[Thallium-201 lung uptake in patients with chronic phase of myocardial infarction].

To study pathophysiological significance of Tl-201 lung uptake in coronary artery disease Tl-201 lung uptake was studied in 159 patients with chronic phase of myocardial infarction. Tl-201 lung uptake images were collected after rest Tl-201 myocardial imaging. Tl-201 lung uptake was estimated by comparing maximal lung counts with maximal myocardial counts (thallium lung heart ratio: LHR).

Traumatic laceration of a saphenous vein graft: successful surgical repair.

Traumatic laceration of a saphenous vein grafted for coronary artery bypass is extremely rare. Successful surgical repair of a laceration was performed in a 64-year-old man who developed retrosternal hematoma from a saphenous vein graft after blunt injury to the chest.

[Application of epicardial approach technique to the anterior-paraseptal type Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome].

The patient with the anterior-paraseptal type WPW syndrome was operated upon with closed heart technique (so-called epicardial approach) of cryosurgery. Following intraoperative electrophysiologic studies, with ultrasonic aspirator, the epiannular fat-pad of the anterior right atrium was completely dissected to the epicardial side of the tricuspid annulus. Then the anterior paraseptal accessory pathway on the tricuspid annulus was ablated by cryosurgery (-65 degrees C, 3 min, total 9 trials).

[Overestimation of myocardial viability due to an increase in thallium uptake by the lung].

Thallium lung uptake (TL-uptake) was usually treated as background for myocardial image and increase of TL-uptake in exercise test was considered as marker of depressed cardiac function. It was reported that marked increase of TL-uptake in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) corresponded to acute severe congestive heart failure. Here effect of TL-uptake on myocardial planar images was studied in 61 patients with AMI.