• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.316-320
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• 2003

Background: The detection of circulating microemboli by transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) has the potential to select the patients with high risk for future symptomatic brain embolism. We prospectively evaluated the positive rate and the frequency of microembolic signals (MES) before and after the heart valve surgery (HVS). Material and Method: Fifty in-patients with heart valve disease were enrolled in this study. Patients with history of previous stroke or heart valve surgery were excluded. Two unilateral TCD monitoring sessions were peformed from middle cerebral artery for 1-hour, before and after HVS. Result: Mechanical Heart valves were implanted in 28 patients, tissue valves were implanted in 10 patients, and remaining 12 patients received mitral valve repair. Positive rate of MES was significantly increased after HVS (50%), compared to that of before HVS (8%, p=0.00). There was no relation between MES after HVS and intensity of anticoagulation, cardiac rhythm, patients' age, and history of hypertension. The positive rate of MES after implantation of mechanical heart valve (71.4%) was significantly higher than those after implantation of tissue valve or mitral valve plasty (p=0.002). Conclusion: Positive rate of MES was increased significantly after the implantation of HVS. The changes of MES in those with mechanical prosthesis may be related to the increased risk or embolism after Hvs.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.691-695
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• 2007

Background: The introduction of central venous catheters in 1979 has aided the administration of chemotherapy to oncologic patients. We analyzed the clinical reviews and complications of totally implantable venous catheters in an effort to achieve optimal management. Material and Method: We retrospectively studied 100 cases with totally implantable venous catheter at our hospital and we report the results. Result: 100 totally implantable venous catheters were placed in the right subclavian vein in 74 cases (74%), the left subclavian vein in 21 cases, the right jugular vein in 3 cases, the left jugular vein in 1 case and the right femoral vein in 1 case. The immediate complications were 5 cases in malposition of the catheter and 5 cases of arterial puncture. The late complications were 1 case of subclavian vein thrombosis, which was treated with anticoagulation, and 2 cases of pinch-of syndrome. There were no other early or late complications. Conclusion: The low rate of complications in this study confirms the safety and convenience of using totally implantable venous catheter in patients undergoing prolonged chemotherapy. Yet because Infection, thrombosis, and catheter fracture are the most common long term complications of totally implantable venous catheters, early diagnosis and management of these problems can prevent severe complications.

• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.163-171
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• 2008

Purpose: We analyze the characteristics of soft tissue sarcomas presented with hematoma, which were misdiagnosed as simple hematoma initially and the proper management were delayed. Materials and Methods: The 7 patients with histologically proven soft tissue sarcoma with hematoma presented since February 1997 were evaluated retrospectively. Neither patient had a medical history of bleeding tendency nor anticoagulant therapy. Two of them had minor traumas. There were 2 men and 5 women. Average follow up period was 58 months. MRI findings, provided treatments and oncologic outcome were reviewed with the reference of related articles. Results: Retrospective review of initial MR images revealed deep seated intramuscular masses with focal solid enhanced nodules at the peripheral margin. The diagnoses were delayed at least 1 month in 3 of them which included 2 cases of simple hematoma evacuation without biopsy initially. After histologic diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma, wide resections were performed in 4 cases. one patient underwent above knee amputation and the remained 2 patients were managed with wide resection followed by amputation due to local recurrence. At last follow up there were CDF and NED in 2 cases, respectively and AWD in 3 cases. Conclusion: To avoid the delay of diagnosis and treatment of soft tissue sarcomas presented with hematoma, high degree of clinical suspicion, careful analysis of MR images and early biopsy were important.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.275-287
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• 2008

Depression and coronary artery disease are both highly prevalent diseases. Many previous studies suggest that depression is a common comorbid condition in patients with coronary artery disease and has a significant negative impact on the onset, course, and prognosis of coronary artery disease. However, the exact mechanisms that underlie the association between these two diseases remain unclear. Pathophysiologic mechanisms that may explain the effect of depression on coronary artery disease include hypercoagulability, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system dysregulation, altered inflammatory response. On the contrary, pathophysiologic mechanisms in coronary artery disease that affect depression are less well known. It is also suggested that both diseases may share a common genetic vulnerability. The authors reviewed the literature on the pathophysiologic relationships of depression and coronary heart disease.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.480-486
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• 2009

Background: The Fogarty thromboembolectomy catheter technique was devised to extract distal arterial emboli and it represents a milestone for the treatment of patients with acute arterial occlusion since the 1960s. The major causes of arterial occlusion have changed from emboli of a heart origin to atherosclerosis over the past 30 years. Accordingly, questions have been raised about the effectiveness of simple Fogarty thromboembolectomy. Material and Method: During the period from March 1990 through August 2008, 156 patients who requiring Fogarty thromboembolectomy were analyzed. The patients were divided into two groups: those with simple Fogarty thromboembolectomy (Group 1, 79 patients) and those with additional vascular bypass graft surgery (Group 2, 77 patients). The duration of symptoms, the cause of thrombi, admission via the emergency room, a history of acupuncture or misdiagnosis, combined diseases, the anatomic occlusion site and the cause of death were analyzed using T-tests, cross tab tests, Chi square tests and Kaplan-Meier tests, respectively. Result: The mean age was 64$\pm$10 years in the 2 groups. The duration of symptoms (pain) in Group 1 vs Group 2 was 12$\pm$4 days vs 71$\pm$14 days (p=0.001). 50 (63%) patients in Group 1 were admitted via the emergency room vs 18 (23%) patients in Group 2 (p=0.005). Misdiagnosis and the treatment for herniated intervertebral disc or acupuncture were given to, 20 (25%) patients in Group 1 vs 30 (39%) patients in Group 2. Anticoagulation treatment before admission was performed in 22 (28%) patients in Group 1 vs 11 (14%) patients in Group 2. The causes of thrombi were heart disease in, 24 (30%) patients in Group 1 vs 6 (8%) patients in Group 2 (p=0.001), atherosclerosis in 46 (58%) patients in Group 1 vs 67 (87%) patients in Group 2 (p=0.001) and trauma in 9 (11%) patients in Group 1 vs 6 (8%) patients in Group 2. The combined diseases were cerebrovascular accident, hypertension and diabetes mellitus in 22 $\sim$ 37% of the total patients. The occlusion sites were mainly in the iliac and femoral arteries. Endarterectomy was performed in 7 (9%) patients in Group 1 vs 18 (23%) patients in Group 2 (p=0.012). Treatment was successful in 27 (34%) patients in Group 1 and in 40 (52%) patients in Group 2 (p=0.019). Reocclusion occurred in 37(47%) patients in Group 1 vs 20 (26%) patients in Group 2 (p=0.000), Amputation was done in 4 (5%) patients in Group 1 vs 12 (16%) patients in Group 2 (p=0.012) and death occurred in 10 (13%) patients (Group 1) vs 3(4%) patients (Group 2) (p=0.044). Conclusion: The recent past has shown a decline in the effectiveness of simple Fogarty thromboembolectomy with a changing pattern of acute arterial occlusion from a rheumatic heart origin to atherosclerosis. Additional bypass procedures play a role for the treatment of arterial occlusion instead of always performing simple Fogarty thromboembolectomy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.742-748
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• 2004

The On-X valve was recently introduced. It was the aim of this study to assess the safety and feasibility from the data derived from 28 patients who underwent aortic and/or mitral valve replacement with this prosthesis in National Medical Center. Material and Method： From May 1999 and May 2003, a series of 28 consecutive patients who had been implanted with 32 On-X prosthesis were reviewed, The operative procedure comprised of 12 MVR, 10 AVR and 6 DVR. The study followed the guidelines of AATS/STS. Mean follow-up was 27 months (total 04 patient-years). Result: Early ($\leq$30 days) mortality was 7.44% (2/28) and no late mortality occurred in the study. Total actuarial freedom from mortality at 2 years was 92.86$\pm$4.87% for all cases, 100% for MVR, 90$\pm$9.49% for AVR, and 83.3$\pm$1.52% for DVR. Thromboembolic event occurred in 2 MVR patients and that was the only complication; therefore, the linearized incidence of valve related complications was 3.17%/ patient-years for all cases and 6.5%/patient-years for MVR and the actuarial freedom from valve related complications at 2 years was 84.85$\pm$10.75%. Preoperatively, 24 (85.71%) patients were in NYHA functional class III or IV but postoperatively, 25 (89,29%) patients were in NYHA functional class I or II. The levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum LDH, reticulocyte rate and indirect bilirubin were all within normal range at postoperative 3 month. In mitral position, the peak gradient was 6.1$\pm$1.8 mmHg and the mean gradient was 3.0$\pm$0.6 mmHg and EOA were 2.54$\pm$0.56 $m^2$, 2.39$\pm$0.73 $m^2$, 2.34$\pm$0.55 $m^2$, 2.40$\pm$0.63 $m^2$ at 27 mm, 29 mm, 31 mm, 33 mm respectively. In aortic postion, the peak gradient was 21.1 $\pm$14.12 mmHg and the mean gradient was 12.3$\pm$6.52 mmHg. Conclusion: Since there was no significant difference in the postoperative mortality, valve related complications and echocardiographic hemodynamic data compared to standard bileaflet design and since there was an improvement in the NYHA functional class and normal values of hemolytic indicators, it can be assumed that On-X valve is safe and feasible. However, accumulation of cases and long-term follow-up of this patient group is needed to establish this result.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.875-882
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• 1996

Multlvalvular heart surgery was performed In 78 cases, in the Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascu far Surgery of Chonbuk national University Hospital from november 1983 to March 1994. There Where 31 men and 47 women. whose ranged from 14 to 63 years. The causes of the valvular lesions were 57 rheumatic origin, 18 degenerative, 1 previous endocarditls, 1 prosthetic valve mal-function. There were 25 double valve replacement with or wit out tricuspid valve repair, i M VR and aortic valve repair, 18 MVR and tricuspid valve repair, 1 MVR and aortic and tricuspid valve repair, 10 AVR and mi- tral valve repair, 1 AVR and tricuspid valve repair, 8 mitral aortic valve repair, 13 mitral and tricuspid valve repair. They were improved mean New York Heart Association functional cldss, from 2.72% 121 Early deaths were 5 cases(6.4%). The cause of death wet'e low cArdiac output syndrome. veritricular tachycardia, massive bleeding and cerebral thromboembolism. All the survivors belonged to New York Heart Association functional class I or ll at discharge. The patients who had had valve replacement operation were medicated with warfarin to maintain the level of 30∼ 50% of normal prothrombin time. During follow-up(93.6%, mean 49.9 months), 2 late deaths were developed. One was due to intracranial hemorrhage and the other congestive heart failure. The pre-operative New York Heart Association Functional class IV was statistically sig ificant operat- ive risk factors(p< 0.05).

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.137-145
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• 1997

From July 1983 to December 1993, total 112 consecutive mitral valve replacements in 107 patients were performed in patient with mitral valvular abnormalities. To estimate the risk factor related to operative death, all patient's perioperative data were reviewed retrospectively. Except 20 patients received concomitant aortic valve replacement and 2 patients had incomplete data, 85 patients were included in this study. Mean age were $37.3\pm$ 13.1 years ranging from 13 to 72 years. Thirty-seven patients were male and fourty-eight patients were female. Mean follow-up durations were $51.1\pm33.8$ months ranging from 6 months t 11 years. Patients in this study showed improvement in mean NYHA functional clssification, from $3.02\pm0.73$ to 1 $78\pm0.55,$ and also in cardiothoracic ratio, from 0.61 $\pm0.09$ to $0.58\pm0.08$ at 6 months follow-up after operation. Operative complications were detected in 23 patients(27.1 %) and common postoperative complications were rhythm disturbance in 7 cases, pulmonary complications in 6 cases and low cardiac output syndrome in 6 cases. Early mortality was 10.6%(n=9) and the most common cause of death was a congestive heart failure due to low cardiac output syndrome. Main cause of our higher operative mortality than other study was that operative mortality in the initial period of our mitral surgery was high(5 operative deaths among 19 mitral valve replacement from July 1983 to December 1985). Actuarial survival was 80.8% at 5 years, 71.8% at 11 years including operative deaths. Actuarial freedom from anticoagulant-related bleeding was 85.3% at 5 years, 78.3% at 11 years. 95.1% at 5 years and 88.8% at 11 years among the patient in this study were free from thromboembolism, and 97.5% at 5 years and 75.1% at 11 years were free from reoperation. Preoperative cardiothoracic ratio and patient's age were statistically significant operative risk factors.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.891-898
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• 1997

Between May 1984 and January 1996, 130 patients were replaced cardiac valve using 150 St. Jude Medical prosthetic valves(42 aortic, 68 mitral, 20 aortic and mitral valve replycements). Follow-up was 97.6% complete. The early mortality rate was 5.4%, and late mortality rate was 4.9%. The valve-related late mortality rate was 3.3%. Of late complications, there were 6 anticoagulant related hemorrhages, 4 thromboembolisms and 1 paravalvular leakage. Linearized rates of late complication and valve-related late mortality were as follows: total late complications, .1.68o per patient-year: anticoagulant related hemorrhages, 0.92% per patient-year: thromboembolism, 0.61% per patient-year: paravalvular leakage, 0.15% per patient-year: reoperation, 0.15% per patient-year: and valve-related late mortalities, 0.61% per patient-year. Actuar al event free rate at 10 years was 87.4 $\pm$ 3.2%. The overall actuarial survival rate was 90.4$\pm$2.7% at 5 years, 87.5$\pm$3.3% at 10 years. Ninety eight percent of the survivors were in the New York Heart Association functional class I or II at the end of follow-up. There was significant improvement of cardiothoracic ratio. In conclusion, this study suggests the excellent durability of the St. Jude Medical Heart valve and remarkable functional benefit for the majority of the patients. However, prosthesisrelated complications are still common. Outcome is strongly related to the patient's preoperative cardiac condition and to the adequacy of anticoagulation control.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.979-985
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• 1997

Between October 1991 and May 1995, 256 "New Duromedics Valve"(Edward TEKNA Bileaflet Valve) were implanted in 208 adult patients(171 mitral, 82 aortic and 3 tricuspid) with age ranging from 18 years to 70 years(mean 48.2$\pm$ 11.6 years). Postoperative complication rates were 12.2%, but there was none valve related one. Overall early mortality rate were 1.4%(1.6% for MVR, 2.1% for DVR, and none for AVR or TVR) respectively. Follow-up was 99% completed ranging in duration from 2 months to 46 months. There were 6 valve-related late complications(2.9%) with 2 patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, 2 with cerebral thxomtioembolism, 1 with valve thrombosis and 1 with valve endocarditis. Freedom from these valve-related major complications were 89.9% at 40 months. There were 5 late deaths(2.4%). one of these late deaths was considered valve-related. Overall actuarial survival rates at 40 months were 95.5%, 96.8% for mitral, 97.1% for aortic, 100% for tricuspid, and 92.0% for double valve replacement respectively. Preoperative New York Heart Association functional class were 2.9, and 1.3 in post-operative state. We have been trying to keep the international normalized ratio(INR) with range of 2.5 to 3.0. The INR of 4 patients of 5 with anticoagulant ralated complications was beyond the range. To reduce the rate of anticoagulant related complications, we felt very strongly that the INR should be kept between 2.5 and 3.0. In our cases, there was no structural failure or significant hemolysis in the absence of periprosthetic leak. This experience encourages us to continue using the "New Duromedics Valve".omedics Valve".uot;.