Endoscopic surgery in Japan: The 12th national survey(2012-2013) by the Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery.

In Japan, the first endoscopic surgery, a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, was performed in 1990. Since then, operative procedures have been standardized, and the safety and usefulness of endoscopic surgery have been evaluated. With the acceptance of endoscopic surgery as less invasive than open surgery, the number of the endoscopic procedures continues to increase in all surgical domains.

AVJ-514 Trial - Baseline Characteristics and 30-Day Outcomes Following MitraClip Treatment in a Japanese Cohort.

Background: The MitraClipsystem is a transcatheter-based therapeutic option for patients with chronic mitral regurgitation (MR) who are at high risk for surgery. A prospective, multicenter, single-arm study was initiated to confirm the transferability of this system to Japan.

Methods and results: Patients with symptomatic chronic moderate-to-severe (3+) or severe (4+) functional or degenerative MR with a Society of Thoracic Surgery (STS) score ≥8%, or the presence of 1 predefined risk factor were enrolled.

Mitral Valve Repair via a Minithoracotomy in a Patient With Pectus Excavatum.

Cardiac surgery in patients with pectus excavatum is challenging because of the difficulty associated with achieving optimal surgical exposure and postoperative sternal fixation by using standard instruments. To solve these problems, mitral valve repair was performed via a right minithoracotomy in a 48-year-old man with severe mitral valve regurgitation and pectus excavatum. With the use of conventional median sternotomy, an optimal surgical field was difficult to achieve because of his thoracic deformity.