemic problems (relating to the entire body as opposed to a specific part) often impair wound healing; conversely, non-healing wounds may herald systemic pathology.
Wound care refers to specific types of treatment for pressure sores, skin ulcers and other wounds that break the skin. Other wounds that may benefit from specialized wound care techniques are diabetic foot ulcers, traumatic ulcers caused by injury, arterial and vein ulcers caused by lack of circulation, and burns.
