• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.172-178
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• 1997

We present a etrospective analysis of arterial embolectomies performed at the Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital. During the period of March 1987 Feburary 1996 twenty-six patients underwent embolectomies, eighteen patients were male and eight patients were female, mean age of patients was 56.8 years. Rest pain was the chief complaint in 24 patients, the remaining two patients complained of long term history of claudication after recovery of acute symtoms. But only 10 patients had sensBrylmotor symtoms. Heart was the most common source of embolization and frequent predisposing factor of embolism was ischemic heart disease in 8 cases and valvular heart disease in 11 cases. The sites of embolization were upper extremities artery in 6 cases, saddle embolism in 2 cases, lower extremities artery in 18 cases and the most common site of embolism was femoral artery in 1 1 cases. Preoperative angiography was taken in the diagnosis and planning of the embolectomy in 1) patients while in the other patient p eoperative angiography was not taken. Only two cases were operated within the golden period of 6 hours and other cases were operated in more than 6 hours after embolization. In all patients, the Fogarty embolectomy catheter was used without bypass surgery via bachial ateriotomy in the embolism of upper extremities artery, bilateral groin approaches in the saddle embolism and transfemoral approach in the embolism of lower extremities artery. However 3 patients were re-operated via transpopliteal approach in the distal poplitiotibial embolism. Eighteen patients received perioperative anticoagulation therapy by heparin or fraxiparine and wafarin was used in 17 patients at the time of discharge and the indication of anticogulation was patients of valvular heat disease andfor atrial fibrillation, peripheral artery atherosclerosis and recurrent embolism. Postoperative results of the embolectomy were as follows: fouteen pateints had excellent results, five cases had symtom improvement after re-operation, B. K. amputation in 1 case who had severe atherosclerosis of lower extremities, recurrent embolism in 1 case and death in 2 cases the cause of death were acute renal failure and cerebral artery embolism, respectively. The complications of the embolectomy were reperfusion syndrome, pseudoaneurysm and intimal dissection in one case each. Conclusively the problems of embolism is delayed diagnosis and increasing number of old aged patient who had suffered from ischemic heart diease. Preoperative angiography was not always needed for embol ectomy. Selective anticoagulation therapy can decrease incidence of re-embolism. In the distal poplitiotibial embolism, embolectomy of tibial artery was difficult.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.475-481
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• 2010

Background: We evaluated mid-term results of mitral annuloplasty using a flexible band and a completely rigid ring for mitral valve repair in patients with degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR). Material and Method: From January 2004 to September 2008, 71 patients (M:F=36:35, $55{\pm}13$ years) underwent mitral valve repair with mitral annuloplasty for degenerative MR. Ring annuloplasty was done using a Cosgrove-Edwards flexible band (Group I, n=43) or a Carpentier-Edwards classic ring (Group II, n=28). There were no differences in preoperative characteristics of the participants. Average duration of follow-up was 36 months (range: 2~69 mos). Result: There was no in-hospital mortality. Postoperative morbidity, which included atrial fibrillation (n=7) and low cardiac output syndrome (n=5) in groups I and II were similar. There was one late death in group II. The proportion exhibiting freedom from recurrent mitral regurgitation ($\geq$moderate) at 4 years in Groups I and II were, respectively, 94.5 and 91.8%, (p=0.695). Left ventricular ejection fraction decreased in the early postoperative period ($7{\pm}2$ days) and recovered by last follow-up ($25{\pm}16$ mos; p=0.002). The pattern was similar in groups I and II (p=0.905). Re-operation was performed in 3 patients (1 in Group I and 2 in Group II, p=0.316). Four-year event-free survival (free of adverse valve-related events) was 95.2% for Group I and 92.6% for Group II; this difference was not significant, p=0.646). Conclusion: The type of technique used in mitral annuloplasty to repair the mitral valve repair after degenerative MR did not affect mid-term clinical and functional results.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.659-666
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• 2007

Background: Preserving the subvalvular apparatus after mitral valve replacement (MVR) results in better ventricular function and a better outcome. In conjunction, mitral valve repair (MVr) is associated with a better outcome, yet little is known about the hemodynamics and outcomes between patients undergoing MVr and MVR with chordal preservation. We prospectively evaluated the hemodynamic changes and outcomes of patients undergoing MVr and MVR with chordal preservation. Material and Method: Fifty-four patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) who under-went MVR with chordal preservation (n=21) or MVr (n=33) were studied. The patients' characteristics, the intra-and postoperative hemodynamics and the use of cardiac medications, the postoperative outcome and the complications were recorded during the hospital stay. All the patients were followed up for at least 6 months post-operatively for determining their morbidity and mortality. Result: The patients' characteristics were similar between the groups, except for the presence of atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure which was more frequent in the MVR group. Also, the preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction was lower in the MVR group than in the MVr group ($64{\pm}9%$ versus $69{\pm}5%$, respectively, p=0.043). There were no significant differences of the hemodynamics between the groups. The use of inotropic drugs and pacemakers during the 12hrs postoperatively was more common in the MVR group than in the MVr group (48% versus 24%, p=0.025 and 52% versus 24%, p=0.035, respectively). The other postoperative outcomes were similar in both groups for at least the 6 months follow-up period. Conclusion: MVR with chordal preservation was comparable with regard to the hemodynamics and clinical outcomes, supporting the beneficial effect of preserving the subvalvular apparatus after MVR.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.395-398
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• 2011

Sick sinus syndrome (SSS) is a disorder characterized by sinus node dysfunction. Although the condition is most common in the elderly, it can occur in children including neonates and its recognition and treatment are important. The diagnosis of SSS is based on the presence of sinus bradycardia, sinus arrest or exit block, combinations of sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodal conduction disturbances, and atrial tachyarrhythmias documented in the Holter recordings. In most children with SSS, previous history of congenital heart malformation or cardiac surgery is noted. SSS is also seen in the children including neonates without heart disease or other contributing factors, however SSS is most often idiopathic. The treatment of SSS depends on the basic rhythm problem, but generally involves the placement of a cardiac pacemaker. We report a case of SSS in extremely low birth weight infant without congenital heart disease and suggest that the treatment system is necessary for preterm infants with SSS.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.679-691
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• 1985

Ninety patients underwent mitral valvular heart surgery associated with or without aortic valve surgery and subjected to a clinical study in relation to their control of postoperative atrial fibrillation. There were 26 males and 64 females ranged in age from 16 to 56 years with a mean of 35.2 years. Systemic arterial embolizations were observed in 11 patients [12.2%]. Four patients of them were in normal sinus rhythm and 7 in atrial fibrillation. Out of these, left atrial thrombi were found only in 2 at the operation. Intraoperatively confirmed left atrial thrombi were in 16 patients [17.7%] of all 90 patients: Eleven patients occurred at the age of more than 40 years, 14 were in atrial fibrillation and 2 only had previous episodes of systemic arterial embolization. Sixty three patients underwent isolated mitral valve surgery [OMC 28, MVR 35] and 27 patients associated with aortic valve surgery along with mitral valve [OMC+AVR 13, MVR+AVR 14]. Preoperatively, 44 patients [48.9%] were in normal sinus rhythm. Of them, 35 patients [79.5%] revealed normal sinus rhythm thoroughly after operation without any aid of digitalis or quinidine and 5 patients [11.4%] restored normal sinus rhythm with digitalization alone. Other 3 patients converted to normal sinus rhythm with the addition of quinidine, however, in 1 patient who was resistant to quinidine therapy, electrocardioversion was carried out on the postoperative third week showing normal sinus rhythm. Thus, the most atrial fibrillations that occurred for the first time in the postoperative period, were able to reverted to normal sinus rhythm responding well to antiarrhythmic therapy. Preoperatively, 46 patients [51.1%] were in atrial fibrillation. Of them, only 5 patients returned to sinus rhythm after operation without any aid of digitalis or quinidine and other 5 restored normal sinus rhythm with digitalization: namely 2 restored within early postoperative period and 3 after more than 3 months. Eight patients well responded to quinidine therapy showing normal Sinus rhythm. So far, 25 patients have remained in persistent atrial fibrillation on 6 to 36 months follow-up. In view of these, 17 patients [68%] were over 40 years of age, 22[80%] had long duration of symptom over 5 years and 10[40%] have had atrial thrombi before operation. Left atrial dimension were still more than 40mm in 21 patients on follow up M-mode echocardiogram. One month after operation, 87 hospital survivors were improved by at least one functional NYHA class. There were 3 operative deaths [3.3%, bleeding 1, LCOS 2] and 4 late deaths [LCOS 1, valve thrombosis 1, late bleeding 1, fulminant hepatitis 1] during follow-up period. According to our limited experience, we may conclude that better results will be expected with the addition of quinidine therapy judiciously in the cases of postoperative persistent atrial fibrillation who were aged or had longer history of symptom and left atrial thrombi.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.262-269
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• 1999

Background: To review the middle and long term results of aortic valve replacement(AVR) for 11 years, we surveyed and followed up the patients who underwent AVR. Material and Method: Between Feb. 1986 and May 1997, 134 patients underwent AVR. The patients consisted of 71 men and 63 women whose mean age was 38.9 years, ranging from 17 to 70. Result: The concomitant operations were 62 mitral valve replacement(MVR), 14 MVR + tricuspid valve annuloplasty, 10 Cabrol operation, 16 aortic annulus widening, and so forth. We used 119 mechanical(75 St. Jude Medical, 38 CarboMedics, 6 Sorin) and 15 tissue (Carpentier-Edwards) valves. Early postoperative complications occurred in 35 cases; 9 congestive heart failure, 6 low cardiac output, 5 postoperative bleeding, 5 pleural effusion, and so forth. There were 13 early postoperative deaths(9.7%) due to low cardiac output(5), CHF (2), disseminated intravascular coagulopathy(2), and so forth. The cumulative total follow-up period was 452.7 patient-years with a mean of 3.4${\pm}$3.1 years/patient. There were 9 cases of valve-related complications; anticoagulant-related bleeding(4), prosthetic valve endocarditis(2), thromboembolism(2) and prosthetic valve failure(1) occured at rate of 0.9, 0.4, 0.4, 0.2%/ pt-yr, respectively. Late valve-related death occurred in 3 cases(2.0%/pt-yr) associated with anticoagulant-related bleeding(2) and prosthetic valve endocarditis(1). Conclusion: Actuarial survival rate by Kaplan-Meier method was 91.0${\pm}$4.3 % at 11 years.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.324-330
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• 2009

Background: The long term patency of the free saphenous vein graft, which is the most commonly used conduit, anastomosed to the ascending aorta has been reported to be lower than that of arterial grafts. We evaluated early clinical outcome and the angiographic patency of the saphenous vein composite graft based on the left internal thoracic artery, and compared these results with those of using arterial composite grafts. Material and Method: From September 2006 to October 2008, 419 patients underwent off-pump coronary revascularization. Among those, 295 patients (70.4%) were revascularized using composite grafts (group I: saphenous vein composite graft, n=71, group II: arterial composite graft, n=224). The clinical results were compared between the 2 groups. Early postoperative coronary angiograms were performed in all the patients. ($1.6{\pm}1.6$ days) Result: The number of the distal anastomosis per patient was $3.5{\pm}1.0$ and $3.1{\pm}0.8$ in group I and II, respectively (p=.002). The operative mortality (n=2, 0.7%) and postoperative complications such as atrial fibrillation (n=73, 24.7%), perioperative myocardial infarct (n=6, 2.0%), acute renal failure (n=6, 2.0%), reoperation for bleeding (n=5, 1.7%), cerebrovascular accident (n=3, 1.0%), and mediastinitis (n=1, 0.3%) were not related with the use of saphenous vein graft. Early coronary angiograms revealed a 96.9% (126/130) for the saphenous vein grafts and a 98.8% (479/485) for the composite graft in group II (p=.231). Conclusion: Our data suggested that a saphenous vein graft might be used as analtemative conduit to the arterial graft for constructing a composite graft, as based on our early clinical and angiographic results. Further study is required to establish the long-term efficacy of using a saphenous vein as a composite graft.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.193-200
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• 2009

Background: The long-term administration of oral anticoagulant to the patients with a mechanical heart valve prosthesis is mandatory. However, the appropriate intensity of oral anticoagulant therapy to prevent thromboembolic or hemorrhagic complications is still controversial. We tried to apply low intensity anticoagulant therapy for which the International Normalized Ratios ranged between 1.5 and 2.5, and we analyzed the anticoagulation-related long term outcomes. Material and Method: From January 1992 to December 2002, 144 patients who underwent a single cardiac valve replacement were included in the study, and their ages ranged from 15 to 72 years (mean age: $47.4{\pm}15.1$): there were 49 aortic valve replacements (AVR) and 95 mitral valve replacements (AVR). The patients were followed up monthly or bi-monthly at the outpatient clinic with clinical examinations and measuring the prothrombin time to adjust the International Normalized Ratios (INRs) within the low-intensity target range between 1.5 and 2.5. Result: The follow-up period was 835.3 patient-years (mean: $5.9{\pm}3.5$) and the INRs of 7,706 measurements were available for evaluation. The mean INRs of the aortic and the mitral valve replacement groups were significantly different (p<0.01). All the patients' INRs were within the target range in 61.9% of the measurements. The mean INRs $(2.16{\pm}0.23)$ of the patients with atrial fibrillation, which was found in 30.3% of the patients, were definitely higher than those $(2.03{\pm}0.27)$ measured in the patients with regular rhythm (p<0.01). Thromboembolic episodes occurred in 9 patients with an incidence of 1.08%/patient-year. Major bleeding occurred in 2 patients (MVR) with an incidence of 0.24%/patient-year. The patients who displayed better compliance showed a lower incidence of complications (p=0.000). Conclusion: The anticoagulation therapy with a low-intensity target range after MVR or AVR seems to be effective and feasible, and increasing the patients’ compliance should be done for achieving more effective anticoagulation therapy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 1998

To define the risk factors affecting the early major morbidity and mortality after multiple- valve operations, the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative informations were retrospectively collected on 124 consecutive patients undergoing a multiple-valve operation between October 1985 and July 1996 at the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of Pusan Paik Hospital. The study population consists of 53 men and 71 women whose mean age was 37.9$\pm$11.5(mean$\pm$SD) years. Using the New York Heart Association(NYHA) classification, 41 patients(33.1%) were in functional class II, 60(48.4%) in class III, and 20(16.1%) in class IV preoperatively. Seven patients(5.6%) had undergone previous cardiac operations. Atrial fibrillations were present in 76 patients(61.3%), a history of cerebral embolism in 5(4.0%), and left atrial thrombus in 13(10.5%). The overall early mortality rate and postoperative morbidity was 8.1% and 21.8% respectively. Among the 124 cases of multiple-valve operation, there were 57(46.0%) of combined mitral valve replacement(MVR) and aortic valve replacement(AVR), 48(38.7%) of combined MVR and tricuspid annuloplasty(TVA), 12(9.7%) of combined MVR, AVR and TVA, 3(2.4%) of combined MVR and aortic valvuloplasty, 2(1.6%) of combined MVR and tricuspid valve replacement, and others. The patients were classified according to the postoperative outcomes; Group A(27 cases) included the patients who had early death or major morbidity such as low cardiac output syndrome, mediastinitis, cardiac rupture, ventricular arrhythmia, sepsis, and others; Group B(97 cases) included the patients who had the good postoperative outcomes. The patients were also classified into group of early death and survivor. In comparison of group A and group B, there were significant differences in aortic cross-clamping time(ACT, group A:153.4$\pm$42.4 minutes, group B:134.0$\pm$43.7 minutes, p=0.042), total bypass time(TBT, group A:187.4$\pm$65.5 minutes, group B:158.1$\pm$50.6 minutes, p=0.038), and NYHA functional class(I:33.3%, II:9.7%, III:20%, IV:50%, p=0.004). In comparison of early death(n=10) and survivor(n=114), there were significant differences in age(early death:45.2$\pm$8.7 years, survivor:37.2$\pm$11.6 years, p=0.036), sex(female:12.7%, male:1.9%, p=0.043), ACT(early death:167.1$\pm$38.4 minutes, survivor:135.7$\pm$43.7 minutes, p=0.030), and NYHA functional class(I:0%, II:4.9%, III:1.7%, IV:35%, p=0.001). In conclusion, the early major morbidity and mortality were influenced by the preoperative clinical status and therefore the earlier surgical intervention should be recommended whenever possible. Also, improved methods of myocardial protection and operative techniques may reduce the risk in patients with multiple-valve operation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.1 s.270
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• pp.37-44
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• 2007

Background: It is known that long-term survival rate in patients underwent bronchial sleeve lobectomy for primary lung cancer is at least equal to that in patients underwent pneumonectomy, and bronchial sleeve lobectomy is performed in patients with suitable tumor location even in patients have adequate pulmonary function. Sleeve pneumonectomy is performed when carina was invaded by tumor or tumor location was near to the carina. We performed this study to know our results of sleeve resection for primary lung cancer. Material and Method: We analyzed retrospectively the medical records of 45 patients who underwent sleeve lobectomy or sleeve pneumonectomy for primary lung cancer by one thoracic surgeon from May 1990 to July 2003 in Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University. Follow-up loss was absent and last follow-up was performed in April 5, 2005. Kaplan-Meyer method and log-lank test were used to know long-term survival rate and p-value. Result: Mean age was 60 years old and male to female ratio 41:1. Histologic types were squamous cell carcinoma were 39, adenocarcinoma were 4, and others were 2 patients. Pathologic stages were I 14, II 14, and III 17 patients. Nodal stages were N0 23, N1 13, and N2 9 patients. Types of operation were sleeve lobectomy 40 and sleeve pneumonectomy 5 patients. Operative mortality was 3 patients and its cause was respiratory complications. Early complications were pneumonia 4, atelectasis 8, air leakage more than 7 days 6, and atrial fibrillation 4 patients. In 19 patients tumor was recurred. Local recurrence was 10 and systemic metastasis was 9 patients. Overall 5, 10-year survival rate were 54.2%, 42.5%. The 5, 10-year survival rates according to the pathologic stage were 83.9%, 67.1% in stage I, 55%, 47.1% in II, 33.3%, 25% in III, and significance difference was present between stage I and III. The 5, 10-year survival rate according to the lymph node involvement were 63.9%, 54.6% in N0, 53,8%, 46.5% in N1, 28.5%, 14.2% in N2, and significance difference was present between N0 and N2. Conclusion: Because bronchial sleeve lobectomy for primary lung cancer could be performed safely and shows acceptable long-term survival rate, it could be considered primary in case of suitable tumor location if complete resection is possible. Although sleeve pneumonectomy for primary lung cancer shows somewhat high operative mortality rate, it could be considered in view of curative treatment.