• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.204-212
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• 1982

The presence of left atrial thrombus in mitral stenosis has been reported to be associated with several factors. These are age, sex, presence of atrial fibrillation, episodes of congestave heart failure, calcification of mitral valve, embolic episode, etc. Since none of these single factor has been always related to the presence of left atrial thrombus, related risk factors to left atrial thrombosis were studied in patients with mitral stenosis using chi square test. We had operated on 191 cases of mitral valvular heart disease from Jan. 1978 to June 1981 at Severance Hospital, Yunsei University College of Medicine. The left atrial thrombi were present in 41 cases among 191 cases of mitral valvular heart disease and it was present in 31 cases among 89 cases of pure mitral stenosis. Only 10 cases among 74 cases of mitral stenoregurgitation had left atrlal thrombi, whereas no left atrlal thrombus was found in patients with pure mitral regurgitation. Related risk factors studied herein were sex, episodes of congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, mitral valve area calculated by Gorlin and Gorlin`s formula cardiac output and left atrial dimension by echocardiogram. In this study presence of atrial fibrillation was deemed to be one of the most potential risk factors and other factors of age, duration of symptoms, episode of embolization, calclfication of mitral valve, associated aortic and tricuspid valve disease, ejection fraction of left ventricle by cineangiocardiogram and echocardiogram were not significantly related to the presence of left atrlal thrombi in a statistical viewpoint.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.11-24
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• 1971

Eighty-four cases of mitral commissurotomy were done in this department between October 1958 and September 1970. Therc wcre 54 males and 30 females. Six cases were under the age of 20 years. Prcoperativc embolization occurred in 9. 5% of the cases. consisting of 8. 3% cerebral and 1.2% peripheral embolization. Intraoperative and postoperative cmbolization occurred in 4.7% of the cases, with 1. 2% cerebral and 3.5% peripheral embolism. Two out of three postopeative embolism cases expired, one of which was caused by septic cerebral embolism due to valve vegetation nnd the other by mesenteric embolism. Atrial fibrillation was 1loted ill 43% of the case. Seventy closed mitral commissurotomy was done by left appendegeal approach with finger fracture method or Bailey's guillotine valvotome. Fourteen open mitral commissurotomy cases were done either by right side approach or median sternotomy, three of which were reoperation cases after blind mitral commissurotomy. One out of 14 cases were operated on with open mitral commissurotomy and concomitant open aortic valve bicuspidalization, This case expired due to severe serum hepatitis ten days after operation. Thirty-two per cent of valve calcification was noted during operation and one of which had marked vegetation on the valve cusps too. Operative mortality was 1.4% in blind mitral commissurotomy and 14% in open mitral commissurotomy. Over-all mortality in the entire series was 3.5%. One case among the blind commissurotomy cases expired during operation due to left inferior pulmonary vein laceration and death was caused in two open mitral commissurotomy cases by coronary artery airembolism. Three hospital death occurred in blind operation group, one due to coronary embolism, and two by hepatic failures. Three hospital death among open heart surgery cases were caused by hepatic failure in two and cerebral embolism in one cases. ln most of the survivors improved functional capacity and exercise lolerance were noted.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.619-629
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• 1988

The increasing number of replacement of the substitute cardiac valves were seen in these 2 years. Out of a total 1,408 patients with cardiac valve replacement, 54 required replacement of the substitute valves. Fifty-nine substitute valves replaced were 43 in mitral, 14 in aortic and 2 in tricuspid positions; and they were 36 Ionescu-Shiley, 15 Hancock and 3 Angell-Shiley bioprosthetic valves and 3 St. Jude Medical and 2 Bjork-Shiley prosthetic valves. Primary tissue failure was the most frequent reason of replacement[38 patients] followed by paravalvular leak[9 patients], prosthetic valve endocarditis[6 patients] and valve thrombosis[1 patient] in order. The most pronounced pathology of the failed xenograft valves seen in the primary tissue failure group was calcification and fixation of the cusps with or without tear and defect of the cuspal tissue. The operative mortality rate was 7.4%. Fifty early survivors were followed up for a total of 82.6 patient-years and there was no late death. Actuarial survival rate was 92.3*3.8% at 6 years after surgery. Although the definite tendency toward early and accelerated degeneration of the xenograft valves has been seen in patients younger than 20 to 25 years of age, no strict age limit from where the tissue failure slows down could be determined. The requirement of the ideal substitute valves would be the durability of the recently developed mechanical prostheses armed with the low thrombogenicity of the bioprostheses. At the present time, the need of compromise in selection between less thrombogenic bioprosthetic and more durable mechanical valves should be stressed. The difficulty in choice is yet important in patients of middle age and children where the use of homograft valves may be one of the solution despite of certain limitations from sociomedical reasons.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.295-304
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• 2008

Background: Various experimental trials for the development of bioprosthetic devices are actively underway, secondary to the limited supply of autologous and homograft tissue to treat cardiac diseases. In this study, porcine bioprostheses that were treated with glutaraldehyde (GA), ethanol, or sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) were examined with light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy for mechanical and physical imperfections before implantation, Material and Method: 1) Porcine pericardium, aortic valve, and pulmonary valve were examined using light microscopy and JEM-100CX II transmission electron microscopy, then compared with human pericardium and commercially produced heterografts. 2) Sections from six treated groups (GA-Ethanol, Ethanol-GA, SDS only, SDS-GA, Ethanol-SDS-GA and SDS-Ethanol-GA) were observed using the same methods. Result: 1) Porcine pericardium was composed of a serosal layer, fibrosa, and epicardial connective tissue. Treatment with GA, ethanol, or SDS had little influence on the collagen skeleton of porcine pericardium, except in the case of SDS pre-treatment. There was no alteration in the collagen skeleton of the porcine pericardium compared to commercially produced heterografts. 2) Porcine aortic valve was composed of lamina fibrosa, lamina spongiosa, and lamina ventricularis. Treatment with GA, ethanol, or SDS had little influence on these three layers and the collagen skeleton of porcine aortic valve, except in the case of SDS pre-treatment. There were no alterations in the three layers or the collagen. skeleton of porcine aortic valve compared to commercially produced heterografts. Conclusion: There was little physical and mechanical damage incurred in porcine bioprosthesis structures during various glutaraldehyde fixation processes combined with anti-calcification or decellularization treatments. However, SDS treatment preceding GA fixation changed the collagen fibers into a slightly condensed form, which degraded during transmission electron micrograph. The optimal methods and conditions for sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) treatment need to be modified.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1095-1101
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• 1996

From July 1983 to June 1995, 95 consecutive patients with mitral stenosis were treated surgically in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Chonbuk national University Hospital, mitral valve replacement(MVR) in 62 patients and open mitral commissurotomy(OMC) in 33 patients. Mitral stenosis combined with coronary artery disease, with aortic valve disease, or wish mitral valvular Insufficiency, were excluded from this study. Surgical procedures for mitral stenosis were evaluated, according to complication, reoperation, mor- tality, nd functional change at mid- and long-term postoperative period. Cardiothoracic ratio in the MVR group was greater than the OMC group(0.59 $\pm$0.07 in MVR, 0.53 $\pm$0. 07 in OMC, p<0.05), but other variables(age, sex, MYHA functional classification, EKG finding, echocardiographic finding) did not show significant difference between two groups in the preoperative periods. Even though pathologic valvular lesion(Sellor's pathologic type m: 35 in MVR, 13 in OMC) and valvular calcification(35 in MVR, 11 in OMC) were severe in the MVR group(p=0.001) at intraoperative observation, OMC was possible in 11 patients(23.9%) among 46 patients with valvular calcification and in 13 patients(27.1 %) among 61 patients with Sellor's pathologic type IH . There was no significant difference in early and late mortality, actuarial survival(75% in MVR, 87.6% in OMC at 12 year), but early and late hemorrhagic, thromboembolic complications in the MVR group were greater than in the OMC. Functional changes in NYHA functional classification, EKG lEnding, cardiothoraclc ratio, and echocardiographic finding(EF, LVIDS, LWDd, LAD) did not differ between two groups in mid- and long-term postoperative periods. We conclude that our efforts for preservation of the native valve would be continued, because hemorrhagic and thromboembolic complications in the MVR were greater than in the OMC, and OMC was possible even in patients with severely stenotic and calcified mitral valve, although there was no sis-nificant difference in the functional change, mortality, and survival between the M VR and OMC.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.346-352
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• 1998

Rheumatic valvulitis produces at least three distinct pathologic changes, the degree varying widely among the patients: fusion of the valve leaflets at the commissures; fusion and shortening of chordae tendinae: and fibrosis of the leaflets with subsequent stiffening, contraction and calcification. The most extensive changes usually are seen in patients with recurrent attacks of rheumatic fever. We studied on outcome of the surgical treatments of rheumatic valvular diseases that have been experienced for 12 years since 1982 at Pusan National University Hospital. The diagnoses were made by rheumatic fever history, echocardiographic findings, gross operative findings and microscopic findings. Total 502 patients were performed surgery for valvular heart diseases and 440 patients of rheumatic origin have bene analysed. There were more female than male patients as 1.3:1, and the mean age was 37.8 years old. 96.3% of them affected to the mitral valve, 19.8% to aortic valve, 16.3% affected to the tricuspid valve. Most of them underwent valve replacement, and valve repair was done in 3.9% of patients. There were 36 hospital deaths(8.2%) mainly from low cardiac output syndrome, and 15 late deaths equally due to embolism and hemorrhage. Follow up was 90.1% completed(2890 patient- year). Linealized rates of late complication events are follows : thromboembolism 1.3% per patient year; anticoagulant related hemorrhage 0.8% per patient year. Overall actuarial survival including hospital mortality was 92.7＋/-2.9% in 1 year, 88.0＋/-4.5% in 5 year, 82.3＋/-7.7% in 10 year. We conclude that the rheumatic disease is still the most frequent and the most important cause of heart valve disease. So more intensive study is needed in spite of the abrupt decreasing rate of rheumatic fever in U.S.A. and other industrial country.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.679-686
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• 2008

Background: Cellular remnants in the bioprosthetic heart valve are known to be related to a host's immunologic response and they can form the nidus for calcification. The extracellular matrix of the decellularized valve tissue can also be used as a biological scaffold for cell attachment, endothelialization and tissue reconstitution. Thus, decellularization is the most important part in making a bioprosthetic valve and biological caffold. Many protocols and agents have been suggested for decellularization, yet there ave been few reports about the effect of a treatment with hypotonic solution prior to chemical or enzymatic treatment. This study investigated the effect of a treatment with hypotonic solution and the appropriate environments such as temperature, the treatment duration and the concentration of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) for achieving proper decellularization. Material and Method: Porcine aortic valves were decellularized with odium dodecylsulfate at various concentrations (0.25%, 0.5%), time durations (6, 12, 24 hours) and temperatures ($4^{\circ}C$, $20^{\circ}C$)(Group B). Same the number of porcine aortic valves (group A) was treated with hypotonic solution prior to SDS treatment at the same conditions. The duration of exposure to the hypotonic solution was 4, 7 and 14 hours and he temperature was $4^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$, respectively. The degree of decellularization was analyzed by performing hematoxylin and eosin staining. Result: There were no differences in the degree of decellularization between the two concentrations (0.25% 0.5%) of SDS. Twenty four hours treatment with SDS revealed the best decellularization effect for both roups A and B at the temperature of $4^{\circ}C$, but there was no differences between the roups at $20^{\circ}C$. Treatment with hypotonic solution (group A) showed a better ecellularization effect at all the matched conditions. Fourteen hours treatment at $4^{\circ}C$ ith ypotonic solution prior to 80S treatment revealed the best decellularization effect. The treatment with hypotonic solution at $20^{\circ}C$ revealed a good decellularization effect, but his showed significant extracellular matrix destruction. Conclusion: The exposure of porcine heart valves to hypotonic solution prior to SDS treatment is highly effective for achieving decellularization. Osmotic treatment with hypotonic solution should be considered or achieving decellularization of porcine aortic valves. Further study should be carried out to see whether the treatment with hypotonic solution could reduce the exposure duration and concentration of chemical detergents, and also to evaluate how the structure of the extracellular matrix of the porcine valve is affected by the exposure to hypotonic solution.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1764-1776
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• 2021

Objective: This study aimed to validate a deep learning-based fully automatic calcium scoring (coronary artery calcium [CAC]_auto) system using previously published cardiac computed tomography (CT) cohort data with the manually segmented coronary calcium scoring (CAC_hand) system as the reference standard. Materials and Methods: We developed the CAC_auto system using 100 co-registered, non-enhanced and contrast-enhanced CT scans. For the validation of the CAC_auto system, three previously published CT cohorts (n = 2985) were chosen to represent different clinical scenarios (i.e., 2647 asymptomatic, 220 symptomatic, 118 valve disease) and four CT models. The performance of the CAC_auto system in detecting coronary calcium was determined. The reliability of the system in measuring the Agatston score as compared with CAC_hand was also evaluated per vessel and per patient using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman analysis. The agreement between CAC_auto and CAC_hand based on the cardiovascular risk stratification categories (Agatston score: 0, 1-10, 11-100, 101-400, > 400) was evaluated. Results: In 2985 patients, 6218 coronary calcium lesions were identified using CAC_hand. The per-lesion sensitivity and false-positive rate of the CAC_auto system in detecting coronary calcium were 93.3% (5800 of 6218) and 0.11 false-positive lesions per patient, respectively. The CAC_auto system, in measuring the Agatston score, yielded ICCs of 0.99 for all the vessels (left main 0.91, left anterior descending 0.99, left circumflex 0.96, right coronary 0.99). The limits of agreement between CAC_auto and CAC_hand were 1.6 ± 52.2. The linearly weighted kappa value for the Agatston score categorization was 0.94. The main causes of false-positive results were image noise (29.1%, 97/333 lesions), aortic wall calcification (25.5%, 85/333 lesions), and pericardial calcification (24.3%, 81/333 lesions). Conclusion: The atlas-based CAC_auto empowered by deep learning provided accurate calcium score measurement as compared with manual method and risk category classification, which could potentially streamline CAC imaging workflows.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.11-19
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• 2010

Background: The commercially used vascular xenografts have some problems such as calcification, fibrosis and tissue degeneration that are associated with inflammatory and immunologic reactions. We compared two methods of xenograft preservation (fresh cryopreservation versus acellularized cryopreservation) of goat aorta. Material and Method: Aortic valved xenografts were harvested from adult pigs, and these were preserved using fresh cryopreservation (FC group, n=4) or acellularized crypreservation (AC group, n=4). These xenografts were implanted into adult goats. There were 2 short-term survivors (less than 100 days) and 2 long-term survivors in each group. These xenografts were explanted and they underwent microscopic examination. Result: The goats survived 31, 40, 107 and 411 days in the FC group and the other goats survived 5, 40, 363 and 636 days in the AC group. All the short-term survivors in each group expired because of rupture at the proximal anastomosis site. Marked neutrophil infiltration was observed in the FC group FC and lymphocytes were observed in the AC group. There were no differences in the occurrence of calcification, fibrosis and thrombosis among the groups. Conclusion: Some goats survived more than 100 days after the xenograft implantation irrespective of the methods of preservation. Because severe tissue degeneration developed in both groups, we think these methods are not appropriate for xenograft preservation of aorta. It was worth a preliminary trial for improving the preservation method or to modify the processing of xenografts.