• 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.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.175-180
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• 1994

The impact of cardiovascular changes occurred by endotracheal intubation is risky for patients with ischemic heart disease, or intracranial pathologic conditions typically impairing cerebral autoregulatory mechanisms. Therefore, multiple approaches have been utilized to limit the impact of intubation and reduce damage of central nervous and cardiovascular systems. These approaches include modifications in intubation technique to diminish circulatory stimuli and pharmacologic modifications of either the sensory afferent path or the circulatory response itself. We tried the stellate ganglion block, a kind of sympathetic block, for the same purpose and evaluated the results. The results of study are as follows, 1) Blood pressure and heart rate increased significantly after intubation as compared with preintubation in both control group and SGB group. 2) The difference of the two groups is not found. We conclude the above method does not control cardiovascular consequences of endotracheal intubation.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.822-828
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• 1995

This paper reports 15 native valve endocarditis cases had surgical operation in the past 10 years at the department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital. In this study, 10 cases out of 15 were in class I or II by the New York Heart Association functional classification. None of the cases had a history of taking addictive drugs. Five cases were congenital heart disease, three cases were rheumatic heart disease and two cases were degenerative heart disease. Thus 10 cases had the underlying disease. All cases had antibiotics treatment for 3 to 6 weeks before operation. In the culture test, only four cases were positive in the blood culture and one case was positive in the excised valve culture. Organisms on blood and valve culture were Streptococcus epidermis, Streptococcus viridans, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. In the 10 cases without ventricular septal defect, the aortic valve was involved in four, mitral in four, both in two and involved valves in the 5 cases with ventricular septal defect were tricuspid in three, pulmonic in two. Eight cases had operation because they showed moderate congestive heart failure due to valvular insufficiency and vegetation with or without embolism. Seven cases had operation because they showed persistent or progressive congestive heart failure and/or uncontrolled infection. Five cases with ventricular septal defect underwent the closure of ventricular septal defect, vegetectomy and leaflet excision of the affected valves without valve replacement. In the cases without ventricular septal defect, the affected valves were replaced with St. Jude mechanical prosthesis. Postoperative complications were recurrent endocarditis in two, embolism in one, allergic vasculitis in two, spleen rupture in one and postpericardiotomy syndrome in one. At the first postoperative day, one case died of cerebral embolism. At the 11th postoperative month, one case died of recurrent endocarditis and paravalvular leakage in spite of a couple of aortic valve replacement. In the survived cases[13 cases in this study , all cases but one became class I or II by the New York Heart Association functional classification.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.256-264
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• 2022

Ischemic stroke is caused by an occlusion by a thrombus or embolus in a cerebral artery, preventing oxygenated blood from reaching the brain and causing the necrosis of nerve cells. This paper summarizes the serum candidate markers associated with cardiovascular disease and atrial fibrillation (AF) disease that enable an early diagnosis of ischemic stroke studied thus far and compares the odds ratio (OR) of each marker. This study examined the effect size of these serum candidate markers using meta-analysis techniques. The academic database search screening for articles containing the keywords "cardiovascular disease," "atrial fibrillation," "ischemic stroke," and "serum marker" was limited to results for patients with ischemic stroke. The most derived markers in this study were N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the rest being investigated individually. In conclusion, NT-pro-BNP appears to be very useful for the early diagnosis of ischemic stroke. Primarily, it is a marker of AF, and more AF markers will be uncovered and studied in the future.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.94-98
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• 2017

Background: Intraoperative monitoring during carotid endarterectomy is crucial for cerebral protection. We investigated the results of carotid endarterectomy under dual monitoring with stump pressure and electroencephalography. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 50 patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy between March 2010 and February 2016. We inserted a temporary shunt if the stump pressure was lower than 35 mm Hg or if any intraoperative change was observed on electroencephalography. Results: Seventeen (34%) patients used a temporary shunt, and the mean stump pressure was 26.8 mm Hg in the shunt group and 46.5 mm Hg in the non-shunt group. No postoperative mortality or bleeding occurred. Postoperatively, there were 3 cases (6%) of minor stroke, all of which took place in the shunt group. A comparison of the preoperative and the intraoperative characteristics of the shunt group with those of the non-shunt group revealed no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups (p<0.01). Conclusion: Dual monitoring with stump pressure and electroencephalography was found to be a safe and reliable monitoring method with results comparable to those obtained using single monitoring. Further study should be performed to investigate the precise role of each monitoring method.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.220-224
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• 2014

Background: For the surgical management of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA), there have been various techniques that reduce the tension and kinking of the coronary artery during reimplantation to the aorta. The aim of this study is to describe the results of our modified technique of coronary reimplantation for the treatment of ALCAPA. Methods: Between October 2003 and February 2011, seven patients underwent coronary reimplantation with the modified technique (tubing formation with the sinus wall of the pulmonary artery and trapdoor formation at the site of implantation in the aorta). The median follow-up duration was 52 months (range, 4 to 72 months). Clinical outcomes and serial echocardiographic data were reviewed. Results: There was no mortality. One patient had a small amount of cerebral hemorrhage postoperatively and improved without any sequelae. Another patient had left diaphragm palsy and underwent diaphragm plication. Follow-up echocardiogram showed that all patients had normal ventricular function without chamber enlargement. Conclusion: Our modified technique (tubing formation with the sinus wall of the pulmonary artery and trapdoor formation at the site of implantation in the aorta) demonstrated successful clinical outcomes. We conclude that this surgical technique can be a potential alternative for the treatment of ALCAPA.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.88-91
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• 2004

Aortic regurgitation is not a rare complication of Takayasu's disease. Aortic regurgitation may aggravate cerebral ischemic syndrome like syncope in patients with stenotic or occlusive lesions in cerebral branches of aorta secondary to acute or progressive inflammation. In a 34-yrs-old male patient who complained of syncope and exertional dyspnea with occlusion of both carotid arteries and severe stenoses of both subclavian arteries, occlusion of right coronary artery, and aortic regurgitation, his symptom was improved with perioperative aggressive steroid therapy, stent insertion in both subclavian arteries, and aortic valve replacement.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.498-505
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• 1983

It has been over 20 years since successful operations of Cardiac valves at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgery, college of medicine, Yonsei University. About six hundreds of patients with severely symptomatic valvular heart disease have had valve operations with complete loss or sharp decrease in their cardiac symptoms since 1956. As the number of cardiac patient increases, reoperation on valves assumes greater importance. To define the group of patients undergoing reoperations on valves and the factors influencing their survival, we have reviewed our experiences of the reoperation on valves at the Yonsei University, Severance Hospital. This is a report of 29 cases which was undergone secondary or more surgery for valvular heart disease from 1966 to 1983. The primary operations includes 159 cases of open heart surgery from 1966 to 1975 and 476 cases from 1976 to march, 1983. The secondary operations are classified into groups of secondary valvuloplasty or valvotomy [8 cases], prosthetic valve replacement following valvuloplasty or valvotomy [14 cases] and prosthetic valve rereplacement [2 case] for such as calcification, degeneration and perforation of the cusps and paravalvular leakage, of the bioprosthetic valves. The leading indication for reoperation of mitral valve was restenosis or stenoinsufficiency, The indications of aortic valve replacement was active bacterial endocarditis, medically uncontrollable prosthetic endocarditis or paravalvular leakage. Overall death rate of the reoperation was 17.4% [5 death among the 29 patients] and the leading causes of death were myocardial failure, arrhythmia, cerebral embolism, acute renal failure due to low output syndrome. And it was followed by sepsis associated with active prosthetic endocarditis. The death rate of reoperation was 4.3% in the elective cases except urgent cases and the death rate of overall cardiac valve except reoperation cases was 4.1% in the last two years. Although the general mortality of reoperation was high, both mortality rates were comparable except emergency cases due to urgent preoperative patient’s condition.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2015

In cardiovascular disorders, understanding of endothelial cell (EC) function is essential to elucidate the disease mechanism. Although the mouse model has many advantages for in vivo and in vitro research, efficient procedures for the isolation and propagation of primary mouse EC have been problematic. We describe a high yield process for isolation and in vitro culture of primary EC from mouse arteries (aorta, braches of superior mesenteric artery, and cerebral arteries from the circle of Willis). Mouse arteries were carefully dissected without damage under a light microscope, and small pieces of the vessels were transferred on/in a Matrigel matrix enriched with endothelial growth supplement. Primary cells that proliferated in Matrigel were propagated in advanced DMEM with fetal calf serum or platelet-derived serum, EC growth supplement, and heparin. To improve the purity of the cell culture, we applied shearing stress and anti-fibroblast antibody. EC were characterized by a monolayer cobble stone appearance, positive staining with acetylated low density lipoprotein labeled with 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethyl-indocarbocyanine perchlorate, RT-PCR using primers for von-Willebrand factor, and determination of the protein level endothelial nitric oxide synthase. Our simple, efficient method would facilitate in vitro functional investigations of EC from mouse vessels.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 2011

Acute ischemic stroke results from sudden decrease or loss of blood supply to an area of the brain, resulting in a coinciding loss of neurological function. The antioxidant action of melatonin is an important mechanism among its known effects to protective activity during ischemic/reperfusion injury. The focus of this research, therapeutic efficacy of melatonin on recovery of neurological function following long term treatment in ischemic brain injured rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=40; 8 weeks old) were divided into the control group, and MCAo groups (Vehicle, MT7 : MCAo+ melatonin injection at 7:00, MT19 : MCAo+melatonin injection at 19:00, and MT7,19 : MCAo+melatonin injection at 7:00 and 19:00). Rat body weight and neurological function were measured every week for 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, the rats were anesthetized with a mixture of zoletil (40 mg/kg) and xylazine (10 mg/kg) and sacrificed for further analysis. Tissues were then collected for RNA isolation from brain tissue. Also, brain tissues were analyzed by histological procedures. We elucidated that melatonin was not toxic in vital organs. MT7,19 was the most rapidly got back to mild symptom on test of neurological parameter. Also, exogenous melatonin induces both the down-regulation of detrimental genes, such as NOSs and the up-regulation of beneficial gene, including BDNF during long term administration after focal cerebral ischemia. Melatonin treatment reduced the loss of primary motor cortex. Therefore, we suggest that melatonin could be act as prophylactic as well as therapeutic agent for neurorehabilitative intervention.