• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.273-276
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• 2003

We report a surgical case of 39-year-old male with a pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricle. Four years ago, the patient underwent aortic and mitral valve replacements with mechanical valves and abscess removal for infective endocarditis with annular abscess. Recent echocardiography demonstrated a communication between left ventricle and abscess pocket, and the size of pocket increased further at the follow-up echocardiography. The patient underwent patch closure of the defect between left ventricle and pseudoaneurysm located at the aortomitral fibrous continuity, under the cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegia. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged on the 9th postoperative day.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.1 s.246
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• pp.23-28
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• 2005

Ross procedure is ideal aortic valve replacement method with several merits of hemodynamic superiority and durability without the need of anticoagulation. Based upon this presumption, we studied its procedure performed in our hospital and tried to get the mid-term results Material and Method: From Jan 1999 to Oct 2001, 22 patients underwent the Ross procedure. The mean age of experimented (including 17 men and 5 women) was $30.9{\pm}8.1(17\~44)$. The diagnosis before the surgery had shown 20 as accompanied with AR and the rest 2 as with ASR. The follow-up period ranged from 0.6 to 40.6 months, mean of $38.9{\pm}1.6\;months,\;and\;follow-up\;rate\;was\;100{\%}$. Result. There was no operative death and two late deaths, one of whom was cardiac originated and the other, non-cardiac relate The survival rate was $94.1{\pm}5.7{\%}$(40.6 months). Postoperatively there were 2 exploration for bleeding, 3 low cardiac output patients. The pulmonary autograft technique was root replacement in 14 and inclusion technique in 8. Pulmonary homografts were used at the pulmonary position in all cases. There was no patient with significant aortic regurgitation. Conclusion: These showed that the mortality and morbidity of the Ross procedure were acceptable and postoperative AR was not significant. However, further long-term follow-up will be necessary for the improvement of the function of pulmonary autograft and homograft.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.305-310
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• 2009

Background: The Ross procedure is known as a good surgical option for a young age group with aortic valve problems, but few reports on the Ross procedure are available in the Korean literature. This study is a review of our midterm results of 10 year experience with the pediatric Ross operation in Asan Medical Center. Material and Method: From March 1997 to October 2008, eighteen patients who were aged less than 16 years underwent the Ross procedure. There were 11 males and 7 females. The patients median age was 8.5 years (range: $0.5\sim14.0$). The aortic valve pathophysiology was 6 patients with aortic insufficiency, 4 patients with aortic stenosis, 7 patients with mixed aortic stenoinsufficiencey and 1 patient with infective endocarditis. The valve morphology was bicuspid in 11 and tricuspid in 7. All the patients were operated on with the root replacement technique. All the pumonic valves were replaced with an allograft except for one pericardial monocusp valve. The mean follow up duration was 52.8 months (range: 5.8$\sim$138.2 months). We reviewed the echocardiographic data with focusing on the, auto-graft dysfunction and reoperation. Result: There was no hospital mortality and late mortality. According to the last echocardiographic data, 2 autografts showed aortic regurgitation grade 2, 4 autografts showed aortic regurgitation grade 1 and the others were less than trivial. Reoperation of the pulmonic position conduit was performed 4 times in three patients. The rate of freedom from reoperation at 5 years was 72.2%. On the serial follow up, the Z-values of the aortic annulus/aortic sinus were changed from $1.6{\pm}1.7/0.9{\pm}1.7$ at preoperation to $1.8{\pm}1.6$(p=0.64)/$2.2{\pm}0.9$ (p=0.01) at the last follow-up. There was no significant relation between the growth of the neoaortic root and neoaortic insufficiency. Conclusion: Our midterm results of the Ross procedure in pediatric patients showed good autograft function and growth potential. Vet reoperation due to allograft dysfunction was a major concern.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.755-758
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• 2008

We report here on a case of performing a redo-operation for a 65-years-old male patient who had prosthetic endocarditis after reconstruction of the fibrous skeleton due to infective endocarditis 8 years earlier. An aortic annular abscess with a 1cm sized subvalvular abscess and mobile mitral valve vegetation with destruction of the fibrous skeleton was shown on the preoperative echocardiography. An emergency operation was performed due to heart failure. Reconstruction of both the aortic and mitral annuli and the fibrous skeleton was done by using two separate bovine pericardial patches and then mechanical valves were implanted. The postoperative echocardiography shows no paravalvular leakage. The patient has been followed up with no symptoms.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.524-527
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• 2009

A stent graft has been accepted as an alternative method for treating aortic diseases or to reduce the extent of surgery. We report here on a one-stage Management of Ascending Aorta Replacement and Percutaneous Endovascular Repair for the seperate aneurysmal lesions on the ascending and descending aorta.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.287-292
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• 1997

.Itrial fibrillation is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias requiring treatment. About 60% of patients with mitral valvular disease have atrial fibrillation and one third of patients with atrial fibrillation may have the past history of thromboembolic events. Between April 1994 and June 1995, 20 patients with organic heart diseases combined with atrial fibrillation underwent open heart surgery including Cox-maze 111 procedure. There were 6 men and 14 women with an average age of 48 years (range, 31 to 66 years). Nineteen patients had valvular heart diseases and 1 ventricular septal defEct (VSD). Mean duration of atrial fibrillation was 36 months (:42 months) (range, 1 to 132 months). T e past medical history of thromboembolic events was positive in 7 patients (35%) and left atrial thrombus was detected in 9 patients (45%). The concomitant procedures were mitral valve replacement (MVR) and aortic valve replacement (AVR) in 5 patients, MVR in 4, MVd and tricuspid annuloplasty(TAP) in 4, mitral valvuloplasty(Mln) in 3, Mln and Tln in 1, MIW and coronary artery bypass surgery in 1, AVR in 1, and patch closure of VSD in 1. Mean aortic cross-clamping time was 175 minutes (range, 116 to 270 minutes). Atrial fibrillation recurred in 16 patients (80%) during the early postoperative period, but, recurrent atrial fibrillation was converted to regular rhythm at postoperative forty-first day in average. There was no early or late death in this series of 20 patients and postoperative complications were inappropriate tachycardia in 5 patients (25%), low cardiac output syndrome in 3 (15%), aggravated hemiplegic in 1, and acute renal failure in 1. Mean follow-up interval of patient was 16.5 months (range, 10.5 to 24 months) and all patients are currently in regular rhythm. Seventeen patients (85%) are in sinus rhythm and 3 (15%) in junctional rhythm. Right atrial contraction was detected in 95% of patients and left atrial contraction in 63% on postoperative transthoracic echocardiogram. The surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation concomitant with open heart surgery is warranted in the recent clinical setting of improved myocardial protection technique, considering the untoward side-effects of atrial fibrillation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.939-944
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• 1998

Background: The sugical results of the Cox-Maze procedure (CMP) for lone atrial fibrillation(AF) have proven to be exellent. However, those for AF associated with mitral valve(MV) disease have been reported to be a little inferior. Materials and methods: To assess the efficacy and safety of the CMP as a combined procedure with MV operation, we studied retrospectively our experiences. Between April 1994 and October 1997, we experienced 70 (23 males, 47 females) cases of CMP concomitantly with MV operation. Results: The etiologies of MV disease were rheumatic in 67 and degenerative in 3 cases. The mean duration of AF before sugery was 66$\pm$70 months. Fifteen patients had the past medical history of thromboembolic complications, and left atrial thrombi were identified at operation in 24 patients. Twelve cases were reoperations. Aortic cross clamp (ACC) time was mean 151$\pm$44 minutes, and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time was mean 246$\pm$65 minutes. Concomitant procedures were mitral valve replacement (MVR) in 19, MVR and aortic valve replacement (AVR) in 14, MVR and tricupid annuloplasty (TAP) in 8, MVR with AV repair in 3, MV repair in 11, MVR and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in 2, MVR and AVR and CABG in 1, redo-MVR in 10, redo-MVR and redo-AVR in 2 patients. The rate of hospital mortality was 1.4%(1/70). Perioperative recurrence of AF was seen in 44(62.9%), and atrial tachyarrhythmias in 10(14.3%), low cardiac output syndrome in 4(5.7%), postoperative bleeding that required mediastinal exploration in 4(5.7%) patients. Other complications were acute renal failure in 2, aggravation of preoperative hemiplegia in 1, and transient delirium in 1 patient. We followed up all the survivors for 16.4 months(3-44months) on an average. Sinus rhythm has been restored in 65(94.2%) patients. AF has been controlled by operation alone in 73.9% and operation plus medication in 20.3%. Two patients needed permanent pacemaker implantation; one with sick sinus syndrome, and the other with tachycardia- bradycardia syndrome. Only two patients remained in AF. We followed up our patients with transthoracic echocardiography to assess the atrial contractilities and other cardiac functions. Right atrial contractility could be demonstrated in 92% and left atrial contractility in 53%.We compared our non-redo cases with redo cases. Although the duration of AF was significantly longer in redo cases, there was no differences in ACC time, CPB time, postoperative bleeding amount and sinus conversion rate. Conclusions: In conclusion, the CMP concomitant with MV operation demonstrated a high sinus conversion rate under the acceptable operative risk even in case of reoperation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.862-868
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• 1997

Shone's syndrome is a congenital cardiac malformation that consists of multiple levels of left heart obstruction including supravalvular mitral ring, congenital mitral stenosis(parachute mitral valve), subaortic stenosis, and coarctation of aorta. This syndrome is a very rare congenital anomaly and its prognosis is poor. We experienced 9 patients with Shone's syndrome between 1985 and 1994. There were 8 male and 1 female patients, and mean age was 33.0$\pm$31.0 months ranged from 2 months to 1 1 years. The congenital mitral, stenosis and coarctation of aorta existed in all patients and the supravalvular mitral ring and subaortic stenosis in 4 patients. Two patients had all four anatomic lesions. 3 patients underwent one stage total correction and the other 6 patients underwent two staged operation that was initial coarctoplasty with thoracotomy and later correction of intracardiac anomalies with median sternotomy. A third operation was performed in 2 patients. These procedures included reoperation for coarctation and replacement of mitral valve for persistent mitral stenosis. There was no operative death at the first operation but two operative deaths at the second operation. The cause of death in two cases was severe heart failure secondary to left ventricular hypoplasia. There was no operative death at the third operation. The seven survivors have beeli followed from 11 months to 12 years(mean follow-up 6.7 $\pm$ 3.6 years). There was no late death and the New York HeArt Association activity level was class I for all patients. We conclude that a food lone-term outcome can be expected by proper surgical treatment tailred to each individual's anatomy and pathophysiology although the operative mortality and morbidity of Shone's syndrome are high.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.465-471
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• 2001

Background: Hypothermia protects the brain by suppressing the cerebral metabolism and it is performed well enough before the total circulatory arrest(TCA) in the operation of aortic disease. Generally, TCA has been performed depending on the rectal or nasopharyngeal temperatures; however, there is no definite range of optimal temperature for TCA or an objective indicator determining the temperature for safe TCA. In this study, we tried to determine the optimal range of temperature for safe hypothermic circulatory arrest by using the intraoperative electroencephalogram(EEG), and studied the role of EEG as an indicator of optimal hypothermia. Material and Method: Between March, 1999 and August 31, 2000, 27 patients underwent graft replacement of the part of thoracic aorta using hypothermia and TCA with intraoperative EEG. The rectal and nasopharyngeal temperatures were monitored continuously from the time of anesthetic induction and the EEG was recorded with a ten-channel portable electroencephalography from the time of anesthetic induction to electrocerebral silence(ECS). Result: On ECS, the rectal and nasopharyngeal temperatures were not consistent but variable(rectal 11$^{\circ}C$ -$25^{\circ}C$, nasopharynx 7.7$^{\circ}C$ -23$^{\circ}C$). The correlation between two temperatures was not significant(p=0.171). The cooling time from the start of cardiopulmonary bypass to ECS was also variable(25-127min), but correlated with the body surface area(p=0.027). Conclusion: We have found that ECS appeared at various body temperatures, and thus, the use of rectal or nasopharyngeal temperature were not useful in identifying ECS. Conclusively, we can not fully assure cerebral protection during hypothermic circulatory arrest in regards to the body temperatures, and therefore, the intraoperative EEG is one of the necessary methods for determining the range of optimal hypothermia for safe circulatory arrest. :

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.561-565
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• 2001

Patients who have complex endocarditis with involvement of both the aortic and mitral valves and intervalvular fibrous skeleton are among the most difficult to treat and still have the highest surgical mortality and morbidity rates. We report one case of aortic and mitral valve replacement with reconstruction of the fibrous skeleton performed in a 55-year-old female patient who had an aortic annular abscess and both the aortic and mitral prosthetic valve endocarditis with destruction of the fibrous skeleton. Previously, she had undergone redo double valve replacement\`, Transesophageal echocardiogram showed the paravalvular defect at the noncoronary aortic sinus and abnormal sinus tract along the fibrous skeleton. Emergent operation was performed due to positive blood cultures of staphylococcus epidermidis and persistent sepsis despite appropriate antibiotic therapy. After aortotomy extended to the roof of left atrium, both prosthetic valves and destroyed fibrous skeleton were completely resected and the aortic annular abscess was debrided and closed with a bovine pericardial patch. Reconstructions of both aortic and mitral annuli and the fibrous skeleton were done by using two separate bovine pericardial patches in triangular shape and mechanical valves were implanted. Postoperatively, adequate antibiotic therapies were continued and the patient was discharged at the postoperative 72 days without evidence of recurrence of endocarditis. Transthoracic echocardiogram of the postoperative 8 months shows no paravalvular leakage or recurrence of endocarditis and the patient has been followed up with no symptom.