• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.619-624
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• 2005

Patency of the radial artery plays an important role in the survival of radial forearm fasciocutaneous free flap and artery conduit of coronary artery bypass graft procedure. Even though Allens' test has been used for evaluating the patency of radial artery, the studies on the correlations between risk factors for atherosclerosis and histopathologic findings of radial arteries are rare, until now. Therefore, the authors investigated the correlations between these two factors, and tried to estimate the feasibility of the radial artery in high-risk groups for artherosclerosis. The risk factors for atherosclerosis and lipid profiles were investigated in 38 patients by history taking, physical examinations and blood analysis. And 38 cases of segments of vessel were harvested during the elevation of the flap. The degrees of vessel medial sclerosis were estimated by R values(by Kobayashi and colleagues) that is the median value between the thickness of the intima and that of the media. The measured mean R value was $0.210{\pm}0.05$. Thirty one cases belonged to Grade I(R<0.25), 7 cases belong to Grade II(0.25

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.428-431
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• 2000

In the mid 1980's, the ITA(internal thoracic artery) graft was clearly recognized to be superior to the sapheonous vein graft in respect to long term patency. Therefore, there has been growing interest in the arterial conduit with the possibility of improving the long term result. We have been performing CABG with GEA since 1998 with the same purpose. For mid-term and long-term follow up, we have been performing postoperative coronary angiography. In this paper, a case of GEA spasm, a purported drawback of this conduit, during postoperative coronary anigiography and relieved by direct infusion of 200$\mu\textrm{g}$ isoket into the GEA is reported. The current case which exemplifies the spastic nature of RGEA is accompanied with coronary angiography.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1327-1336
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• 1992

Between Jan. 1986 and Aug. 1992. 72 patients underwent Rastelli procedure. There were 43 male and 29 female, aged 46 days to 16 years [mean age, 5.2 years] with 18 patients less than 2 years of age. All patients had complex defect, 27 pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect, 18 corrected transposition of great arteries with pulmonary atresia or punmonary stenosis, 10 truncus arteriosus, 10 double outlet right ventricle with pulmonary atresia or stenosis, 7 complete transposition of great artersia with pulmonary atresia or pulmonary stenosis. The types of extracardiac valved conduit used were prosthetic valve[n=47, 24 car-bomedics, 19 Ionescu-Shiley, 4 Bjork-shiley] and hand-made trileaflet valve using pericardium. [n=23, 20 bovine pericardium, Z autologous pericardium, 1 equine pericardium] The mean size of valved cinduit was 5.25mm larger in diameter than the size of main pulmonary artery. [normalized to the patient`s body surface area] There were 17 hospital death[24%] and 4 late deaths[5.6%]. Postoperative complication rate was 38.9%a, none of which was conduit-related. All patients were followed pos-toperatively for 1 to 73 months. [mean 25.8 months] During follow-up period, reoperation was done in 6 patients due to stenosis of valved conduit. Mean interval between intial repair and reoperation was 20.3 months. In our experience, li recently extracardaic valved conduits between right ventricle [or pulmonary ventricle] and pulmonary artery were inserted with increasing frequency in infants less than 2 year, but hospital mortality was decreased, 2] Risk of reoperation due to conduit stenosis is low, so that the effect of graft failure on overall survival is minimized. 3] Nevertheless, because any type of extracardaic valved conduit is not ideal in children, we recommended that Lecompte should be done if cardiac anatomy is permitted.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.165-177
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• 2013

This is the third in a series on coronary artery bypass which reviews three alternative arterial conduits. The radial artery has become the most widely used of the three and accumulating experience demonstrates better patency at 10 years versus saphenous vein. Drawbacks are a long incision on the forearm, the propensity for spasm and persistent sensory disturbance in about 10%. The first is answered by endoscopic harvest which may yield a shorter conduit but reduces sensory nerve injury. Spasm is managed pharmacologically and by less harvest trauma. The gastroepiploic artery is used in situ and free and although the abdominal cavity is entered complications are minimal and patency compares favorably with the radial artery. Use of the inferior epigastric artery remains minimal and its similar length often requires composite use but limited patency data are supportive. Other arteries have had rare use and this is unlikely to change because the three presented here have significant advantages and acceptance.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.316-319
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• 2000

Double-outlet left ventricle with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis was conventionally repaired with extracardiac conduit or pulmonary artery translocation. Here, we report an anatomically repaired double-outlet left ventricle without extracardiac conduit or pulmonary artery translocation in an 11 month old patient who had undergone palliative systemic-pulmonary shunt at a nonatal period. The location of ventricular septal defect, both great arteries and coronary arteries made it possible to reconstruct the right ventricular outflow tract using on-lay patch after incision and undercutting the tissue between the ventriculotomy and the pulmonary arteriotomy.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.816-822
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• 1989

Aneurysms of the descending thoracic aorta can be caused by various etiologies. So, its abrupt rupture leads life-threatening state, it must be operated as soon as possible. Surgical treatment of the descending thoracic aortic aneurysm requires temporary cross-clamping of major artery. The obligatory occlusion of the descending thoracic aorta during management causes proximal arterial hypertension and distal arterial hypotension. The former may leads to left ventricular failure, or cerebrovascular accident, whereas the latter may leads to spinal cord ischemia or renal injury. Some have recommended insertion of temporary shunt around the occluded descending aorta to prevent above problems. Still others would favor expeditious operation employing simple aortic occlusion during the repair of the descending aorta. Recently we had experienced two cases of dissecting aneurysms of descending thoracic aorta which performed aortoplasty with Gore-Tex conduit under simple aortic occlusion. The one was 34-year-old female patient with traumatic dissecting aortic aneurysm [5 em X 5 cm] on the descending thoracic aorta distal to the origin of the left subclavian artery and the other was 58-year-old female patient with atherosclerotic dissecting descending thoracic aortic aneurysm [6 cmX7 cm] and diffuse abdominal aortic aneurysms [3X5 cm]. Both patients performed standard left posterolateral thoracotomy. After the aneurysmal sac was mobilized, occluding vascular clamps were placed on the transverse aorta proximal to the origin of the left subclavian artery, and on the distal descending aorta without adjuvant bypass procedures for 31 and 32 minutes, respectively, and the aneurysmal sac was repaired with 18 mm ringed Gore-Tex conduit graft. Both patients postoperative courses were uneventful.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.417-422
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• 2008

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the long term results of creating various right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduits for treating complex congenital heart disease. Material and Method: Between June 1986 and July 2006, we retrospectively reviewed 245 patients who underwent reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract with various kinds of conduits. 410 operations were done in 245 patients, the mean age at operation was $3.2{\pm}4.9$ years (range: 7 days$\sim$45 years) and the mean body weight was $12.5{\pm}8.7\;kg$ (range: $2.4\sim76.3\;kg$). Result: We used the following conduits: Polystan conduit, Shelhigh conduit, Carpenter-Edward conduit, Dacron graft with an artificial valve, valveless Gore Tex vascular graft, homograft and hand-made bovine or autologous pericardial conduit. The mean follow up duration was $6.3{\pm}5.2$ years. Redo operation for RV-PA conduit dysfunction was performed in 131 patients, a second redo was done in 31 and a third redo was done in 3. The reoperation free rates were 67.3%, 48.5% and 39.4% for 5 years, 10 years and 15 years, respectively. The homograft showed the best durability, followed by the Dacron graft with artificial valve and the Carpentier-Edward conduit. The larger sized conduit showed better durability. Conclusion: The homograft showed lowest reoperation rate and a smaller size of conduit showed the highest reoperation rate. The reoperation rate for the RV-PA conduit was about 35% at 5 years, so it is mandatory to develop the more durable conduit for RV outflow.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.415-425
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• 1999

$[K^+]_o$ can be increased under a variety of conditions including subarachnoid hemorrhage. The increase of $[K^+]_o$ in the range of $5{\sim}15$ mM may affect tensions of blood vessels and cause relaxation of agonist-induced precontracted vascular smooth muscle $(K^+-induced$ relaxation). In this study, effect of the increase in extracellular $K^+$ concentration on the agonist-induced contractions of various arteries including resistant arteries of rabbit was examined, using home-made Mulvany-type myograph. Extracellular $K^+$ was increased in three different ways; from initial 1 to 3 mM, from initial 3 to 6 mM, or from initial 6 to 12 mM. In superior mesenteric arteries, the relaxation induced by extracellular $K^+$ elevation from initial 6 to 12 mM was the most prominent among the relaxations induced by the elevations in three different ways. In cerebral arteries, the most prominent relaxation was produced by the elevation of extracellular $K^+$ from initial 1 to 3 mM and a slight relaxation was provoked by the elevation from initial 6 to 12 mM. In superior mesenteric arteries, $K^+-induced$ relaxation by the elevation from initial 6 to 12 mM was blocked by $Ba^{2+}\;(30\;{\mu}M)$ and the relaxation by the elevation from 1 to 3 mM or from 3 to 6 mM was not blocked by $Ba^{2+}.$ In cerebral arteries, however, $K^+-induced$ relaxation by the elevation from initial 3 to 6 mM was blocked by $Ba^{2+},$ whereas the relaxation by the elevation from 1 to 3 mM was not blocked by $Ba^{2+}.$ Ouabain inhibited all of the relaxations induced by the extracellular $K^+$ elevations in three different ways. In cerebral arteries, when extracellular $K^+$ was increased to 14 mM with 2 or 3 mM increments, almost complete relaxation was induced at 1 or 3 mM of initial $K^+$ concentration and slight relaxation occurred at 6 mM. TEA did not inhibit $Ba^{2+}-sensitive$ relaxation at all and NMMA or endothelial removal did not inhibit $K^+-induced$ relaxation. Most conduit arteries such as aorta, carotid artery, and renal artery were not relaxed by the elevation of extracellular $K^+.$ Among conduit arteries, trunk of superior mesenteric artery and basilar artery were relaxed by the elevations of $[K^+]_o.$ These data suggest that $K^+-induced$ relaxation has two independent components, $Ba^{2+}-sensitive$ and $Ba^{2+}-insensitive$ one and there are different mechanisms for $K^+-induced$ relaxation in various arteries.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1079-1095
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• 1995

Recently endogenous digitalis-like substances were found in the blood of various cardiovascular diseases and they have been considered one of the causes of evoking hypertension. However, the mechanism of endogenous digitalis-like substances-induced hypertension is not clarified yet. Therefore, the effects of Na-K pump inhibition on the contractility of vascular smooth muscle[conduit and resistant artery were investigated, using organ bath and bioassay experiment. Aortic and carotid arterial rings[conduit artery and the branches of brachial and superior mesenteric artery[resistant artery were used to find the effect of Na-K pump inhibition. The results obtained were as followes;The magnitudes of contractions induced by norepinephrine, serotonin, or acetylcholine in all these arteries were significantly increased by the inhibition of Na-K pump. The increased contractile responses to these agonists, especially to serotonin, were much more prominant in resistant arteries. Nitroprusside-induced relaxations were attenuated by Na-K pump inhibition and there were no significant differences in the effects of Na-K pump inhibition on nitroprusside-induced relaxations of these blood vessels. Endothelium-dependent relaxation was suppressed by the inhibition of Na-K pump, especially by the administration of ouabain, and this inhibitory effect was much more prominent in the branches of superior mesenteric artery, compared with other arteries. In the branches of superior mesenteric arteries, endothelium-dependent relaxation was completely blocked by ouabain. The release of EDRF was partially suppressed by Na-K pump inhibition.From the above results, it is suggested that the hypertension due to the increase in vascular resistance can be evoked by the inhibition of Na-K pump and endogenous digitalis-like substances induce hypertension through this mechanism.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.1124-1136
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• 1988

Massive hemoptysis, usually rapid flooding of tracheobronchial tree and asphyxia, is associated with high mortality. We have controlled massive hemoptysis in two cases with use of bronchial artery angiography & selective bronchial artery embolization with Gelfoam particle. One case was inoperable case that was confirmed as TOF c severe pulmonary artery hypoplasia with massive hemoptysis due to hypertrophied bronchial artery and its collaterals. Another case was congenital ASD with pulmonary Aspergillosis, postop. empyema and BPF associated with massive bleeding due to erosion of hypervascular bronchial artery. We experienced dramatic improvement of general condition and cessation of massive hemoptysis for above two cases. No other problems and complication were noted during postop. hospitalization and follow-up period.