Left bronchial compression after aortic arch reconstruction for coarctation of the aorta.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the preoperative positional relationships between the blood vessels and the left bronchus during the development of left bronchial compression (LBC) after aortic arch reconstruction for coarctation of the aorta (CoA).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed data from 29 patients with CoA who underwent aortic arch reconstruction via median sternotomy between 2009 and 2019. The patients were divided into those who underwent aortic arch advancement (AAA) with (C group, six patients) or without (N group, 10 patients) postoperative LBC and those who underwent extended end-to-end anastomosis (E group, 13 patients).

Growing Coronary Aneurysm Secondary to Coronary Fistula Despite Decreased Pulmonary Blood Flow/Systemic Blood Flow Ratio in a Child: A Case Report.

Coronary aneurysm secondary to coronary fistula is a rare condition, with no existing report on its pathological examination. We report the case of a patient diagnosed with a right coronary artery fistula with coronary aneurysm during the fetal period. During follow-up after delivery, the aneurysm became larger, even though the shunt size decreased.

Surgical treatment of isolated unilateral absence of pulmonary artery with pulmonary hypertension.

A one-and-a-half-month-old patient with isolated unilateral absence of the right proximal pulmonary artery with prominent left pulmonary hypertension was diagnosed using CT. Medication therapy was initiated first. Left pulmonary artery pressure decreased after the initiation of medication therapy, and single-stage reconstruction of the right pulmonary artery was performed.

Active mitral valve endocarditis with widespread interventricular septal abscesses in a paediatric patient.

We present the case of a previously healthy 2-year-old boy with extensive infective mitral valve endocarditis, with 2 huge, mobile vegetations attached to the anterior leaflet of the mitral valve and to the left ventricular outflow tract, and interventricular septal abscesses extending into the left ventricular outflow tract without any septal defects. He underwent mitral valve repair and simultaneous drainage of the interventricular septal abscesses excluding the inlet portion to avoid postoperative complications.

Pulmonary venous obstruction after extracardiac total cavopulmonary connection in right atrial isomerism.

Background: Patients with functional single ventricle and right atrial isomerism (RAI) often have multiform cardiac pulmonary venous (PV) connection, which could be a risk factor for pulmonary venous obstruction (PVO) after extracardiac total cavopulmonary connection (EC-TCPC) owing to compression of the conduit.

Objective: To investigate the anatomical risk factors for PVO after EC-TCPC in RAI.

Methods: Twenty-nine patients with RAI without extracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous connection were enrolled.

Hand-sewn trileaflet valve in the right ventricular outflow tract.

A 4-year-old girl with pulmonary regurgitation after complete repair of tetralogy of Fallot, underwent an alternative surgical repair for pulmonary valve replacement. Hand-sewn trileaflet valve reconstruction using expanded polytetrafluoroethylene membrane is a feasible method for pulmonary regurgitation in such a young child in whom a large-sized bioprosthetic valve cannot be implanted.

Trileaflet pulmonary valve reconstruction for pulmonary regurgitation in childhood.

A 6-year-old boy with pulmonary regurgitation after complete repair of congenital heart disease underwent an alternative surgical repair for pulmonary valve replacement. Trileaflet pulmonary valve reconstruction using expanded polytetrafluoroethylene membrane is a clinically feasible technique for pulmonary regurgitation in such a young child in whom large-sized bioprosthetic valves cannot be implanted.

An alternative technique for direct implantation of an anomalous left coronary artery arising from the pulmonary artery with complex coronary arteries.

A 2-month-old patient with anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) underwent an alternative repair involving coronary transfer with the bay window technique because of the very short left main coronary trunk. This procedure is a clinically relevant and feasible technique for ALCAPA with such a delicate coronary artery anomaly.

Novel technique for implantation of a cardioverter defibrillator in children.

An 8-year-old boy with hypertrophic nonobstructive cardiomyopathy with ventricular fibrillation underwent implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. The lead was inserted through a pursestring suture in the right atrial appendage, and the tip of coil was placed in the right ventricular apex under fluoroscopic guidance. Another defibrillation coil was placed in the back of the left atrium and left ventricle by the transverse sinus.

Modified commissural patch repair in a child with active mitral endocarditis.

A 9-year-old patient with massive destruction of the mitral apparatus caused by active infective endocarditis underwent mitral valve plasty using a modified commissural autologous pericardial patch repair. This procedure is a clinically relevant and feasible technique for pediatric patients with active mitral valve endocarditis.

Functional and pathological characteristics of reversible remodeling in a canine right ventricle in response to volume overloading and volume unloading.

Purposes: Patients who undergo right ventricular (RV) outflow augmentation inevitably develop RV remodeling due to pulmonary insufficiency-related volume overload (VOL). However, the reversibility of this remodeling is not fully understood. The goal of this study was to establish an animal model of VOL and unloading to characterize the functional and pathological characteristics and reversibility of RV remodeling.

Synthetic prostacyclin agonist, ONO1301, enhances endogenous myocardial repair in a hamster model of dilated cardiomyopathy: a promising regenerative therapy for the failing heart.

Objectives: Remodeling of the left ventricle (LV) in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) is known to be associated with multiple pathologic changes that endogenous factors, such as hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), protect against. Although a clinically relevant delivery method of these factors has not been established, ONO1301, a synthetic prostacyclin agonist, has been shown to upregulate multiple cardioprotective factors, including HGF and VEGF, in vivo. We thus hypothesized that ONO1301 may reverse LV remodeling in the DCM heart.

Sustained-release delivery of prostacyclin analogue enhances bone marrow-cell recruitment and yields functional benefits for acute myocardial infarction in mice.

Background: A prostacyclin analogue, ONO-1301, is reported to upregulate beneficial proteins, including stromal cell derived factor-1 (SDF-1). We hypothesized that the sustained-release delivery of ONO-1301 would enhance SDF-1 expression in the acute myocardial infarction (MI) heart and induce bone marrow cells (BMCs) to home to the myocardium, leading to improved cardiac function in mice.

Methods And Results: ONO-1301 significantly upregulated SDF-1 secretion by fibroblasts.