Sources of research funding: We gratefully acknowledge the support of the 17th Congress of the Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine support of this program.
Ethical considerations: The program was conducted after receiving approval from the Institutional Animal Experiment Committee of the Jichi Medical University, and in accordance with the Institutional Regulation for Animal Experiments and Fundamental Guideline for Proper Conduction of Animal Experiment and Related Activities in Academic Research Institutions under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan. It was approved on April 9th, 2014. The approval number is 14-225.
Disclosure of conflicts of interests: We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of personnel from Panasonic Corp. who enabled the interactive communication system.
Abstract
Introduction: Live surgery demonstrations have been widely used in surgical education. However, they cannot be used to demonstrate trauma surgery due to the emergency situation and lack of informed consent. The aim of this study was to conduct a live demonstration of trauma surgery with a porcine model to increase educational opportunities in trauma surgery.
Methods: Live demonstration was conducted at the Center for Development of Advanced Medical Technology (CDAMtec) , Jichi Medical University, Japan. An experienced trauma surgeon instructed three trainees during a live demonstration using pre-planned injuries in a porcine model. A six-point Likert Scale was used on a written survey to determine the value of the program to the viewers. Free-form written comments were also obtained from the participants. Live images of the surgical field were transmitted to a lecture room by a closed wireless LAN with interactive bidirectional audio capability.
Results: Eighty-three participants viewed this live demonstration and completed the questionnaire. Participants were highly satisfied with the live demonstration (mean survey scores: 4.6-5.1/6) , and gave very positive feedback concerning the educational value of this program. Nine free-form comments were submitted, which revealed that the participants felt they could acquire concrete skills for trauma surgery.
Discussion: Live demonstrations for trauma surgery using a porcine model are a feasible and effective educational tool to demonstrate technical procedures and non-technical skills, with possible added advantages regarding the ethical considerations of performing a live surgery demonstration.

Neonatal Marfan syndrome is the most severe form of Marfan syndrome usually showing critical cardio-respiratory symptoms from the neonatal period or early infancy. We report a boy with this syndrome who presented with heart failure at 3 months of age and was referred to our department at 6 months old after intense medical treatment. He had enophthalmos, funnel chest, arachnodactyly, and Steinberg's thumb sign, but had no family history of Marfan syndrome or other cardiac diseases. Left ventricular dilatation, severe mitral regurgitation and moderate tricuspid regurgitation were noted on echocardiography. Mitral valvuloplasty and tricuspid annuloplasty were performed, and the regurgitation improved to trivial and mild level, respectively. However, rapid exacerbation of mitral regurgitation occurred, and the patient fell into circulatory collapse which needed circulatory support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) on 18th postoperative day. In the emergency operation, the previous surgical procedures on the mitral valve were intact and we thought that rapid progression of the mitral annular dilatation and valve expansion to be the cause of exacerbation. Mitral valve replacement (Regent® 21 mm aortic) was performed, and the cardiac function improved, but ECMO was still needed because of the depressed respiratory function. Furthermore, tricuspid regurgitation due to annular dilatation and valve expansion was aggravated rapidly which needed tricuspid valve replacement (ATS® 20 mm mitral) 9 days after the mitral valve replacement. ECMO was ceased on the 37th day and the patient was extubated on 71st day. He was discharged from the hospital 5 months after the first operation. One year has passed after discharge, and he is doing well with anticoagulation. In the treatment of neonatal Marfan syndrome, surgical procedure for valve repair is still controversial and it should be remembered that rapid exacerbation of the atrioventricular valve can occur even after satisfactory valve repair and there should be no hesitation regarding surgical intervention when needed.

A 47-year-old female was admitted to our hospital for management of dyspnea. She had undergone surgery for an atrial septal defect (ASD) at the age of 17. Computed tomography revealed left isomerism, inferior vena cava interruption with azygos continuation and a residual ASD. Intra-operative findings showed that the residual ASD was positioned across the orifice of the hepatic vein. The previous suture line could be identified in the partially-closed atrial septum above the residual defect. Re-closure was performed without difficulties, and the patient's condition was good at discharge. Closure of ASD is a simple and basic procedure in cardiac surgery but care must be taken not to leave a shunt at the lower part of the defect, especially in cases with ASD defects in the lower margin.