Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Development Of A Decision Aid For Patients With Ulcerative Colitis Deciding Between Ileostomy Or Ileal Anal-Pouch Reconstruction, Luc A. Dubois

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Objectives: To develop a prototype decision aid used to assist ulcerative colitis patients when deciding between ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA) and ileostomy.

Methods: Three separate systematic reviews (quality of life studies, IPAA studies, ileostomy studies) were conducted to populate the decision aid with outcome probabilities. Meta-regression was used to select appropriate pooled outcomes.

Results: Of 3920 studies reviewed, 9 studies reported on quality of life, 67 on outcomes following IPAA, and 11 following ileostomy. No difference in quality of life was found between procedures. Among IPAA patients, pooled pouch failure rate was 5.5%, with pouchitis being the most common complication …

Augmented Image-Guidance For Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation, Pencilla Lang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The introduction of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), an innovative stent-based technique for delivery of a bioprosthetic valve, has resulted in a paradigm shift in treatment options for elderly patients with aortic stenosis. While there have been major advancements in valve design and access routes, TAVI still relies largely on single-plane fluoroscopy for intraoperative navigation and guidance, which provides only gross imaging of anatomical structures. Inadequate imaging leading to suboptimal valve positioning contributes to many of the early complications experienced by TAVI patients, including valve embolism, coronary ostia obstruction, paravalvular leak, heart block, and secondary nephrotoxicity from contrast use.

A …

Elucidating The Function Of Transplanted Islets Of Langerhans And Predicting Their Ability To Reverse Diabetes, Andrew R. Pepper

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Type 1 diabetics require daily injections of exogenous insulin to control hyperglycemia. Unfortunately, patients are still plagued by vascular and hypoglycemic complications. Beta cell replacement therapy by either whole organ pancreas or islet transplantation has been shown to restore carbohydrate control to these patients. A major barrier to successful islet transplantation is the lack of a reliable pre-transplant assay of post-transplant function thus providing an objective measure of whether a particular islet isolation should be transplanted. Such an assay would also prove to be a valuable tool in the experimental evaluation of innovative islet isolation strategies and technologies. The initial …