• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.686-691
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• 2001

Background: The Duromedics valve has been used in Korea since 1982, however, but there were no long term clinical results that have been reported. This paper presents the long term clinical results of Duromedics valve implanted in Seoul National University Hospital. Material and method: Between 1987, 23 patients underwnet cardiac valve replacement with Duromedics mechanical valve. There were 8 mitral valve replacements, 5 aortic valve replacements, one tricuspid valve replacement, 6 aortic and mitral valve replacements, and one mitral and tricuspid valve replacement. There were 12 men and 11 women. The mean age was 35$\pm$10(15~52) years. We evaluated the clinical performance of Duromedics cardiac prosthesis. Result: The early operative mortality was 4.3%(1/23) and the late morlatity was 4.3%(1/23). Causes of death were low cardiac output syndrome and structural valvular failure. The mean follow-up duration was 133$\pm$43(8~157) months. There were 3 reoperations. The causes of reoperations were thrombosis and structural failure and nonstructural valvular failure. The actuarial survival rate at 10 years was 90.9%. Conclusion: Although the number of patients was not sufficient for effective clinical study, the long term clinical results of Duromedics valve was relatively good and there was no structural defect in this mechanical valve. However, more research is needed in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 1984

Optimizing investigation of characteristics of underwater welding by a gravity type arc welding process was experimentally carried out by using six types of domestic coated welding electrodes for welding of domestic marine structural steel plates (KR Grade A-1, SWS41A, SWS41B,) in order to develop the underwater welding techniques in practical use. Main results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. The absorption speed of the coating of domestic coated lime titania type welding-electrode became constant at about 60 minutes in water and it was about 0.18%/min during initial 8 minutes of absorption time. 2. Thus, the immediate welding electrode could be used in underwater welding for such a short time in comparison with the joint strength of in-atmosphere-and on-water-welding by dry-, wet-or immediate-welding-electrode. 3. By bead appearance and X-ray inspection, ilmenite, limetitania and high titanium oxide types of electrodes were found better for underwater-welding of 10 mm KR Grade A-1 steel plates, while proper welding angle, current and electrode diameter were 6$0^{\circ}C$, above 160A and 4mm respectively under 28cm/min of welding speed. 4. The weld metal tensile strength or proof stress of underwater-welded-joints has a quadratic relationship with the heat input, and the optimal heat input zone is about 13 to 15KJ/cm for 10mm SWS41A steel plates, resulting from consideration upon both joint efficiency of above-100% and recovery of impact strength and strain. Meanwhile, the optimal heat input zone resulting from tension-tension fatigue limit above the base metal's of SWS41A plates is 16 to 19KJ/cm. Reliability of all the empirical equations reveals 95% confidence level. 6. The microstructure of the underwater welds of SES41A welded in such a zone has no weld defects such as hydrogen brittleness with supreme high hardness, since the HAZ-bond boundary area adjacent to both surface and base metal has only Hv400 max with the microstructure of fine martensite, bainite, pearlite and small amount of ferrite.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.7 s.264
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• pp.527-533
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• 2006

Background: A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the results of St. Jude Medical mitral valve replacement at the Chonbuk National University Hospital since the initial implant in May 1984. Material and Method: Between May of 1984 and December of 1996, 95 patients underwent MVR with the St. Jude Medical mechanical valve prosthesis at Department of Medical Science of Chonbuk National University Hospital and follow-up ended in May of 2004. Result: Age ranged from 19 to 69 years. Follow-up (mean${\pm}$standard deviation) averaged $10.6{\pm}4.2\;year$. Thirty-day operative mortality was 4.2% (4/95). Nine late deaths have occurred and actuarial survival was $90.5{\pm}3.0%,\;87.9{\pm}3.4%\;and\;83.2{\pm}4.6%$ at 5, 10 and 20 years, respectively. Probability of freedom from valve-rotated death was $95.5{\pm}2.1%,\;94.3{\pm}2.4%\;and\;91.0{\pm}3.9%$ at 5, 10 and 20 years, respectively. Seven patients have sustained thromboembolic events (1,05%/patient-year). Fifteen patients had anticoagulation related hemorrhage (3.56%/patient-year). There was no structural valve deterioration. Probability of freedom from all complications was $82.0{\pm}3.9%,\;71.3{\pm}4.8%\;and\;42.4{\pm}10.5%$ at 5, 10 and 20 years, respectively. Conclusion: We confirm the effective and excellent durability of the St. Jude Medical prosthesis in the mitral position with a low event rate at long-term follow-up. It also demonstrates the commonly encountered practical difficulty of adjusting the anti-coagulation protocol in patients with prosthetic mitral valves.