• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.256-261
• /
• 1980

Left atrial myxoma constitutes the most significant cardiac tumors, which occupies 30 to 50% of the total in most pathological series with the age range from 3 to 83 years, mostly between the age of 30 to 60 years. Over 90% of myxomas occur in the atria, with 3 to 4 times as many occurring in the left as in the right. They may cause severe and progressive disease mimicking mitral valvular disease with non-specific general symptoms. Recent attentions were focussed in the clinical features along with various diagnostic techniques including angiocardiography, echocardiography and cross-sectional sector scanning echocardiography, and definitive treatment with surgical removal under direct vision using cardiopulmonary bypass. There are several reports on the atrial myxomas removed from various cardiac chambers in Korea, and we report another typical case of left atrial myxoma of 6.8 x 3.8 x 1.7 cm3 attached to the upper margin of fossa ovalis with a short pedicle, also with calcification at it`s distal free end. 29 year old young mother complaining of mild fever, vaginal spotting, numbness of left upper and lower extremities, nocturnal attack of dyspnea and palpitation for 2 months was diagnosed as large left atrial myxoma with the aid of angiocardiography and echocardiography. Trans-right-atrial, transseptal surgical removal of the tumor was successfully performed under the cardiopulmonary bypass for 22 minutes on 24th of July 1980. Postoperative hospital course was uneventful and discharged from hospital on the 12th POD with complete recover from the previous symptoms and signs.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.348-354
• /
• 1978

Myxoma constitue about 50% of a II primary cardiac, tumor (incidence 0.03%) and occur in any of the cardiac chambers, but about 75% of themare found in the left atrium. As is well known, left atrial myxoma usually simulates mitral valvular disease, and it tends to bring about postural syncope and frequent embolic manifestaticns. The clinical manifestation of left atrial myxoma upon the circulation are obstructive effects, embolic effects and constitutional effects. Diagnosis is now most of all important since surgery can be dramatically curable, whereas untreated myxoma apparently invariably lead to deadful course. Preaprative diagncsis by echocardiogram is so simple and accurate for detection of myxoma that awareness of mitral valvular heart disease with rapid deterioration must be screened. We have diagnosed one case of the left atrial myxoma preopratively by phonocardiogram, echocardiogram and levophase pulmonary angiograJ;n and successfully treated by operation under extra corporeal circulation. A 38 years old housewife was admitted to the National Medical Center because of dyspnea, and paroxysmal cough on occasions for prior to hospitalization. Operation was carried out by median sternotomy and left atriotomy with mild hypothermia under E.C.C. The left atrial myxoma was extirpated including endocardial fragment and its weight was 23gm. The hospital course was not eventful and she can work nowadays without symptoms.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.38 no.1 s.246
• /
• pp.80-83
• /
• 2005

A 43-year-old male was admitted to our hospital complaining of dyspnea and wheezing sound at respiration. He had received esophageal exclusion and esophagogastrostomy due to spontanous esophageal rupture 1-year ago. Chest computed tomography revealed esophageal mucocele like that of mediastinal tumor. Trachea is compressed by esophageal mucocele. The operation was performed by resection of thoracic esophagus through right open thoracotomy. Herein we report a case of a tracheal compression by esophageal mucocele after surgical exclusion of the esophagus.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.131-135
• /
• 1995

Fifteen patients[10 female and 5 male from 13 to 73 years of age[mean age 46 years underwent excision of atrial myxomas between 1981 and 1993 at the Chonnam University Hospital. Fourteen patients presented with exertional or resting dyspnea, six with palpitation, five with systemic embolization, and three with syncope. Symptoms were present from 1 week to 14 months before operation. Fourteen tumors originated from the atrial septum of left atrium and one of bilateral atrium. All tumors were pedunculated; tumor sizes were variable from 2x1x1cm to 7x6x5cm. No ventricular tumors identified. The myxomas were successfully removed in all patients, either by shaving them from the atrial septum[n=7 or excising a portion of normal atrial septum with the tumor and ASD patch closure[n=8 . There was no perioperative or late death in our experience. Follow-up is current and complete in all cases[range 6 months to 13 years . Thirteen patients are in New York Heart Association Class I, and the remaining two patients are in Class II. One recurrent left atrial myxoma was identified at 20 months after operation. In this series, excellent results were obtained by simple excision of the tumor, with or without a margin of normal atrial septum. Long-term clinical & echocardiographic follow-up is recommended since late recurrence, although rare, has been reported.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.402-408
• /
• 1982

The primary cardiac tumor was considered as a form of disease with poor prognosis in the past and it was hardly diagnosed before post mortem autopsy. But recent development of diagnostic procedure and the cardiac surgery using extracorporeal circulation increased the accuracy of diagnosis and the opportunity of successful treatment. The authors present two cases of left atrial myxoma which experienced during recent 4 years between 1979 and 1982. A 33 year old woman admitted with severe shortness of breath, generalized edema, ascites and the evidence of hepatopathy resulted from right sided heart failure. Preoperatively, the patient was treated with conservative medication to improve general condition for a few days. The tumor mass was removed successfully under the cardiopulmonary bypass. She, however, died of myocardial dysfunction showing low blood pressure. The tumor mass weighed 22gm and measured 5.2x4.5x3.6 cm in size. A 60 year old man admitted with shortness of breath on exertion and an episode of fainting. Following the removal of tumor mass under the cardiovascular bypass, the clinical course was satisfactory with no complication. The tumor mass weighed 105gm and measured 9x4x5 cm in size.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.176-182
• /
• 1992

From April 1977 to March 1991, 44 patients have undergone excision of intracardiac myx-omas, 36 cases were located in the left atrium[81.6%], 3 cases in the right atrium[6.6%], 2 cases in the right ventricle[4.5%], 3 cases in the left ventricle[6.6%], There were 32 female and 12 male. The mean age of patients was 39.6$\pm$12.3 years[ranged 11 to 67 years]. The major preoperative symptoms included exertional dyspnea in 35[79.6%], palpitation in 23[52.3%], syncopal episodes in 9[20.4%], and signs of systemic illness; low-grade fever, weight loss, arthralgia, headache and so on. The diagnosis was made by echocardiography alone in 7[15.9%], and by combination of angiography and echocardiography in 37[84.1%]. The weight of the tumor ranged from 15 to 115gm[mean weight, 47.6$\pm$27.6gm], and the volum of the tumor was 129.1cm3[$\pm$149.0]. Follow-up time ranged from 0.6 to 9 years[mean follow-up, 65$\pm$3.22 years]. There were no early and late deaths during the follow-up period. Tumor recurred in one patient with left atrial myxoma 8 years later, who underwent successful reoperation. Postoperative complications occurred in 12 patients: episodes of sup-raventricular arrhythmia in 7, convulsion in 2, wound problem in 2, tricuspid valve regurgitation in 1, massive bleeding in 1, and intubation granuloma in one. In conclusion, surgical excision of the myxoma can be considered curative with excellent long-term result.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.164-172
• /
• 1977

This is a report of a case in which a left atrial myxoma was successfully removed by total cardiopulmonary bypass with total hemodilution and moderate hypothermia. The patient was a 17 old girl with mitral valvular symptoms that occured suddenly three months prior to operation. After the onset of symptoms. it was progressively aggravated to serious general condition. The preoperative diagnosis of left atrial tumor was made from echocardiography. and the tumor was confirmed as myxoma by the histopathological examination of the tumor tissue removed during operation. The myxoma was unusually originated from posterior wall of the left atrium. which was located between drainage orifices of right and left pulmonary veins, The tumor developed in the left atrial cavity and one of the polypoid processes of the myxoma was prolapsed into the the left ventricle through the mitral orifice. Following operation. there was no evidence for peripheral vascular embolism, and all valvular symptoms disappeared. The postoperative course was uneventful.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.31 no.11
• /
• pp.1037-1042
• /
• 1998

Background: Among the various techniques for the adequate exposure of the mitral valve, the extended transseptal approach is the essential prerequisite for accurate repair or replacement of the mitral apparatus. But the efficacy and safty of the extended transseptal approach has not determined in Korea yet. Materials and methods: Retrospective data of 80 consecutive patients, operated from September 1992 to July 1997 were reviewed. Seventy- eight patients underwent mitral valve replacement and 2 patients underwent excision of left atrial myxoma. Thirty-eight of 78 patients had other concomitant procedures such as aortic valve replacement(n=22), tricuspid annulopasty(n=14), coronary artery bypass graft(n=1) and closure of ventricular septal defect(n=1). Mean follow up was 23.3±15.0 months and total follow up was 1792 patient-months. Results: The hospital mortality rate was 3.8%(3 patients). Two deaths were due to low cardiac output and one due to postoperative bleeding of coagulopathy. Among the 46 patients who had atrial fibrillation preoperatively, 45 had atrial fibrillation postoperatively and 1 converted to sinus rhythm. All 34 patients who were in normal sinus rhythm preoperatively remained in sinus rhythm after the operation. Mean aortic cross clamping time was 62 minutes for isolated mitral procedure and 90 minutes for concomitant procedures. There were no specific complications related to this approach. Conclusions: We suggest that the extended transseptal approach is an easy and good method for mitral valve surgery, especially in patients with small sized left atrium.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.373-378
• /
• 1999

Background: Minimally invasive technique for various cardiac surgeries has become widely accepted since it has been proven to have distinct advantages for the patients. We describe here the results of our experiences of minimal incision in cardiac surgery. Material and Method: From February 1997 to November 1998, we successfully performed 31 cases of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Male and female ratio was 17:14, and the patients age ranged from 1 to 75 years. A left parasternal incision was used in 9 patients with single vessel coronary heart disease. A direct coronary bypass grafting was done under the condition of the beating heart without cardiopulmonary bypass support(MIDCAB). Among these, one was a case of a reoperation 1 week after the first operation due to a kinked mammary artery graft. A right parasternal incision was used in one case of a redo mitral valve replacement. Mini-sternotomy was used in the remaining 21 patients. The procedures were mitral valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty in 6 patients, mitral valve replacement 5, double valve replacement 2, aortic valve replacement 1, removal of left atrial myxoma 1, closure of atrial septal defect 2, repair of ventricular septal defect 2, and primary closure of r ght ventricular stab wound 1. The initial 5 cases underwent a T-shaped mini-sternotomy, however, we adopted an arrow-shaped ministernotomy in the remaining cases because it provided better exposure of the aortic root and stability of the sternum after a sternal wiring. Result: The operation time, the cardiopulmonary bypass time, the aorta cross-clamping time, the mechanical ventilation time, the amount of chest tube drainage until POD#1, the chest tube indwelling time, and the duration of intensive care unit staying were in an acceptable range. There were two surgical mortalities. One was due to a rupture of the aorta cannulation site after double valve replacement on POD#1 in the mini-sternotomy case, and the other was due to a sudden ventricular arrhythmia after MIDCAB on POD#2 in the parasternal incision case. Postoperative complications were observed in 2 cases in which a cerebral embolism developed on POD#2 after a mini-sternotomy in mitral valve replacement and wound hematoma developed after a right parasternal incision in a single coronary bypass grafting. Neither mortality nor complication was directly related to the incision technique itself. Conclusion: Minimally invasive surgery using parasternal or mini-sternotomy incision can be used in cardiac surgeries since it is as safe as the standard full sternotomy incisions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.260-267
• /
• 1981

Left atrial myxoma is a rare disease and its recurrence is reported to be always possible whenever primary excision is incomplete. Cardiac Myxoma is rare disease of the heart, and it has a little chance of recurrence. We experienced a patient of recurrent left atrial myxoma who was 31 years old, had been gotten excision of Lt. atrial myxoma when she was 28 years of her age. She was gotten mitral valve replacement simultaneously during 2nd operation with difficulty. So we report this case with the review of the literatures. [KTCS 1981;3:260-267]Surgical Treatment of Acute Pyogenic Pericarditis followed the Sepsis Ki Woo Shin, M.D.,* Ho Wan Lee, M.D.* and Dong Jun Lee, M.D.* Two cases of acute pyogenic pericarditis are, one case, 12-year-old male patient, followed the bacteremia of pneumonia and other case, 9 year old female patient, followed the bacteremia of osteomyelitis. After the confirmed diagnosis by pericardial aspiration, the emergency pericardial window was made to relief the severe cardiogenic symptoms. The general symptoms were improved immediately, but 40 days and 15 days after pericardiostomy, in each case, the sign and symptoms of cardiac compression were seen with recurrent cardiac tamponade. Pericardiectomy with median sternotomy was performed in each case and thereafter the patients were discharged without any problems.