• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.174-177
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• 1990

Aortic dissection is a challenging disease and the causes of that are well-known. Blunt chest trauma is one of the causes of aortic dissection. In such cases, nearly all cases involves the isthmic portion of descending aorta, but ascending aorta is involved in about 10. We experienced a patient who had ascending aortic dissection due to automobile accident and who showed spontaneous rupture of the aorta during operation. In this case, after installation of aortic line via left femoral artery, ascending aorta ruptured and a large amount of blood gushed out, which was suckered by cardiotomy sucker. A little delay of cardiopulmonary bypass may cause the fatal outcome in such a case because the bleeding from aorta is too much to be controlled. Fortunately, we controlled the bleeding with cardiopulmonary bypass and got the good outcome of this patient by interpositioning the vascular graft. One should suspect the possibility of aortic dissection in blunt chest trauma, and prepare all the facilities against bleeding due to rupture.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.134-139
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• 1986

Seventeen patients underwent operations for aneurysm of ascending aorta with aortic regurgitation from August 1979 to October 1985. 10 patients underwent complete replacement of the ascending aorta and the aortic valve with a composite graft and implantation of coronary ostia on the graft. Seven patients underwent supracoronary noncomposite graft replacement and aortic valve replacement. The patients ranged in age from 25 to 55 years [mean 37.6 years]. There were 11 male and 6 female patients. All patients had aortic incompetence and aneurysmal dilatation of the ascending aorta. Seven of the patients has concomitant aortic dissection in ascending aorta and one had dissection in abdominal aorta. Eight patients had signs of Marfan syndrome and the other 3 patients had cystic degeneration in the medial layer of the aorta. There was one hospital death[5.8%]. He died of sepsis on the 23rd postoperative day. All survivors showed improvement in NYHA functional classification in the 34.9 patient-year follow-up period.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.581-586
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• 1994

From February 1985 to February 1993, 18 operations were performed in 17 patients for treatment of aneurysmal disease [n=12] and/or dissection of the ascending aorta [n=6]. The ages ranged from 26 to 69 years [mean 44.3 $\pm$ 11.0 years].The proposed operations include composite graft replacement of aortic valve and ascending aorta with coronary reimplantation in 11, graft replacement of ascending aorta alone in 5, aortic valve replacement and supracoronary graft replacement in 1 and ascending aorta to abdominal aorta bypass with thromboexclusion of descending aorta in one patient. Both Bentall [n=6] and Cabrol [n=5] technique were utilized for reimplantation of coronary arteries.Concomitant replacement of aortic arch and arch vessel reconstruction was necessary in two patients. Hypothermic circulatory arrest was utilized in 6 patients. Recently, four patients were managed on warm blood continuous cardioplegia via retrograde route. There were no operative deaths. No significant postoperative complications were noted. Postoperative follow up was complete in 15 patients from 1 month to 72 months. Redo operation was necessary in one patient who had suffered from distal recurrence of dissection 5 years after successful Bentall operation. The other patients are all in excellent clinical condition. From our early experience with those 17 cases, we assume that satisfactory operative result could be achieved with a variety of surgical technique including hypothermic circulatory arrest. In addition, continuous perfusion of warm blood cardioplegia via retrograde route is supposed to be beneficial in selected cases.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.297-302
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• 1996

From January 1989 to July 1995, 18 patients underwent aortic repair for type A dissections. The e were 9 male and 9 female patients aged 41 to 68 years(mean, 53.8). Thirteen patients underwent the procedure during the acute period, and 5 during the chronic period. During repair of acute dissection, procedures included graft replacement of the ascending aorta only (6 patients), ascending aorta plus partial aortic arch (3), ascending aorta plus total aortic arch (2), Bentall's operation (1), and Bentall's operation plus total aortic arch (1). During repair of chronic dissection, procedures included Bentall's operation (3 patients), ascending aorta only (1), and ascending aorta plus partial aortic arch (1). During repair of the arch, antegrade cerebral perfusion was applied in 4 patients and hypothermic circulatory arrest in 3 patients. There were 4 operative deaths(22.2%), 2 of hemorrhage. and 2 of left ventricular failure in the operating room. Follow-up has been 100% completed and ranged from 2 to 53 months (mean, 17 months). One late death resulted from sepsis following secon operation. Thirteen of the survivors are doing well.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.488-496
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• 1988

Thirty-seven patients of aortic aneurysm underwent operations during January 1984 December 1987 at our hospital. Twenty-six patients had aneurysms involving ascending aorta, three patients had aneurysms involving both ascending aorta and abdominal aorta. and eleven patients had aneurysms involving descending thoracic or abdominal aorta. Among the patients who had aneurysms involving ascending aorta, annuloaortic ectasia with aortic regurgitation were thirteen and all of these underwent ascending aorta graft replacement + AVR with composite graft. The patients who had aortic regurgitation due to ascending aortic dissection were three and all of these underwent intraluminal ringed graft insertion at ascending aorta + aortic valve resuspension. Intraluminal ringed graft insertion was safe, simple, and fast method in the operation for aortic aneurysm. Eleven patients were underwent this operation and the results were good. Major causes of death of the patients who underwent aortic aneurysm operation are underlying cardiovascular diseases or delayed rupture of the aneurysm or complications related newly appeared aneurysm. Among our patients, dissection progressions were appeared in two but neither severe nor complicated. And no patient died from delayed rupture of aneurysm or complications related newly appeared aneurysm. All patients were followed up via OPD and were controlled hypertension or heart failure if present. Operative mortality is 18.9\ulcornera in all, 23% in patients who had aneurysms involving ascending aorta and 7.6` who had aneurysms involving descending thoracic or abdominal aorta. Comparing with other reports, our operative mortality is still high but improved steadily. So we recommend aggressive surgical management of the aortic aneurysm.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.305-313
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• 1985

Surgical therapy for dissection of the aorta has had a high mortality. One contributing factor has been hemorrhage from the prosthesis and the suture lines. Recently, a new method of treatment with an intraluminal graft that requires no end-to-end anastomosis has been developed. Of the four patients with dissecting aneurysm of the aorta treated by inserting sutureless ringed intraluminal graft at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, S.N.U.H., three were DeBakey type I [one with associated aortic insufficiency] and the other was DeBakey type III. Suspected etiology of the dissection was Marfan`s syndrome in one and hypertension in the others. Total cardiopulmonary bypass was utilized in repairing dissecting aneurysms of the ascending aorta [type A] and simple aortic crossclamping was used for the patient with dissecting aneurysm of the descending aorta. The basic technique consists of inserting the whole ringed graft into the true lumen of the dissected aorta and circumferentially ligating the aorta against the groove in the rings. The proximal ring of the graft effectively stabilized the flail aortic valve in patient with aortic insufficiency associated with dissection of the ascending aorta. There were no hospital deaths and one patient with type III dissecting aneurysm developed postoperative paraparesis and renal insufficiency which was resolved. Follow-up has been from 1 month to 16 months with no evidence of prosthetic problems, such as erosion, migration, or thrombosis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.352-356
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• 1991

From April, 1981, to April, 1990, 20 male and 7 female patients ranging in age from 17 to 63, were operated on for aortic insufficiency with an aneurysm of the ascending aorta. Ten patients were in New York Heart Association functional class II, 7 in class III, and ten in class IV. The surgical treatment in all cases consisted of total replacement of the ascending aorta with composite graft containing a prosthetic aortic valve and reimplantation of the coronary arteries by an intermediate tube graft. In 15 patients an uncomplicated annulo-aortic ectasia existed, and in 12 an aortic dissection; three of the latter group were operated during the acute phase. 17 patients showed typical Marfan syndrome, and 3 patients showed severe ascending aortic aneurysm secondary to the aortic valve disease. The overall operative mortality was 7%[2 deaths]. Those 2 deaths occurred following emergency operation due to associated aortic dissection, but no death during elective operation. All survivors have been followed-up during a period ranging 1 to 108 month[average 34 months]. There was no late mortality. Among the survivors, clinical improvement is readily apparent[2,3 in class I, 2 in class II ]. In conclusion, the treatment of aortic insufficiency associated with an aneurysm of the ascending aorta by insertion of a composite graft and reimplantation of the coronary arteries through an intermediate Dacron tube is a reliable method with low mortality and excellent results.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.604-610
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• 2001

Stanford type A aortic dissection after graft replacement of ascending aorta and/or aortic arch required careful follow-up due to progression of the enlarged false lumen or the recurrence of dissection. From June 1984 to June 200, 124 patients underwent operations for type A aortic dissection. Among them, 6 patients underwent reoperation due to recurred aneurysm or dissection. We evaluated that the causes of reoperation, including Marfan syndrome, the approach and result of reoperation, and strategy to reduce the risk of reoperation. Material and method: The first operation was done on acute stage in 4 cases, and chronic stage in 2 cases. There were Marfan syndromes in 3 cases. The entry site was the ascending aorta for all cases except one who underwent Bentall operation(n=3) or ascending aorta graft replacement(n=2). In one case, Bentall operation and total arch replacement was performed due to chronic type A dissection with multiple fenestrations. Mean interval of reoperation was 67.6months(range 5 months to 14 year 4months) after the first operation. Reoperations were performed with recurrence of dissection(n=4), threatening aneurysmal evolution of persisting dissection(n=1), and false aneurysm with infection(n=1). The redo operation involved the hemiarch in 1 case, distal ascending to total arch and descending thoracic aorta in 4 cases, and only descending thoracic aorta in 1 case. Result: There were Marfan syndromes in 18 patients. The mean age in type A dissection was 56.7 years and that in the first operation of reoperationc ases was 32.2 years. Especially in 3 patients with Marfan syndrome, the mean age was 29 years.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.610-618
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• 1995

Three neonates with interrupted aortic arch with VSD underwent one stage repair using revised technique of cardiopulmonary bypass with short period of circulatory arrest. A left posterolateral thoracotomy was made to permit mobilization of the descending aorta and placement of polytetrafluoroethylene[PTFE graft for distal aortic perfusion. Then the patient was placed in the supine position and a median sternotomy was performed to permit the proximal dissection, VSD repair, and direct anastomosis between the ascending aorta and descending aorta. This technique has advantages to facilitate direct anastomosis between the ascending aorta and the descending aorta, to lessen circulatory arrest time, and to prevent dangerous laceration and post-operative narrowing of the thin small ascending aorta at cannulation site. There was no operative mortality but postoperative stenosis developed in one case which was relieved with balloon aortoplasty.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.367-373
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• 1987

Dissecting aneurysm has long been recognized as an ominous and highly lethal form of aortic disease. Aortic dissection are characterized by longitudinal separation of aortic media and extension proximally, distally or both from the site of intimal tear. DeBakey and associates defined three types based on where the process originates and how far extends. In type I, intimal tear is located in the ascending aorta and extend beyond the descending aorta. We experienced a case of dissecting aneurysm, Type I of DeBakey`s classification which dissection extend to the left iliac artery. The patient was 61 years old woman and suffered from excruciating pain on admission. Excision of aneurysm and ascending aorta reconstruction using to Dacron Vascular Prosthesis were performed under extracorporeal circulation. The post-operative course was uneventful and follow up is continued.