Tortuosity of eye fundus blood vessels is one of parameters that describe state of the blood vessels. It can be detected from fundus images. The increase in vessel tortuosity was observed in eyes of patients with advanced background diabetic retinopathy, papilloedema, arterial hypertension, even in some completely healthy eyes (in this case tortuosity does not change in time). Thus the feature of the line – tortousity – could be used as the diagnostic feature in medical applications. Unfortunately, completely reliable definition and numerical estimation of tortuosity of line (blood vessel) does not exist, although there were some more or less successful attempts to define it. This work presents a new way to estimate the tortuosity using the integral of square derivative of curvature. It is compared with the existing methods both theoretically and experimentally. Three types of lines have been used for experimental comparison: theoretical models of retinal vessels (straight line, parabola, sinusoid and their combinations), lines extracted from real fundus images and lines extracted from optometric scale for retinal vessel evaluation. To ease the extraction of the lines from these images a new version of one of the methods for vessel tracking has been created and implemented.

Objective. To assess the influence of diabetes mellitus on early morbidity and mortality following open vascular surgical interventions. Methods. Clinical data on patients subjected to open vascular surgical procedures over a 5 year period at the Durban Metropolitan Vascular Service was culled from a prospectively maintained computerized database. They were divided according to the type of surgical procedure performed. These were open abdominal aortic surgery, peripheral bypass surgery, lower extremity major amputation and carotid endarterectomy. They were further subdivided into 2 groups, diabetic and non-diabetic. Results. 1104 charts were analysed. There were no significant differences in demographics and risk factors between the two groups. 273 patients had open abdominal aortic surgery. 217 (79%) were non-diabetic. diabetic patients had significantly higher incidence of myocardial infarction (p=0.00001) (6 of 6 patients), graft sepsis (p=0.000001) (7 of 7 patients) and mortality rate (p=0.0335) (5 of 10 patients). 337 patients had peripheral bypass procedures. 204 (60%) of these were non-diabetic. There was a high prevalence of smokers among non-diabetics and of hypertension among diabetics. Diabetic patients had a preponderance of graft infection (p=0.0015) (15 of 20 patients) and cardiovascular complications (p=0.0072) (7 of 8 patients). 230 patients had lower extremity major amputations, 81 (35%) were diabetic and 149 (65%) non-diabetic. Myocardial infarction and death (6 of 8 patients each) were significantly higher among diabetics (p =0.04). 264 patients had carotid endarterectomy, 170 (64%) being non-diabetic. The surgical outcome was similar between the two groups. Conclusions. This is retrospective study and as such it has some its limitations. Not all patients might have been included in the study and some of the information might have been lost. The numbers in this study are large and these limitations would appear not to have influenced the outcome of this study. This study has shown that diabetes mellitus had diverse influence on the early outcome following different vascular surgical procedures. Diabetes mellitus significantly increased the incidence of graft sepsis among those who had aorto-bifemoral bypass and peripheral bypass procedures. The incidence of peri-operative cardiovascular morbidity was significantly increased among diabetics who had peripheral bypass procedures, open abdominal aortic surgery and lower extremity major amputations. Diabetes mellitus had no influence on the surgical outcome following carotid endarterectomy. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

In clinical anatomy, the renal venous system is relatively understudied compared to the arterial system. This investigation aims to clarify and update the variable patterns of the renal venous vasculature using cadaveric human (adult and foetal) and Chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) kidneys and to reflect on its clinical application, particularly in surgery and radiology. The study employed gross anatomical dissection and detailed morphometric and statistical analyses on resin cast and plastinated kidneys harvested from 211 adult, 20 foetal and 10 baboon cadavers. Radiological techniques were used to study intrarenal flow, renal veins and collateral pathways and renal vein valves. The gross anatomical description of the renal veins and its relations were confirmed and updated. Additional renal veins were observed much more frequently on the right side (31 %) than previously documented (15.4%). A practical classification system for the renal veins based on the number of primary tributaries, additional renal veins and anomalies is proposed. Detailed morphometric analyses of the various parameters of the renal veins corroborated and augmented previous anatomical studies. Contrary to standard anatomical textbooks, it was noted that the left renal vein is 2.5 times the length of its counterpart and that there are variable levels of entry of the renal veins into the IVC. Justification for the distal segment of the left renal vein to be termed the surgical trunk, and the proximal segment to be the homologue of the right renal vein is presented. Radiological investigations demonstrated a non-segmental and non-lobar intrarenal venous architecture, an absence of renal vein valves and extensive venous collaterals centering on the left renal vein. These collateral channels, present in the foetus, and persisting in the adult, may be operative and of clinical significance in pathological states. No sex differences and no race differences of note were recorded in this study. The Chacma baboon displayed similar intra-renal venous anatomy. The applied clinical anatomy of these findings with particular regard to renal surgery and uro-radiology is emphasised. / Thesis (M.D.)-University of Natal, 1993.

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No description available.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2004. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Medicine, 2002. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 308-353).

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2007. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 87 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-79).