Development of severe string sign in internal thoracic arterial graft during first month.

In the present case, development of the string sign in an internal thoracic arterial graft was observed using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography. Following surgery, the diameter of the internal thoracic graft decreased; however, the diameter of the left anterior descending coronary artery did not change from 1.9 mm.

New strategy for treatment of MRSA mediastinitis: one-stage procedure for omental transposition and closed irrigation.

Mediastinitis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a devastating potential complication of cardiac surgery. We treated 4 patients with this condition using a new technique. First we performed an early radical removal of infected tissue and omental transposition with direct primary closure of the sternum and closed continuous irrigation with saline/vancomycin hydrochloride; that was followed by an administration of intravenous antibiotics.

Changes in left anterior descending coronary artery flow profiles after coronary artery bypass grafting examined by means of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography.

Objective: We sought to investigate the changes of velocity profiles in the left anterior descending coronary artery after coronary artery bypass grafting using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography.

Methods: Forty-five patients who received a bypass graft to the left anterior descending coronary artery were studied. Before coronary artery bypass grafting, Doppler velocity profiles of the distal left anterior descending coronary artery were recorded with transthoracic Doppler echocardiography.

Noninvasive evaluation of internal thoracic artery and left anterior descending coronary artery anastomotic sites using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography: comparison with coronary arteriography.

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate anastomotic sites located between the internal thoracic artery and left anterior descending coronary artery using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography, and then to clarify the accuracy of those results by comparison with coronary arteriographic findings.

Methods: We examined 35 consecutive patients who had undergone bypass surgery. The echocardiographic examinations were performed within approximately 1 week of follow-up coronary arteriography, which occurred at 4.

Preoperative intraarterial infusion chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer--a retrospective review of four cases.

For the purpose of improving operability and curability, we performed intraarterial infusion chemotherapy on four patients with advanced gastric cancer diagnosed pathologically as papillary adenocarcinoma or poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Anti-cancer drugs including cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II), epirubicin, and mitomycin C were administered through catheters whose tips were placed at various sites, as follows: celiac artery, common hepatic artery, right and left gastric artery, accessory left gastric artery, gastroduodenal artery, and right gastroepiploic artery. The therapeutic effect was evaluated by computed tomography (CT) and double contrast X-ray examination of the stomach.

Advantage of earlier thoracoscopic clipping of thoracic duct for post-operation chylothorax following thoracic aneurysm surgery.

We report that an earlier thoracoscopic clipping of the thoracic duct was advantageous in a case of post-operation chylothorax that occurred following thoracic aneurysm surgery. A 61-year-old man developed chylothorax on postoperative day 2 following graft replacement of the descending thoracic aorta using a left-sided thoracotomy. Since a replaced graft infection is lethal, earlier thoracoscopic clipping of the thoracic duct through the right side chest wall was indicated.

Improvement of bypass circuit biocompatibility: comparison and combination of heparin-coated circuit and nitric oxide gas infusion.

Objectives: Nitric oxide (NO) gas infusion to the oxygenator, as well as heparin-coated bypass circuits, have been reported to attenuate blood activation induced by the interaction with the artificial surfaces of an extracorporeal bypass circuit. Using a mock circulation model, we compared the effect of each and also evaluated the effect of their combination on attenuating bypass-induced blood activation.

Methods: A miniature closed bypass circuit was primed with diluted fresh human blood and perfused for 180 minutes using a centrifugal pump.

Participation of caspase-3-like protease in necrotic cell death of myocardium during ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat hearts.

This experimental study was designed to determine if caspase-3-like protease is activated during a short period of ischemia - reperfusion (I-R) that did not induce apoptosis, and whether protease-3-protease inhibitor could prevent myocardial I-R injury, especially necrotic cell death. The subjects were 20 isolated rat hearts; 10 were pretreated for 20 min with 100 micromol/L of the protease-3-protease inhibitor, peptide antagonist Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-CHO (DEVD) (Group D), and compared with the 10 no-pretreated hearts (Group C). The hearts were then subjected to 20, 30, 45, and 60 min of normothermic global ischemia followed by 30 min of reperfusion.