We report two surgical cases with corrected transposition of the great arteries associated with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary atresia undergoing total correction including reconstruction of the central pulmonary artery after reconstruction of the left pulmonary artery for non-confluent pulmonary arteries. Both patients underwent reconstruction of the left pulmonary artery using 13 or 12mm diameter heterologous pericardial conduit at age of 5 year, respectively. At surgery, after the left pulmonary artery was exposed between the upper and lower lobe of the left lung, the conduit was connected with the left pulmonary artery along the pericardium. Continuity between the conduit and the left subclavian artery or the ascending aorta was established with 5 or 6mm diameter Micronit grafts, respectively. Total correction was performed at 2 years and 10 months after the initial surgery, respectively. In a patient with {I, D, D} type corrected transposition of the great arteries, the central pulmonary artery was established with another 16mm diameter heterologous pericardial conduit, which ran in front of the left superior vena cava. The ventricular septal defect was closed via the right atrium. In another patient with {S, L, L}, the central pulmonary artery was established with the reconstructed conduit of the left pulmonary artery, which ran behind the left phrenic nerve. The ventricular septal defect was closed via the right atrium with the De Leval procedure. In both patients, continuities between the left ventricle and the central pulmonary artery were established with tricuspid valved porcine pericardial conduit and equine pericardial conduit. Postoperatively both patients had uneventful recovery with left ventricular/right ventricular systolic pressure ratios of 0.4 and 0.35, respectively.

We report a successful staged repair of anomalous origin of right pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta in a neonate. A two-day-old girl, who suffered from severe circulatory failure, was admitted. In spite of all medical treatment, acidosis and systemic hypotension developed. Right pulmonary artery banding was performed in an emergency procedure, resulting in immediate elevation of systemic blood pressure. Definitive operation was subsequently performed on the 48th day after birth. The right pulmonary artery, which was de-banded and divided from aorta, was anastomosed directly to the pulmonary trunk in a side-to-end manner. The postoperative course was uneventful and the pulmonary artery pressure was within the normal range.

As for the clinical condition to be called “cold stagnating in the liver vessel” (寒滞肝脈kantaikanmyaku),cold invades a liver-­meridian (肝経絡) and causes pain. We report a case of 7-­year-­old boy that reached the difficulty in walking for agreed pain of lower extremities in a liver-­meridian by cold house environment after the diarrhea. There was no abnormality in a blood test and the MR imaging in Western medicine. The treat­ment principle was to warm the meridian and reduce the pain. We chose the infusion of “dankanzen­-based prescription” (暖肝煎加味方) to warm the meridian and to remove the pain. The symptom improved. And the bathing therapy to warm a body relieved pain too. The case report of children of kantaikanmyaku was not found as far as we examined it. However, we believe that such cases are latent in Japan where air conditioners are widely used.

Background/Aims: Although risk factors of reflux esophagitis (RE) have been investigated in numerous cross-sectional studies, little is known about predictive factors associated with future onset of RE. We investigated time courses of clinical parameters before RE onset by a longitudinal case-control study using health checkup records. Methods: We used health checkup records between April 2004 and March 2014 at 9 institutions in Japan. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate associations of baseline clinical parameters with RE. The time courses of the clinical parameters of RE subjects were compared with those of non-RE subjects by the mixed-effects models for repeated measures analysis or longitudinal multivariate logistic analysis. Results: Initial data were obtained from 230 056 individuals, and 2066 RE subjects and 4132 non-RE subjects were finally included in the analysis. Body mass index, alanine aminotransferase, smoking, acid reflux symptoms, hiatal hernia, and absence of atrophic gastritis at baseline were independently associated with RE. The time courses of body mass index, fasting blood sugar, triglyceride, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, percentages of acid reflux symptoms, feeling of fullness, and hiatal hernia in the RE group were significantly worse than in the non-RE group. Conclusions The RE group displayed a greater worsening of the clinical parameters associated with lifestyle diseases, including obesity, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and fatty liver for 5 years before RE onset compared with the non-RE group. These results suggest that RE is a lifestyle disease and thus lifestyle guidance to at-risk person may help to prevent RE onset.