• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.293-298
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• 1985

Cor triatriatum is a rare congenital malformation of the heart in which a septum stretches in a transverse plane through the left atrium, thus creates two left atrial subchambers. The upper one connects with the pulmonary veins, and the lower connects with the left ventricles. Due to the rarity of, and difficulty in diagnosing car triatriatum, data on the surgery of the disease are of necessity and very limited. A case of cor triatriatum combined with atrial septal defect and persistent left superior vena cava was experienced in November, 1984 in Chonnam University Medical School. There was a transverse septum in the left atrium below atrial septal defect, all pulmonary veins were drained into the upper chamber of the left atrium which connected with the right atrium via atrial septal defect and the lower chamber via an oval opening[8mm] in the abnormal septum and the lower chamber was connected with the left atrial appendage, and the left ventricle via mitral valve. There was persistent left superior vena cava drained to left atrium and coronary sinus. The abnormal transverse septum within the left atrium was completely excised and the atrial septal defect was repaired with Woven Dacron patch. The post-operative course was not eventful and the patient was discharged to home with good result on the 15th postoperative day, and has been in good condition upto now.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.909-914
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• 1993

Complete and optimal visualization of the mitral apparatus is a prerequisite for accurate repair or replacement of the mitral valve. A vertical left atriotomy just posterior to the interatrial groove is the most commonly used approach. However,exposure can be difficult under certain circumstances,such as small left atrium or reoperation. Other approaches have been advocated to deal with this difficult situations. We used an extended transseptal approach in 10 patients and good clinical results and excellent educational effects were obtained. The extended transseptal approach combines two semicircular atrial incisions circumscribing the tricuspid and mitral annuli anteriorly and superiorly,allowing exposure of the mitral valve by deflecting the ventricular side using stay sutures. The right atrium is opened anteriorly along the atrioventricular sulcus. The atrial septum is incised vertically through the fossa ovalis. Right atrial and septal incisions are joined at the superior end of the interatrial septum and extended across the dome of the left atrium to the left atrial appendage. The mitral valve was replaced in all 10 patients. Four of 10 patients had other simultaneous valve procedure: one had aortic valve replacement: 2 underwent tricuspid annuloplasty: 1 had aortic valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty. There was no hospital death and complication. Among the 5 patients who had atrial fibrillation preoperatively,4 had atrial fibrillation postoperatively,1 converted to sinus rhythm. The five patients who were in normal sinus rhythm preoperatively remained in sinus rhythm after replacement. A review of our results with this approach confirms the efficacy and safty of this method. So we recommanded this approach for routine mitral valve procedure,especially difficult situations,such as a small left atrium or the redo operation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.643-646
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• 2008

Congenital intrapericardial left atrial appendage aneurysms (LAAA) are very rare. Most cases are asymptomatic and this malady is generally incidentally diagnosed in older patients. LAAAs are usually accompanied with supraventricular arrhythmias and life-threatening systemic embolism. Complete surgical correction is recommended immediately after the diagnosis to prevent significant complications, and even for the asymptomatic patients. We report here on the case of a 45-year-old man who presented with cerebral embolism due to LAAA. The patient was successfully treated with a resection of the aneurysm.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 1985

Cortriatriatum is rare congenital heart disease characterized by the presence of a fibromuscular diaphragm that subdivides the left atrium into a proximal or "accessory" and a distal or "true" left atrial chamber. A 15 year old girl with cortriatriatum underwent surgical correction at the department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Soonchunhyang College in November, 1984. This case was preoperatively diagnosed as a single atrium with functional tricuspid regurgitation But on operation, we found that there were transverse septum in the left atrium through large ASD, low chamber receives the pulmonary veins, and the upper chamber gives rise to the left atrial appendage and leads to the mitral valve. And the anomalous membrane has no fenestrations. We excised completely the anomalous septum, reconstructed atrial septal defect with dacron patch and performed the tricuspid annuloplasty with DeVega method. Postoperative course was uneventful during follow up, during follow up.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.569-573
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• 1985

A 18-year-old female underwent surgical correction of tricuspid atresia and complete transposition of great arteries combined with atrial 8 ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis. After the transection of main pulmonary artery just above the pulmonic valve, proximal portion of main pulmonary artery was closed with running suture and distal portion of main pulmonary artery anastomosed with right atrial appendage without valve insertion. Atrial septal defect was closed with running suture. Postoperative course was uneventful and she discharged on 18th postoperative day. Her condition is in very good until present. Modified Fontan`s operation without valve placement [in the condition of low pulmonary vascular resistance and good left ventricular function] may has a good result.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.127-131
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• 2020

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of left atrial appendage (LAA) excision using a vascular stapler. Methods: Fifty consecutive patients (mean age, 68±9 years) who underwent LAA excision using a vascular stapler during concomitant cardiac surgery were enrolled. In all patients, the excision site was evaluated using computed tomography at a median of 7 days (interquartile range, 5-13.3 days) postoperatively. The safety endpoint of this study was the occurrence of LAA excision-related events, which were defined as bleeding from the excision site that required reinforcement sutures or reoperation due to excision site bleeding. The efficacy endpoint was LAA excision failure, which was defined as a remnant LAA (a stump >1 cm in maximum length) or extravasation of radiocontrast dye. Results: LAAs were excised using 60- and 45-mm vascular staplers in 49 patients and 1 patient, respectively. Reinforcement sutures were needed in 4 patients due to staple-line bleeding and in 4 patients due to bleeding of the surrounding tissues. No patient underwent reoperation due to staple-related bleeding. A remnant LAA was observed in 2 patients, while extravasation of radiocontrast dye was not observed in any patients. Conclusion: LAA excision using a vascular stapler may be an effective technique for LAA exclusion. Delicate handling of the stapler device and LA tissue is required to prevent procedure-related complications.

• Korean Circulation Journal
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.566-577
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• 2023

Background and Objectives: The left atrial appendage (LAA) can contribute significantly to LA mechanical contraction. Nevertheless, the preventive effect of LAA occlusion during the maze procedure against cerebral infarction remains controversial. In this study, we compared the surgical, cardiac hemodynamic, and neurologic outcomes between LAA preservation and occlusion performed during the maze procedure. Methods: Between January 2015 and August 2021, 252 patients underwent the maze procedure using cryoablation at our medical center. After excluding patients according to our exclusion criteria (i.e., mechanical prosthesis implantation, preexisting LAA thrombus), LAA was preserved in 113 patients (non-occlusion group) and occluded in 75 patients (occlusion group). Outcomes were compared using propensity score matching (PSM). Results: PSM did not reveal significant intergroup differences in baseline characteristics between the non-occlusion (n=53) and occlusion (n=53) groups. During a median follow-up of 44 months, 2 patients in the non-occlusion group (3.8%) experienced ischemic strokes. There was no significant difference in the rate of freedom from stroke (p=0.19) and major adverse cardiac events (p=0.43) between the 2 groups. Through echocardiography at 1-year follow-up, a statistically significant difference in LA mechanical contraction was observed between the non-occlusion group and occlusion group (24 of 33 [72.7%] vs. 18 of 37 [48.6%], respectively; p=0.04). Conclusions: In this study, preservation of the LAA during the maze procedure resulted in better LA function than LAA occlusion, with similar rates of stroke.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2024

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.693-697
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• 1989

A forty-eight-year-old female patient with ascending aortic aneurysm with aortic insufficiency underwent a modified Bentall operation. The ascending aorta and the aortic valve were replaced with a composite graft containing a St. Jude valve. The coronary orifices were anastomosed to the tubular Dacron prosthesis by means of a second smaller Gore-Tex tube, and a fistula between the aneurysmal sac and the right atrial appendage was created to drain oozing from the prosthesis. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged without complication. She is doing well on the 14 months follow-up.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.449-452
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• 1986

A patient with benign superior vena cava syndrome caused by the thrombus and fibrotic membrane in superior vena cava is described. Surgical treatment of superior vena cava syndrome remains controversial still. After endvenectomy and thrombectomy of superior vena cava, angioplasty with use of Gore-Tex patch and bypass graft using 10mm diameter Dacron vessel graft from left innominate vein to right atrial appendage were performed. The early postoperative course was uneventful with achievement of good decompression. But 12 months later, the symptoms of superior vena cava syndrome were reoccurred.