• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1065-1077
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• 1999

Background : Ventricular assist devices(VADs) are being used for patients in postcvardiotomy cardiogenic shock status bridge to cardiac transplant settings and in post-myocardial infarction cardiogenic shock. The VAD which was developed at the Deparment of medical engineering in Dankook University College of Medicine was a pneumatically driven device and can maintain pulsatile flow. The goal of this study is to develop animal experimental models using the VAD and to clarify the reliability and hemodynamic property adequacy of end organ perfusion durability and severity of thrombotic-hemolytic tendency of the device. Material and Method : The pneumatic VAD was applied to 8 adult female lambs, We examined some hemodynamic parameters such as arterial blood pressure pulmonary capillary wedge pressure(pcwp) pulmonary artery pressure(PAP) left atrial pressure hour urine output cardiac index VAD flow EKG to determine the reliability of the VAD and hemodynamic compatibility of the experimental animals within 24 hours of experiment. We also observed the end organ perfusion durability of the VAD and thrombotic-hemolytic property of the VAD after 24 hours of VAD insertion. Result: We could monitor all hemodynamic parameters including pcwp PAP cardiac index EKG, adn hour urine as true clinical settings. We observed that the reliability of the VAD was excellent and the hemodynamic property of the experimental animal and end organ perfusion were adequate within 24 hours of experiment. In four lambs surviving 24 hours after insertion the reliability of the VAD and end organ perfusion were excellent and no thrombotic-hemolytic tendency was noted. However after 15 days of experiment the diaphragm of the VAD was torn and it was recommende that the durability of the VAD should be extended. Conclusion : e conclude that the pneumatic VAD developed at Dankook University Biomedical Engineering has good hemodynamic property and low thromboembolic tendency and presents adequate end organ perfusion but we noted that the durability of the device should be expanded further. It will be possible to do more reliable experiment in the future according to the animal experimental method developed in this study especially with the heart failure models.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.6 s.263
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• pp.434-439
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• 2006

Background: Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest during repair of aortic arch anomalies may induce neurological complications or myocardial injury. So we surveyed if the regional cerebral and myocardial perfusion might eliminate those potential side effects. Material and Method: From March 2000 to December 2004, 62 neonates or infants with aortic arch anomaly underwent one stage biventricular repair using the regional perfusion technique by single surgeon. Preoperative diagnosis of the arch anomaly consisted of coarctation (n=46), interruption of the aorta (n=12), hypoplastic left heart syndrome (n=2) and truncus areteriosus (n=2). Combined anomalies were ventricular septal defect (n=51), TAPVR (n=1), PAPVR (n=1) and atrioventricular septal defect (n=2). Arterial cannula was inserted at the innominate artery. Result: The mean regional perfusion time of brain was $28{\pm}10min$. Operative mortality rates was 0 (0/62). Late death was 1 (1/62) during $11{\pm}7$ months of follow-up. Neurologic complications consisted of transient chorea in 1 case. There was no reoperation associated with arch anolamy. Pulmonary complication associated with arch repair occurred in f case which was managed by aortopexy. Conclusion: One-tage rch repair using the regional profusion is safe and effective in minimizing the neurologic and myocardial complications.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.588-591
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• 2007

Left ventricular thrombus is mainly caused by anterior myocardial infarction or severe cardiac wall dysfunction of the apex, and is rarely caused by a complication of acute myocarditis. A 12-year-old female who developed symptoms of motor dysphasia and incomplete hemiparesis of the right side was admitted to the hospital. The brain MRI taken on the day of her admission showed acute cerebral infarction in the left basal ganglia and the frontoparietal lobe. The echocardiogram showed a movable thrombus, which was $19{\times}28mm$ sized and located in the apex of the left ventricle. So in order to prevent further thromboembolic event we performed open cardiac surgery via the atrium and removed the thrombus of the left ventricle. After the removal of the thrombus her symptoms improved and she was discharged from the hospital. Thrombus formation in acute viral myocarditis are considered to be related with endocardial injury and blood flow stasis. Treatment with anticoagulants in left ventricular thrombosis may not be effective and may even cause a major thromboembolism. When the thrombus is laminar and fixed, one should consider anticoagulant therapy. But if the thrombus is pedunculated and movable, which means that there are higher possibilities of major embolism or there may be already one, one should consider surgical removal. We report a 12-year-old girl who required surgical removal of a left ventricular thrombus caused by acute viral myocarditis.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.201-209
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• 1996

Restoration of the blood flow after a period of ischemia is accompanied by generation of toxic oxygen radicals. This phenomenon may account for the occurrence of reperfusion-mediated tissue injury in ischemic hearts. In in vitro studies, although oxygen radicals can be generated from a variety of sources, including xanthine oxidase system, activated leucocytes, mitochondria and others, the most important source and mechanism of oxygen radical production in the post-ischemic reperfused hearts is unclear. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that the respiratory chain of mitochondria might be an important source of oxygen radicals which are responsible for the development of the reperfusion injury of ischemic hearts. Langendorff-perfused, isolated rat hearts were subjected to 30 min of global ischemia at $37^{\circ}C$, followed by reperfusion. Amytal, a reversible inhibitor of mitochondrial respiration, was employed to assess the mitochondrial contributions to the development of the reperfusion injury. Intact mitochonria were isolated from the control and the post-ischemic reperfused hearts. Mitochondrial oxygen radical generation was measured by chemiluminescence method and the oxidative tissue damage was estimated by measuring a lipid peroxidation product, malondialdehyde(MDA). To evaluate the extent of the reperfusion injury, post-ischemic functional recovery and lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) release were assessed and compared in Amytal-treated and -untreated hearts. Upon reperfusion of the ischemic hearts, MDA release into the coronary effluent was markedly increased. MDA content of mitochondria isolated from the post-ischemic reperfused hearts was increased to 152% of preischemic value, whereas minimal change was observed in extramitochondrial fraction. The generation of superoxide anion was increased about twice in mitochondria from the reperfused hearts than in those from the control hearts. Amytal inhibited the mitochondrial superoxide generation significantly and also suppressed MDA production in the reperfused hearts. Additionally, Amytal prevented the contractile dysfunction and the increased release of LDH observed in the reperfused hearts. In conclusion, these results indicate that the respiratory chain of mitochondria may be an important source of oxygen radical formation in post-ischemic reperfused hearts, and that oxygen radicals originating from the mitochondria may contribute to the development of myocardial reperfusion injury.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.689-699
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• 1996

An animal experiment was designed for the evaluation of in vivo performance of the newly developed electrohydraulic type ventricular assist device and its influence on the left ventricular function during pal- satile left ventricular assist. Eight adult sheep were incorporated into the study and data were collected from seven sheep. Total as- sist time ranged from 69 minutes to 7 days. The performance of the device was satisfactory both in asyn- chr nous and synchronous mode within the range of given native heart rate. More than 4 liters of device output could be reached within the range of normal left atral pressure without development of negative pressure in the left atrium. Moderate to severe degree of hemolysis was noted as evidenced by significant increase of plasma free hemoglobin level after 3 days of left ventricular support along with the presence of the small amount of thrombi around the floating disc type polymer valve apparatus reflecting that further study and refinement of the device need to be done in regard of biocompatibility and thromboresistance. The hemodynamics showed increase in heart rate (p < 0.05), cardiac output and left ventricular minute work (p < 0.05) after placement of the device at the flow rate of 2.0∼2.5 Llmin. The left atrial pressure, left ventricular pressure and LV dpldt were decreased after the device placement(p < 0.05). The endocardial viability ratio and oxygen contents of the mixed ven us blood and coronary venous blood were all increased (p < 0.05) after the device placement suggesting effective unloading of the left ventricle was accomplished. The myocardial perfusion was thought improved in synchronous counterpulsation as suggested by sig- nificant increase in endocardial viability ratio and coronary venous blood oxygen content in synchronous assist mode comparing with asynchronous mode.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.86-90
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• 2012

Purpose: Quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) using dynamic PET imaging has the potential to assess coronary artery disease. Rb-82 plays a key role in the clinical assessment of myocardial perfusion using PET. However, MBF could be overestimated due to the underestimation of left ventricular input function in the beginning of the acquisition when the scanner has non-linearity between count rate and activity concentration due to the scanner dead-time. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the count rate linearity as a function of the activity concentration in PET data acquired in list mode. Materials & methods: A cylindrical phantom (diameter, 12 cm length, 10.5 cm) filled with 296 MBq F-18 solution and 800 mL of water was used to estimate the linearity of the Biograph 40 True Point PET/CT scanner. PET data was acquired with 10 min per frame of 1 bed duration in list mode for different activity concentration levels in 7 half-lives. The images were reconstructed by OSEM and FBP algorithms. Prompt, net true and random counts of PET data according to the activity concentration were measured. Total and background counts were measured by drawing ROI on the phantom images and linearity was measured using background correction. Results: The prompt count rates in list mode were linearly increased proportionally to the activity concentration. At a low activity concentration (<30 kBq/mL), the prompt net true and random count rates were increased with the activity concentration. At a high activity concentration (>30 kBq/mL), the increasing rate of the prompt net true rates was slightly decreased while the increasing rate of random counts was increased. There was no difference in the image intensity linearity between OSEM and FBP algorithms. Conclusion: The Biograph 40 True Point PET/CT scanner showed good linearity of count rate even at a high activity concentration (~370 kBq/mL).The result indicates that the scanner is useful for the quantitative analysis of data in heart dynamic studies using Rb-82, N-13, O-15 and F-18.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 1996

Purpose : Chest irradiation leads to a significant cardiac injury in a number of patients. To prevent, or to reduce the risk of radiation-induced cardiac injury, pentoxifylline(PTX), a haemorrheologic agent that improves the blood flow through small blood capillaries has been employed. Materials and Methods : One hundred and eighty ICR mice were divided into three study groups: control, radiation alone, and radiation-pentoxifylline. Each group was subdivided into 12 subgroups: 1 3, 6 and 10 days and 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 and 20 weeks by observation Period after irradiation. The total 15Gy of radiation was delivered in a single fraction through anterior mediastinal port. Pentoxifylline was injected subcutaneously daily 50mg/kg to the back of the mice from the first day of irradiation throughout the observation period. The mice of each group after a certain observation period were sacrificed and sectioned for histopathologic examination of the heart. Result : The findings of acute radiation-induced carditis i.e., heterophilic infiltration and vacuolization and ballooning of endothelial cells were observed upto 6 weeks and reduced sharply afterwards. The late radiation effects including pericarditis with mononuclear cell infiltration, pericardial fibrosis, endothelial cell changes, myocardial degeneration and fibrosis present from 4 weeks onwards after irradiation but with various degree of severity. The overall process of pathologic changes of radiation-pentoxifylline group was similar to those of radiation alone group but the duration of acute stage was relatively short and the severity of late cardiac toxicity was much lesser compared with those of radiation alone group. Conclusion : Pentoxifylline can effectively reduce the late radiation-induced cardiac injury and reslve the acute effects relatively rapidly.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.317-326
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• 1999

Background: Neural control of airway function is through parasympathetic, sympathetic and non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic mechanisms. The autonomic nervous system controls the airway smooth muscle tone, mucociliary system, permeability and blood flow in the bronchial circulation and release of mediators from the mast cells and other inflammatory cells. The cardiovascular and respiratory autonomic efferent fibers have a common central origin, so altered cardiovascular autonomic reflexes could reflect the altered respiratory autonomic status. Therefore, we performed this study to assess the autonomic abnormality and determine the correlating factors of severity of autonomic neuropathy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) using easily reproducible cardiovascular autonomic reflex function test. Method: The study included 20 patients with COPD and 20 healthy persons obtained on Health Promotion Center in Yeungnam university hospital. All the patients had history and clinical features of COPD as defined by the American Thoracic Society. Any patients with myocardial ischemia, cardiac arrythmia, hypertension, central or peripheral nervous system disease, diabetes mellitus, or any other diseases known to produce autonomic neuropathy, has excluded. The autonomic nervous system function tests included three tests evaluating the parasympathetic system and two tests evaluating the sympathetic system. And also all subjects were subjected to pulmonary function test and arterial blood gas analysis. Results: Autonomic dysfunction was more commonly associated with patients with COPD than healthy person The parasympathetic dysfunction was frequent in patient with COPD, but sympathetic dysfunction seemed preserved. The severity of parasympathetic dysfunction in patients with COPD was correlated with the degree of duration of disease, smoking, reductions in the value of $FEV_1$ and FVC, and arterial hypoxemia but no such correlation existed for age, type of COPD, $FEV_1$/FVC, or $PaCO_s$. Conclusion: There is high frequency of parasympathetic dysfunction associated with COPD and the parasympathetic abnormality in COPD is increased in proportion to severity of airway disease. In COPD, parasympathetic dysfunction probably does not the cause of disease, but it may be an effect of disease progression.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.108-118
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• 1999

Background: To evaluate the risk factor and long-term result of arterial switch operation , a retrospective study was done. Material and Method: A retrospective analysis was done to evaluate the early and long-term results on 58 patients who underwent an arterial switch operation(ASO) for transposition of the great arteries(TGA) with intact ventricular septum, between January 1988 and December 1996. Beforesurgery, 36 patients(62.1%) underwent balloon atrial septostomy, 32 patients(51.7%) received PGE1 infusion, and preparatory banding of pulmonary artery was performed on 6 patients(mean LV/RV pressure ratio 0.53$\pm$0.11). Result: The age at operation ranged from 1 to 137 days(mean 24$\pm$26 days) and the weights ranged from 1.8 to 6.8 kg (mean 3.5$\pm$0.8 kg). There were 14 early deaths(24.1%), but of the last 24 patients operated on since 1994, there were only 2 early deaths(8.3%). In the risk factor analysis, the date of operation was the only risk factor for early death(p-value < 0.01). Eight of the 14 early deaths were due to acute myocardial failure(mainly inadequate coronary blood flow). The length of follow-up ranged from 2 months to 8 years, average of 36$\pm$27 months. The follow-up included sequential noninvasive evaluations and 21 catheterizations and angiographic studies performed 5 to 32 months postoperatively with particular attention to the great vessel and coronary anastomosis, ventricular function, valvular competence, and cardiac rhythm. There were 5 late deaths(11.4%), one of thesedeaths was related to the late coronary problems, two to aspiration, one to uncontrolled chronic mediastinitis, and one to progressive aortic insufficiency and heart failure. The most frequent postoperative hemodynamic abnormality was supravalvular stenosis and the degree of pulmonary or aortic obstruction had slowly progressed in some cases, however there were no children who had to undergo a reoperation for supravalvular pulmonary or aortic stenosis. Aortic regurgitation was identified in 9 patients, which was mild in 7 and moderate in 2 and had progressed in some cases. Two patients who had an unremarkable perioperative course were identified as having coronary artery obstructions. The other late survivors were in good condition, were in sinus rhythm, and had normal LV functions. Actuarial survival rate at 8 years was 68.8%. Conclusion: We concluded that anatomic correction will be established as the optimal approach to the TGA with intact ventricular septum, though further long-term evaluations are needed.