• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.249-254
• /
• 1993

Atrial fibrillation is commonly associated with organic mitral valve disease including rheumatic valvular heart diasease or mitral valve prolapse and so forth. Although spontaneous sinus reversion may occur in some patients after mitral valve operation, recurrence of atrial fibrillation is the rule in most of these patients. We have tried to maintain sinus rhythm after mital valve operation with oral quinidine therapy, and we will show the efficacy of this therapy in this report. From January 1986 to August 1992, 60 patients of mitral valvular heart disease, who had had atrial fibrillation preoperatively and gained sinus rhythm postoperatively, were selected for this study. These patients were divided into 2 groups: Control group [n=30] and Quinidine trial group [n=30]. The age,sex, duration of symptoms,left atrial size and other risk factors of the reversion to atrial fibrillation were adjusted to be similar between the two groups. The maintenance rate of sinus rhythm was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method, and the rate was significantly higher in quinidine trial group than in control group [ p=0.0001 ]. Univariate analysis was performed on the risk factors of reversion to atrial fibrillation, and the difference of maintenance rate between the two groups were corrected with this result: the difference was still statistically significant [ p=0.0205 ]. The quinidine levels were measured in postoperative days, and there were no difference of serum quinidine level between the quinidine success group and quinidine failure group. In conslusion, oral quinidine therapy was effective for the maintenance of sinus rhythm after mitral valve operation compared to control group, and there was no correlation between the serum quinidine level and clinical efficacy of quinidine therpy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.672-677
• /
• 1992

This is a clinical review of the results from electric cardioversion and pharmacological therapy used in our hospital for reverting cardiac arrythmia in patients with mitral valve surgery between Jan. 1990 and Jun. 1991. Of 62 evaluated patients, 16 patients had regular sinus rhythm and the other 46 had arrhythmias [42; atrial fibrillation 1; atrial flutter 1; premature ventricular contraction] preoperatively. In 2 of patients with sinus rhythm, atrial fibrillation newly developed after surgery and was converted into sinus rhythm soon by intravenous administration of digoxin. Remaining 14 patient resumed sinus rhythm spontaneously. In patients with preoperative arrythmia, 3 patients reverted into sinus rhythm from atrial fibrillation by electric cardioversion at operative field, 1 patient by lidocain and mexiletine, 4 patients by combined use of digoxin and verapamil, 4 patients by 2 times of oral quinidine and 9 patient by long term use of oral amiodarone. Throughout this consecutive trials of anti-arrhythmic drugs and electric cardioversion, Conversion into normal sinus rhythm occurred in 48% of patients with arrhythmia developed after mitral valve surgery.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.132-135
• /
• 2016

We report the case of a 43-year-old male with both giant left atrial appendage (LAA) aneurysm and drug-refractory atrial fibrillation (AF). The patient was treated with percutaneous electrical isolation of cardiac arrhythmogenic substrate, and has been free of AF symptom over one year. Although the surgical resection of giant LAA aneurysm is mostly used to prevent systemic thromboembolism, we have performed follow-up of the giant LAA aneurysm using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) after the successful catheter ablation of refractory AF. At one-year follow-up CMR, the giant LAA aneurysm showed remarkable enlargement as well as decreased contractility. Additionally, one-year follow-up TEE showed spontaneous echo contrast as an indicator of blood stasis in the giant LAA aneurysm. Those findings of giant LAA aneurysm suggest that the risk of thromboembolism may be high despite termination of AF.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.287-292
• /
• 1997

.Itrial fibrillation is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias requiring treatment. About 60% of patients with mitral valvular disease have atrial fibrillation and one third of patients with atrial fibrillation may have the past history of thromboembolic events. Between April 1994 and June 1995, 20 patients with organic heart diseases combined with atrial fibrillation underwent open heart surgery including Cox-maze 111 procedure. There were 6 men and 14 women with an average age of 48 years (range, 31 to 66 years). Nineteen patients had valvular heart diseases and 1 ventricular septal defEct (VSD). Mean duration of atrial fibrillation was 36 months (:42 months) (range, 1 to 132 months). T e past medical history of thromboembolic events was positive in 7 patients (35%) and left atrial thrombus was detected in 9 patients (45%). The concomitant procedures were mitral valve replacement (MVR) and aortic valve replacement (AVR) in 5 patients, MVR in 4, MVd and tricuspid annuloplasty(TAP) in 4, mitral valvuloplasty(Mln) in 3, Mln and Tln in 1, MIW and coronary artery bypass surgery in 1, AVR in 1, and patch closure of VSD in 1. Mean aortic cross-clamping time was 175 minutes (range, 116 to 270 minutes). Atrial fibrillation recurred in 16 patients (80%) during the early postoperative period, but, recurrent atrial fibrillation was converted to regular rhythm at postoperative forty-first day in average. There was no early or late death in this series of 20 patients and postoperative complications were inappropriate tachycardia in 5 patients (25%), low cardiac output syndrome in 3 (15%), aggravated hemiplegic in 1, and acute renal failure in 1. Mean follow-up interval of patient was 16.5 months (range, 10.5 to 24 months) and all patients are currently in regular rhythm. Seventeen patients (85%) are in sinus rhythm and 3 (15%) in junctional rhythm. Right atrial contraction was detected in 95% of patients and left atrial contraction in 63% on postoperative transthoracic echocardiogram. The surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation concomitant with open heart surgery is warranted in the recent clinical setting of improved myocardial protection technique, considering the untoward side-effects of atrial fibrillation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.710-718
• /
• 2009

Background: The Cox maze procedure has been used as a standard surgical treatment for atrial fibrillation for about 20 years. Recently, the creators have used a bipolar radiofrequency electrode (Cox maze IV procedure) instead of the incision and suture (cut-sew) technique to make atrial ablation lesions for persistent atrial fibrillation. We investigated clinical outcomes for the Cox maze procedure with a bipolar radiofrequency electrode and cryoablator in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation, and compared results with clinical outcomes of the cut-sew procedure. Material and Method: Between April 2005 and July 2007, 40 patients with persistent atrial fibrillation underwent Cox maze IV procedure with a bipolar radiofrequency electrode and cryoablator (bipolar radiofrequency group). Surgical outcomes were compared with those of 35 patients who had the cut-sew technique for the Cox maze III procedure. All patients had concomitant cardiac surgery. Postoperatively, the patients were followed up every 1 to 2 months. Result: At 6 months postoperatively, the conversion rate to regular sinus rhythm was not significantly different between the two groups: 95.0% for the bipolar radiofrequency ablation group; 97.1% for the cut-sew technique (p=1.0). At the end of the follow-up period, the conversion rate to regular sinus rhythm was also not significantly different (92.5% vs. 91.6%, p=1.0). In multivariate analysis using a Cox-regression model, the postoperative atrial dimension was an independent determinant of sinus conversion in the bipolar radiofrequency ablation group (hazard ratio 31, p=0.005). In the Cox-regression model for both groups, atrial fibrillation at 6 months postoperatively (hazard ratio 92.24, p=0.003) and the postoperative left atrial dimension (hazard ratio 16.05, p=0.019) were independent risk factors of continuance or recurrence of atrial fibrillation after Cox maze procedures. Aortic cross-clamp time and cardiopulmonary bypass time were significantly shorter in the radiofrequency group than in the cut-sew group. Conclusion: In the Cox maze procedure for patients with persistent atrial fibrillation, the use of bipolar radiofrequency ablation and a cryoablator is as good as the cut-sew technique for conversion to sinus rhythm. The postoperative left atrial dimension is an independent determinant of postoperative continuance and recurrence of atrial fibrillation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.69-79
• /
• 2018

The present study proposes an algorithm that can discriminate between normal subjects and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) patients, which is conducted using electrocardiogram (ECG) without PAF events. For this, time-domain features and random forest classifier are used. Time-domain features are obtained from Poincare plot, Lorenz plot of ${\delta}RR$ interval, and morphology analysis. Afterward, three features are selected in total through feature selection. PAF patients and normal subjects are classified using random forest. The classification result showed that sensitivity and specificity were 81.82% and 95.24% respectively, the positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 96.43% and 76.92% respectively, and accuracy was 87.04%. The proposed algorithm had an advantage in terms of the computation requirement compared to existing algorithm, so it has suggested applicability in the more efficient prediction of PAF.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
• /
• 2003.10b
• /
• pp.84.2-84.2
• /
• 2003

The number of patients suffering from atrial fibrillation is increasing and many cardiologists is trying to develop the ideal antiarrhythmic drugs for atrial fibrillation. An ideal antiarrhythmic agent would selectively prolong the action potential duration more in extraordinarily depolarized cardiac myocytes than in normal cells, and show tissue selectivity. Voltage-gated K$\^$+/ (Kv) channels represent a structurally and functionally diverse group of membrane proteins. These channels play an important role in determining the length of the cardiac action potential and are the targets for antiarrhythmic drugs. (omitted)

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.367-372
• /
• 2014

Background: We compared the mid-term results of the Cox maze IV procedure using argon-based cryoablation with a procedure using $N_2O$-based cryoablation. Methods: From May 2006 to June 2012, 138 patients (mean age, $58.2{\pm}11.0$ years) underwent the Cox maze IV procedure. Eighty-five patients underwent the maze procedure using an $N_2O$-based cryoprobe (group N), and 53 patients underwent the maze procedure using an argon-based cryoprobe (group A). Bipolar radiofrequency ablation was concomitantly used in 131 patients. The presence of atrial fibrillation immediately, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years after surgery was compared. Results: Early mortality occurred in 6 patients (4.3%). There were no differences in early mortality or postoperative complications between the two groups. Nineteen of 115 patients (16.5%) remained in atrial fibrillation at postoperative 12 months (14 of 80 patients (17.5%) in group N and 5 of 35 patients (14.3%) in group A, p=0.669). There were no differences in the number of patients who remained in atrial fibrillation at any of the time periods except in the immediate postoperative period. A multivariable analysis revealed that the energy source of cryoablation was not associated with the presence of atrial fibrillation at 1 year (p=0.862) and that a fine F wave (<0.1 mV) was the only risk factor predicting the presence of atrial fibrillation at 1 year (p<0.001, odds ratio=20.287). Conclusion: The Cox maze IV procedure using an argon-based cryoprobe was safe and effective compared with the maze procedure using an $N_2O$-based cryoprobe in terms of operative outcomes and the restoration of sinus rhythm for up to 2 years after surgery.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.33 no.8
• /
• pp.1127-1134
• /
• 2003

Background. Although there have been a great number of research studies based on the model of uncertainty in illness, few studies have considered the appraisal portion of model. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to test the mediating effect of appraisal in the model of uncertainty in illness. Additionally, this study aimed to examine the relationships among uncertainty, symptom severity, appraisal, and anxiety in patients newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Methods. This study employed a descriptive correlational and cross-sectional survey design using a face-to-face interview method. Patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation within the previous 6 months prior to data collection were interviewed by Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale-Community Form, appraisal scale, Symptom Checklist-Severity V.3, and State Anxiety Inventory. Results. A total of 81 patients with atrial fibrillation were recruited from two large urban medical centers in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.. Symptom severity was the significant variable in explaining uncertainty ($\beta$=0.34). Individuals with greater symptom severity perceived more uncertainty. Uncertainty was appraised as a danger rather than opportunity, and those with greater uncertainty appraised a greater danger (p<.0l). While the appraisal of opportunity had the negative relationship with anxiety (r=-0.25), the appraisal of danger was positively associated with anxiety (r=0.78). The measure of goodness of fit (Q) of the model was .7863, and the significant test (X$^2$) for the Q was statistically significant (df =3, p<.00l). Accordingly, the overall mediating model of uncertainty in illness was proven not to be fit to the empirical data of patients with atrial fibrillation. Consequently, the mediating effect of appraisal was not supported by the empirical data of this study. Conclusion. The findings of this study were discussed in terms of their relevance compared with those of previous studies or theoretical framework and the plausible explanations on study findings. Lastly, in order to expand the present body of knowledge on uncertainty in illness model, recommendations for the future nursing studies were included.

• Korean Circulation Journal
• /
• v.53 no.8
• /
• pp.550-562
• /
• 2023

Background and Objectives: To identify the factors associated with adverse outcomes following surgery for functional insufficiency of the mitral valve (MV) or tricuspid valve (TV) associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: We evaluated 100 patients (age, 66.5±10.0 years; 47 males) who consecutively underwent surgery for functional insufficiency of the MV or TV associated with AF between January 2000 and December 2020 at our center. The primary outcome was a composite endpoint of all-cause death, valve reoperation, congestive heart failure (CHF) requiring rehospitalization, and stroke. Results: During follow-up (532 patients-years [PYs]), adverse events included death in 16 (3.0%/yr), MV reoperation in 1 (0.2%/yr), CHF in 14 (2.6%/yr), and stroke in 5 (0.9%/yr) patients, demonstrating a 5-year rate of freedom from the primary endpoint of 69.5%. The rate of postoperative AF was high even in those who underwent AF ablation (n=92), with cumulative rates of 48.1% at 1 year and 60.2% at 5 years. In multivariable analyses, the primary outcome was significantly associated with age (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.10; p=0.005), chronic kidney disease (aHR, 7.76; 95% CI, 2.28-26.38; p=0.001), left atrial appendage exclusion (aHR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.16-1.78; p=0.010), and postoperative AF as a time-varying covariate (aHR, 3.33; 95% CI, 1.50-7.40; p=0.003). Conclusion: Among patients undergoing surgery for functional atrioventricular insufficiency associated with AF, a significant proportion showed recurrence of AF over time after concomitant AF ablation, which was significantly associated with poor clinical outcomes.