We report a case of successful saphenous vein bypass grafting for superior mesenteric artery stenosis. A 50-year-old man complained of abdominal pain which was not induced by either eating or defecation. He was admitted to our hospital and examinations of the gastrointestinal tract revealed no abnormality. Angiography showed stenosis of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA), but not of the celiac artery (CA) or inferior mesenteric artery (IMA). We speculated that his symptom was due to SMA stenosis and poor collateral circulations from the CA, IMA and internal iliac arteries. Saphenous vein bypass grafting for SMA was undertaken successfully and abdominal pain disappeared completely.

An increase of aortic valvular disease associated with congenital bicuspid aortic valve is observed due to the relative decrease of rheumatic valvular diseases. A total of 24 patients with aortic valvular disease associated with congenital bicuspid aortic valve underwent surgical treatment at our institution during the period from January, 1997 to December, 1999. These 24 patients constituted 46.2% (24/52) of all cases of surgical operations for aortic valvular disease. The age of the patients ranged from 17 to 83 years (mean 62 years). They consisted of 16 men (66.7%) and 8 women. Two patients had infective endocarditis. The classification of congenital bicuspid aortic valve was right-left cusp type in 15 patients (raphe+: 11), anterior-posterior cusp type in 9 patients (raphe+: 9). We performed aortic valve replacement in 22 patients, aortic root replacement in 1 patient and aortic root remodeling in 1 patient in combination with mitral valve plasty in 3 patients, coronary artery bypass grafting in 3 patients and closure of the atrial septal defect (ASD) in 1 patient. We detected ASD in 1 patient, ventricular septal defect in 1 patient and high-posterior take-off right coronary artery in 1 patient. Patients with stenosis often have a small aortic annulus and severe post-stenotic aortic dilation. Preoperative and intraoperative evaluation is important in cases of aortic valvular disease associated with congenital bicuspid aortic valve.

The collagen gel droplet-embedded culture drug sensitivity test (CD-DST) identifies effective anticancer drug using resected tumor specimen, enabling tailor-made chemotherapy for a rare tumor. We report a case of the patient with leiomyosarcoma originating in the inferior vena cava, to which CD-DST was applied. This application has not been previously reported to the best of our knowledge. A 61-year-old woman consulted a nearby hospital because of abdominal pain. Computed tomography revealed an inferior vena cava tumor. The tumor was resected with the inferior vena cava, which was reconstructed with a 16 mm ePTFE graft. The tumor was diagnosed as leiomyosarcoma histopathologically. CDDP, VP-16, ADR, and VDS were CD-DST showed the tumor to be sensitive. Her postoperative course has been good without recurrence of tumor for 6 months, and the results of CD-DST may be helpful for chemotherapy strategy in case of recurrence.

We present a case of aortic valve replacement after retrosternal gastric tube reconstruction for esophageal cancer. A 84-year-old man with a history of esophageal resection with retrosternal reconstruction by gastric tube for esophageal cancer required aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis. The aortic valve was approached through an 8-cm right parasternal incision over the third and fourth costal cartilages. Cardiopulmonary bypass was initiated through cannulas in the ascending aorta and the right atrium and the aortic valve was replaced with a bioprosthetic valve. The postoperative course was uneventful. In the literature, there are only 7 reports on such cases so far, in which aortic valve relplacement was performed through left thoracotomy, right parasternal approach or median sternotomy. We recommend the right parasternal approach in cases of aortic valve replacement in patients with retrosternal gastric tube, because it does not only avoids injury of gastric tube, but also offers an excellent operative view.

Though the number of reoperative coronary artery bypass grafting procedures (re-CABG) is increasing, the operative results are still inferior to primary CABG. In the present study, we analyzed results of our two different procedures for re-CABG and estimated predominance of the LAST-MIDCAB (off-pump left anterior small thoracotomy minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass) procedure in selected patients. From 1999 to 2001, 25 patients underwent re-CABG. The age of patients ranged from 56 to 82 years (mean 70 years). Re-CABG was performed due to the occlusion of existing grafts in 14 cases, progressive disease of previously ungrafted vessels in 6 and anastomotic stenosis of previously grafted vessels in 5. We performed off-pump LAST-MIDCAB in 15 patients, on-pump CABG via a median sternotomy in 9 and on-pump LAST-CABG in 1 which was converted due to RV injury during a re-sternotomy. In the LAST-MIDCAB group, the left internal thoracic artery was chosen as a graft to the LAD in 10 patients, the right gastroepiploic artery in 4 and the saphenous vein in 1. The operation time of the LAST-MIDCAB group was significantly shorter than that of the on-pump CABG group. Blood transfusion was necessary for only one patient in the LAST-MIDCAB group. Although many postoperative complications occurred in the on-pump CABG group, no major postoperative complication was seen in the LAST-MIDCAB group except one patient who sufferred from lung fibrosis, which led to shortness of the postoperative hospital stay. We conclude that LAST-MIDCAB is an alternative way to reduce operative morbidity in selected re-CABG cases.