• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.342-344
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• 2012

A persistent sciatic artery (PSA) is very rare congenital vascular anomaly which is present in 0.025% to 0.04% of the population by an angiographic study. A PSA is usually combined with aneurismal disease or thromboembolic events because of its arteriosclerosis and vessel wall degeneration. The treatments of symptomatic PSA are comprised of exclusion of PSA from circulation and bypass surgery for the lower limb. However, surgical treatment should be tailored to its anatomy and presentation. We report a successful treatment of PSA with distal thromboembolism by thromboembolectomy without bypass surgery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.343-347
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• 2011

Background: Acute pulmonary thromboembolism is fatal because of abruptly occurring hypoxemia and right ventricular failure. There are several treatment modalities, including anticoagulation, thrombolytics, ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenator), and thromboembolectomy, for managing acute pulmonary thromboembolism. Materials and Methods: Medical records from January 1999 to December 2004 at our institution were retrospectively reviewed for pulmonary thromboembolectomy. There were 7 patients (4 men and 3 women), who underwent a total of 8 operations because one patient had post-operative recurrent emboli and underwent reoperation. Surgery was indicated for mild hypoxemia and performed with CPB (cardiopulmonary bypass) in a beating heart state. Results: The patients had several symptoms, such as dyspnea, chest discomfort, and palpitation. Four patients had deep vein thromboembolisms and 3 had psychotic problems, specifically schizophrenia. Post-operative complications included hemothorax, pleural effusion, and pericardial effusion. There were two hospital deaths, one each by brain death and right heart failure. Conclusion: Emergency operation should be performed when medical treatments are no longer effective.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.911-917
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• 1988

Pulmonary thromboembolism originated most commonly from the venous thrombus, especially deep vein thrombus in the leg, which migrated to and occluded the pulmonary vasculatures. The failure of clot lysis and repeated embolic episodes resulted in the hemodynamic compromise -that is- in the increasing in the pulmonary vascular resistance, which would cause the right ventricle failure[Car Pulmonale]. Under the cardiopulmonary bypass, 20 year old male patient was treated successfully by thromboembolectomy of pulmonary thromboembolism with pulmonary hypertension, which originated from the deep vein thrombus in the leg. The results of radiologic studies and clinical evaluations were excellent in that the postoperative lung perfusion scan showed the newly increased perfusion of post-embolectomy territories and in the arterial blood gas finding of 76 from 66[mmHg] in PaO2. The patient was uneventful and discharged on postop. $ 14 days with anticoagulant continued.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.77-81
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• 1980

We present one case of 26-year-old male having saddle block combined with mitral valvular disease [NYHA Class IV] with auricular fibrillation. The most common cause of emboli is atrial fibrillation. The clinical manifestations of saddle emboli are relatively slow due to development of collateral circulation and large size of lumen of the aorta. The 5month duration of saddle emboli in this case led to severe atrophic changes, coldness, peripheral cyanosis on the both lower extremities, and flexion deformity on the knee and ankle joint of the left lower extremity. We planned staged operation for the saddle block and for mitral stenoinsufficiency and tricuspid insufficiency, because of poor general condition of the patient. The thromboembolectomy of aortic bifurcation was performed through the transabdominal approach without trial of Fogarthy catheter embolectomy, because of expectation of the secondary inflammatory changes of the vessel wall and thrombi which was 3 cm X 1 cm X 0.5 cm in size with irregular surfaced solid in consistency. 1 month later, after thromboembolectomy, mitral valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty were performed, with successful early operative result. During operation organized thrombi [1 cm X 0.5 cm] in the left auricle was removed. We wonder if simple management using Fogarthy catheter might be possible to remove the thromboemboli instead of thromboembolectomy by aortotomy in this case.

• 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.28 no.3
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• pp.316-319
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• 1995

Systemic emboli occur in approximately one-third of patients with cardiac myxoma. Embolization is common because of the friability of the tumor and intracardiac location. Embolic episodes in young patients with normal sinus rhythm should arouse suspicions of cardiac myxoma in the absence of active endocarditis. We present one case of 17 years old girl having saddle embolism combined with left atrial myxoma. We planned staged operation. First, the emergency thromboembolectomy of aortic bifurcation was performed through bilateral transfemoral approach with use of Forgaty catheter. One week later, the extirpation of myxoma was successfully done with ECC.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.684-687
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• 2002

Besides lung transplantation, pulmonary thromboembolectomy is the only effective therapeutic option for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. It is however associated with a considerably high hospital mortality between 6.6 to 23%. Proper patient selection is critical when considering a patient for pulmonary thromboembolectomy. And It cannot be overemphasised that the key to the success of the operation is complete endarterectomy of the entire pulmonary arterial tree. We report that pulmonary thromboendarterectomy under total circulatory arrest was an effective and safe method in the surgical correction of the chronic thrornboernbolic pulmonary hypertension and enabled complete removal of superimposed peripheral organized thrombi in a good operative field.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.139-147
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• 1987

in general rapid and complete resolution of pulmonary emboli, even massive, is the natural history. However, rarely, the emboli do not resolve but rather became fibrotic organization and densely adherent to the arterial wall, therefore, may lead to significant clinical disability. In patients with chronic pulmonary embolism, medical management usually has little effect and only surgical treatment can offer improvement. The case was 30-year-old man who had admission to the Hanyang University Hospital due to fall-down from 11th floor 407 days before operation and then transferred to our department for surgical management under the diagnosis of chronic pulmonary embolism, Pulmonary angiogram demonstrated multifocal thromboembolism with infarction and lung scans showed no improvement in spite of anticoagulant and thrombolytic therapy. At median sternotomy for pulmonary artery thromboembolectomy, the well organized and multiple septic emboli could be removed by gallstone forceps. But reoperation of left upper lobectomy was performed because of the repeated hemoptysis and suspicious pulmonary arterio-bronchial fistula 19 days postoperatively. Despite of ventilatory support and drug treatment, the patient died due to right heart failure associated with cor pulmonale 27 days after first operation. Discussion of the operative and perioperative problems are offered.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.183-185
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• 2012

Abdominal aortic occlusion (AAO) caused by detachment of cardiac myxoma (CM) is a very rare complication in patients with CM. Although the nature of CMs has been well established, detachment of CM may cause unexpected serious complications such as vicious embolic events. Actually, in several cases of AAO caused by detachment of CM, it has been reported that CM fragments easily migrated to the brain, heart, and lungs, and caused lifelong neurological complications despite appropriate surgical therapy. Herein, we report a case of a patient with AAO caused by detachment of CM who underwent CM excision and abdominal aortic thromboembolectomy. Additionally, we have presented the preoperative and postoperative images using 64-multidetector computed tomography.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.478-482
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• 2014

A 39-year-old man presented with cough, chest discomfort, and weight loss. On the basis of the patient history and laboratory findings, he was diagnosed with the hypereosinophilic syndrome. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a large thrombus in the left ventricle. Medical treatment with anticoagulation and immunosuppression was commenced immediately. Fourteen days after the initial diagnosis, the patient presented with acute pain in his right leg. Computed tomographic angiogram showed embolic occlusion of the infrarenal abdominal aorta and bilateral iliac (including common, external, and internal iliac) arteries. Emergent thromboembolectomy and left ventricular thrombectomy were performed. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient has undergone follow-up for 2 months without any evidence of recurrence of thromboembolism.