[Early results of new style aortosaphenous vein graft connector in coronary artery bypass grafting].

We retrospectively studied early clinical results of PAS-Port (PP) system. Fifty patients who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery with saphenous vein graft (SVG) from April 2004 to May 2005 were enrolled in this study. PP was tried for 36 SVGs in 32 patients.

Increased incidence of transient left ventricular apical ballooning (so-called 'Takotsubo' cardiomyopathy) after the mid-Niigata Prefecture earthquake.

Background: On October 23, 2004, a major earthquake, which registered 6.8 on the Richter scale, occurred in Niigata Prefecture in Japan. Emotional stress is important as a trigger of transient left ventricular apical ballooning (so-called 'Takotsubo' cardiomyopathy), but its incidence and clinical profile immediately after a natural disaster have not been fully elucidated.

Two cases of odontoid fracture in preschool children.

Halo application is a standard method for cervical immobilization. However, complications may occur in children because of their thin skull and immature bone. The authors report two cases of odontoid fracture in preschool children treated with a Minerva cast.

Comparison of the surgical outcomes for trigger finger and trigger thumb: preliminary results.

We reviewed 110 trigger digits, treated surgically, to compare the outcomes of trigger finger and trigger thumb in terms of peri-operative characteristics and complications. The patients with trigger thumb complained mainly of pain on motion, while those with trigger finger complained of triggering or limited range of motion. Trigger fingers had a significantly longer duration before surgery than did trigger thumbs.

[A new role of pathologists in medical risk management].

Safety management is the prime issue for health professionals. How can we pathologists to improve their risk sense to prevent medical errors? Various autopsy cases such as drug adverse events, unexpected sudden deaths and/or multiple organ failures after operations have made us aware of faulty systems of health care. Thus, the scope of pathology must be extended from the traditional tissue and cell pathology to the implementation of preventive pathology, by participation in morbidity and mortality conferences.

Adventitial cystic disease of the femoral vein: report of a case.

Adventitial cystic disease (ACD) of the veins is a rare phenomenon, and ACD of the femoral vein is particularly difficult to diagnose due to the similarity in symptoms to those of deep vein thrombosis. We report a case of ACD of the femoral vein, which was initially misdiagnosed as deep vein thrombosis, in a 48-year-old woman who presented with a painless swelling in her right lower leg. The extensive cystic involvement of the femoral vein was completely resected and reconstructed with an 8-mm ringed polytetrafluoroethylene vascular graft with good results.

Pancreatic T-cell lymphoma with high level of soluble interleukin-2 receptor.

An 82-year-old man was admitted to hospital with symptoms of abdominal fullness and loss of appetite. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan and ultrasonography showed enlargement of the whole pancreas with para-aortic lymphadenopathy. Endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP) showed diffuse narrowing of the main pancreatic duct (MPD), and brushing cytology from the MPD was non-neoplastic.

Advanced gastric glandular-endocrine cell carcinoma with 1-year survival after gastrectomy.

Primary gastric endocrine cell carcinoma (ECC) is extremely rare. In general, when it is advanced, gastric ECC causes extensive ulceration (type 2) and invades or metastasizes to other organs, frequently to the liver and sometimes to the lungs or bones, and carries a poor prognosis. We herein report a 67-year-old man with advanced gastric ECC of extensive-polypoid shape (type 1) but without distant metastasis, who underwent total gastrectomy and treatment with oral tegafur-uracil (UFT), and showed no sign of recurrence 1 year later.

Simultaneous mitral valve replacement and bypass grafting for mycotic aneurysm of the femoral artery during the active phase of infective endocarditis: a case report.

A 52-year-old woman with a 3-week history of fever and cough was diagnosed as having bacterial endocarditis with vegetation and severe mitral valve insufficiency by echocardiography. Blood culture revealed Streptococcus mitis. After antibiotic treatment for 3 weeks, the patient noticed swelling with pain in her left groin.

Ruptured epidermoid cyst and haematoma of spleen: a diagnostic clue of high levels of serum carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 19-9 and Sialyl Lewis x.

Splenic epidermoid cyst is a rare disease and that with haematoma is even more rare. The case of epidermoid cyst of the spleen is described, in a 36-year-old Japanese female, manifesting as left hypochondralgia and rupture of the cyst. Clinical features were splenic lesion 14 cm in diameter and consisting of round-hypovascular and crescent-hypervascular sublesions.

Subtotal thoracic aortic replacement as reoperation for ruptured aortic dissection: report of a case.

We report successful repair of a ruptured chronic aortic dissection in a 63-year-old female who had undergone end-to-end anastomosis for acute type A dissection 8 years before. The patient had hypotension with back pain and cough. A computed tomogram revealed a large chronic aortic dissection (Stanford type A) and complete atelectasis of the left lung due to hemothorax.

Late-type recurrence at the port site of unexpected gallbladder carcinoma after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy: report of a case.

A 73-year-old woman had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy for unexpected gallbladder cancer and 9 days later underwent both a liver bed resection and lymph node dissection. Four years later, she underwent a further resection of a port site recurrence of gallbladder cancer and no other site of recurrence was observed. The seeding of cancer cells during the removal of the resected gallbladder might have caused this tumor.

[Surgical treatment of a ruptured saccular aneurysm associated with bilateral coronary arteries-pulmonary artery fistulas: a case report].

We reported a successful operative case of ruptured coronary artery saccular aneurysm associated with bilateral coronary arteries-pulmonary artery fistulas. A 57-year-old woman, had been treated with hemodialysis due to chronic renal failure, suffered from acute heart failure with chest pain suddenly. Echocardiograph showed moderate pericardial effusion.

[Surgical results of emergent coronary artery bypass grafting].

During a period of past five years, 57 patients underwent emergent coronary artery bypass grafting at our hospital. The reason for performing emergent CABG were unstable angina pectoris in 38 patients and acute myocardial infarction in 19 patients. Five patients died postoperatively.

Experimental rat model representing both acute and chronic heart failure related to autoimmune myocarditis.

The most important clinical manifestation of myocarditis is congestive heart failure. The precise mechanisms of heart failure during myocarditis have not been elucidated because no animal model that would permit in vivo study of hemodynamics in severe active myocarditis has been available. We monitored hemodynamics and left ventricular function in a rat model of experimental autoimmune myocarditis to determine if this model could be useful for the study of in vivo hemodynamics in severe active myocarditis.

[Oozing type left ventricular rupture: report of three cases].

Two cases of postinfarction oozing type left ventricular rupture and a case of oozing type left ventricular rupture due to catheter perforation for left ventriculography are reported. The technique used to repair the rupture is fibrin glue-oxycellulose fixation method. The post operative course of three cases were uneventful.

[A left subclavian arterial aneurysm caused by fibromuscular dysplasia: a case report].

A 70-year-old man complained left supraclavicular pulsatile tumor. Angiography and CT revealed the left subclavian arterial aneurysm that was just behind the clavicle. The aneurysm was resected through a cross-clavicle incision and an 8 mm Hemashield graft was implanted.

[Two case reports of recurrent mediastinitis with chronic mediastinal fistula successfully treated with muscle flap re-transposition].

We experienced two cases of recurrent poststernotomy mediastinitis with chronic mediastinal fistula. Both cases had already received muscle flaps for post operative mediastinitis. However, chronic mediastinal fistula appeared after nine months in the first case, and eleven months in the second case.

Orthodromic capture of the atrial electrogram during transient entrainment of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia.

Background: The reentry circuit of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) has not been fully demonstrated. We hypothesized that if an upper common pathway was present, the atrial electrogram could not be captured orthodromically during transient entrainment of AVNRT by rapid atrial pacing. Based on this hypothesis, the presence of an upper common pathway was investigated.

[A case of binswanger-type dementia with bilateral temporoparietal hypoperfusion in SPECT].

We report a case of Binswanger-type dementia demonstrated bilateral temporoparietal hypoperfusion in SPECT with 123I-IMP. The perfusion pattern in the present case was different from those previously obtained in SPECT or PET studies of patients with Binswanger-type dementia, and was similar to regional abnormalities in patients with Alzheimer-type dementia. Temporoparietal hypoperfusion in this case is likely to be mediated by neuronal mechanisms via projection fibers as a result of the deep white matter lesions in the temporoparietal area.

[An operative case of aortic valve regurgitation due to blunt trauma to the chest].

While a 70-year-old man was riding a motorcycle, he was hit by car on his chest on October 19, 1990. Medical check-up at the emergency room of another hospital was negative. However, he fell in to dyspnea on the night of next day which progressed to develop signs of orthopnea.

[A case of surgical repair for combined septal perforation and cardiac rupture after myocardial infarction].

The successful surgical repair of the combination of septal perforation and cardiac rupture after myocardial infarction was underwent on a 73-year-old man. Complete correction could be performed under the fibrillated heart state employing cardiopulmonary bypass, resulted in the early postsurgical cardiac performance.