We present two cases of thoracic aortic aneurysm combined with aberrant right subclavian artery. Case 1 was a 71-year-old man, and case 2 was a 74-year-old man with an aortic arch aneurysm associated with a diverticulum of Kommerell. In both cases, we performed total aortic arch replacement through median sternotomy using cardiopulmonary bypass, systemic hypothermia and selective cerebral perfusion. We reconstructed all 4 arch branches. The aberrant right subclavian artery arose from the distal portion of the aortic arch, distal to the origin of the left subclavian artery. It crossed the midline between the esophagus and spine. To prevent compression of the trachea and esophagus by the right subclavian artery, we reconstructed it by the anterior side of the trachea. The postoperative course was uneventful.

A-23-year-old man, with intellectual disability and history of self-inflicted injuries, presented with chest pain. A 3mm “picked” wound in the left chest was observed on physical examination. Chest computed tomography revealed a needle in the pericardium. Emergency surgery was performed by median sternotomy. At first we could not find the needle because it was completely buried in the heart, but when the posterior wall of the heart was exposed, the head of the needle appeared protruding from the posterior wall. It was removed and the wound of the posterior wall was closed with direct mattress sutures without cardio-pulmonary bypass. On inspection, the needle was 34mm long.

Abnormalities of the skeleton and joint as well as ophthalmic symptoms and cardiovascular abnormalities are found in Marfan's syndrome, one of the connective tissue diseases associated with autosomal dominant inheritance. A 34-year-old man was operated on for Stanford type A acute aortic dissection that developed 13 years after sternal turnover surgery for funnel chest. After approaching by median incision made on the sternum, composite graft replacement and aortic arch replacement were performed. After surgery, the sternum at the site of reflections became unsteady, causing flail chest, which required internal fixation with an artificial respirator for 15 days. A patient with Marfan's syndrome may undergo cardiovascular operation twice or more throughout his lifetime. Where a longitudinal incision is made on the sternum after operation on the funnel chest, care should be exercised even if it is a long time after surgery. In this sense, minimal invasive surgery with a steel bar inserted percutaneously, a surgical technique that has come to be used recently, should be useful.

A 67-year-old man with ascending aortic aneurysm was referred to our hospital. Transthoracic echocardiography showed severe aortic regurgitation with annuloaortic ectasia and transesophageal echocardiography revealed a quadricuspid aortic valve. This patient underwent aortic root replacement with a valve sparing technique. Under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest with retrograde cerebral perfusion, replacement of the ascending aorta was successfully performed. The postoperative course was uneventful. This patient is doing well 6 months after surgery without recurrence of aortic regurgitation.

We measured oxidative stress and antioxidative stress in clinical cases of cardiac and aortic surgery, especially in extracorporeal circulation cases. From June to October 2007, 18 cases who underwent cardiac and aortic surgery with extracorporeal circulation (ECC group) and 8 cases with an infra-renal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA group) were studied. We measured reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROM) in oxidative stress for the operative time, after the operation endpoint, and at one day postoperatively, one, two, and three weeks postoperatively, and one, two, three, and four months postoperatively. Regarding d-ROM, the level in the ECC group was significantly higher than that in the AAA group (p<0.0001). Peak values were observed 3 weeks postoperatively in the ECC group and 2 weeks postoperatively in the AAA group. Although the oxidative stress increased in both groups, the peak value in the ECC group was more marked than that in the AAA group. We concluded that oxidative stress under surgical stress in cardiovascular surgery with extracorporeal circulation was higher than that under surgical stress in cardiovascular surgery for infra-renal abdominal aortic aneurysms.

We report 3 cases of ascending aorta-abdominal aorta bypass for atypical coarctation with Takayasu's aortitis. We performed an extra-anatomical bypass from the ascending aorta to the terminal abdominal aorta. The graft was arranged to pass through the diaphragm from the pericardium, behind the left lobe of the liver and the stomach, to the front side of the pancreas to the terminal abdominal aorta. Although the graft was exposed in the abdominal cavity in part behind the stomach, it was completely covered with the great omentum thus avoiding direct contact between the graft the abdominal organs. Decrease in the pressure gradient between the ascending aorta and the abdominal aorta was achieved using a large prosthetic graft 14-16 mm in diameter. There are several advantages with this technique. (1) Positional change during surgery can be avoided. (2) Anastomosis can be performed in non-diseased vessels. (3) This bypass graft can be branched off to visceral arteries if necessary. Reduction of the after load on the left ventricle and long-term graft patency by using a large diameter prosthetic graft were anticipated. The postoperative courses of all cases were satisfactory. Case 1 died of another disease 11 years and 11 months postoperatively, but the graft to was still patent.

A 57-year-old man underwent subtotal graft replacement of the thoracic aorta for aneurysms of both the ascending and descending aorta. On the 20th post-operative day, pus was found to be draining from the sternotomy wound. The wound was opened and irrigated with 2% Povidoneiodine solution for a total of 3 months. Culture of the pus from the irrigation revealed Staphylococcus epidermidis. When there were no clinical indications of infection and wound cultures were negative, the necrotic sternum and surrounding tissue were debrided and an omental graft was placed in the cavity. Upon follow-up examination, the patient is doing well 10 months after the initial surgery.

We performed a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) to clip the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which was 5mm in internal diameter, in an 11-year-old girl, who first underwent a coil embolization ending in failure. Under general anesthesia with one-lung ventilation in a right lateral decubitus position, four thoracostomies were made in the left hemithorax. The PDA was clipped by two titanium clips, the length of which is 11mm at closing. Transesophageal echocardiography confirmed the location of the PDA and the absence of a residual shunt. The patient showed neither left recurrent laryngeal nerve dysfunction nor hemorrhage after operation, and was discharged on the 9th postoperative day. The clipping of the PDA by VATS can be applied for PDA without calcification if the external diameter is up to 7mm. This technique was minimally invasive and reliable. It was excellent in terms of the high quality of life achieved by the patient.

The internal mammary artery (IMA) has been widely used in CABG due to the excellent long-term results. However, the extensive use of bilateral IMA grafting has been believed to increase operative morbidity and mortality. This study was designed to determine if bilateral IMA grafting in diabetic patients increased the likelihood of mediastinitis. We analyzed the data of 386 consecutive patients who underwent isolated CABG in 1992 to 1996. The definitions of sternal wound complications are as follows, (1) mediastinal dehiscence and (2) mediastinal wound infection. Subtypes include superficial wound infection and deep wound infection (mediastinitis). Among these patients 97 received unilateral IMA grafts and 289 did bilateral IMA grafts. mediastinitis did not occur in any subjects. The occurrence rate of mediastinal dehiscence and superficial wound infection was 7.2% (7/97) for bilateral IMA grafting, 7.3% (21/289) for unilateral IMA grafting. No patients died of wound complications. The occurrence rate of mediastinal dehiscence and superficial wound infections were 12.0% (4/33) for bilateral IMA grafting in diabetic patients, 12.0% (14/117) for unilateral IMA grafting in diabetic patients. That of this complications was 4.7% (3/64) for bilateral IMA grafting in non-diabetic patients, 4.1% (7/172) for unilateral IMA grafting in diabetic patients, without significant differences in wound complication. Bilateral IMA grafting in diabetic patients carried no great risk of mediastinitis, but diabetes mellitus itself was a great risk for mediastinitis.