BACKGROUND: The authors have modified the method of Ravitch technique. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This technique was applied to 6 patients out of 18 patients who underwent corrective surgery from May 1987 to July 1999. The technique is quite different from that of Ravitch. We did not divide the intercostal muscle bundles from the laterals of sternum and the Akin's struts were placed retrosternally crossing the chest horizontally to prevent flail motion during immediate post-operative period and retraction of the sternum afterwards. Anterior sternal osteotomy instead of the posterior one was performed for the latest 3 cases which made operative procedure more simple and easy. The struts were removed one year later. RESULT: Compared to the hospital stay of the patients who received standard Ravitch method that of the six cases who received our modification was definitely shortened from 13.1 days to 8.3 days(p<0.0000). Flail motion was not noted in any patient and chest wall stability was obtained more easily with this technique. CONCLUSION: Our modification is recommendable for correction of funnel chest in regards to shorter operation time better chest wall stability shorter hospital stay and less complication.
Funnel Chest* ; Humans ; Intercostal Muscles ; Length of Stay ; Osteotomy ; Sternum ; Surgical Procedures, Operative ; Thoracic Wall ; Thorax

We report on nine years experience of surgical treatment of mediastinal tumors in 47 patients. Their ages ranged from 5 to 67 years with an average of 36.4 years and the sex ratio of male and female was 1:1.5. The most frequent symptom was chest pain(27.7%), followed by ptosis(14.9%), general weakness(12.8%) and eight patients(17.0%) were asymptomatic. The most prevalent location of the tumor was anterosuperior mediastinum(63.8%). Pathologically, thymoma(32.9%) was the most common tumor, followed by cyst(21.3%), neurogenic tumor(17.0%), germ cell tumor(12.8%), and mesenchymal tumor(6.4%). Complete removal was achieved in 41 cases of all benign tumors and 3 cases of malignant tumors. All the malignant tumor patients were treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or both after surgery. Postoperative complications developed in 4 cases and there was no operative death.
Drug Therapy ; Female ; Germ Cells ; Humans ; Male ; Mediastinal Neoplasms ; Postoperative Complications ; Radiotherapy ; Sex Ratio ; Thorax

Congenital bronchial atresia is one of the rare bronchopulmonary anomalies which is thought to be caused by a vascular insult of uncertain timing during fefal development. It is defined as an anomaly which does not have communication between a segmental or lobar bronchus and the main airway. Because of the collateral ventilation, almost all of these cases show hyperlucency of the involved segment or lobe in chest roentgenogram. We report an extremely rare case of congenital bronchial atresia with collapse of the right upper lobe which was treated by surgical resection.
Bronchi ; Bronchial Diseases ; Thorax ; Ventilation

OBJECTIVES: The surgical mortality of congenital heart defects has been reduced for the very young age group. Especially, young age at repair is an important risk factor for mortality after repair of tetralogy of Fallot. Some risk factors were analyzed. METHODS: Three hundred and sixty six patients underwent surgical intervention. Ages ranged from 5 days to 64 years, and 80 patients were adults(over 15 years of age). The defects consisted of 313(84.2%) acyanotic and 53(15.8%) cy anotic anomalies. The surgical mortalities were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The overall surgical mortality was 10.4%. Most deaths occurred in the infant group younger than 6 months(20/38 deaths) and in cyanotic group(21/38 deaths). Surgical infant mortality younger than 12 months was 24.8%(25/10 1). Risk factors of mortality in open heart surgery were age(p<0.0001), body weight(p<0.0001), pump time(p<0.0001), aortic cross clamp time(p<0.0001), use of total circulatory arrest(p<0.0001) and cyanotic disease(p<0.0001) by univariate analysis. But by multivariate analysis, the risk factor of mortality in open heart surgery was disease entity(p=0.002) only. A disease group with the highest risk was a cyanotic group(odds ratio was 15.3 relative to ventricular septal defect) excluding t etralogy of Fallot(odds ratio=0.27). CONCLUSIONS: Even though the most important risk factor was disease entity, technically feasible factors influencing mortality indicated by univariate analysis should be improved.
Heart Defects, Congenital* ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant Mortality ; Mortality* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Risk Factors* ; Tetralogy of Fallot ; Thoracic Surgery

Myasthenia gravis is relatively rare disease which is related autoimmune response. There are various methods of management for myasthenia gravis, but nowaday radical thymectomy is the treatment of choice in the aspect of bringing out complete remission and clinical improvement. Sixteen patient of myasthenia gravis underwent radical thymectomy during last eight years, and its result was analyed. Complete remission was achieved in five patients(31 %) and pharmacological or symptomatic improvement in seven patients(44 %), thus giving a total remission in 12 patients(75 %). Postoperative result was not correlated with age, sex, degree of preoperative symptom, surgical approach, pathologic diagnosis.
Autoimmunity ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Myasthenia Gravis* ; Rare Diseases ; Thymectomy

The conventional surgery method of thrombectomy of venous thrombi from the deep veins of the lower extremity was the use of Forgarty balloon catheter. The catheter is inconvenient due to the presence of the balloon and prohibiting venous valves within the venous trees. With the use of a stone-forceps(Fig. 1), thrombi within iliofemoral vein could be easily removed without the obstacle of the valves because the instrument keeps valves open. This instrument is also useful in monitoring the back-flow from the iliac vein. Thrombi within the veins below the level of inguinal incision are removed successfully only by effective manual compression of the calf and thigh muscles. I recommend operating on the iliac vein first rather than the lower venous tree.
Catheters ; Iliac Vein ; Lower Extremity* ; Muscles ; Thigh ; Thrombectomy ; Veins* ; Venous Thrombosis ; Venous Valves

From May 1988 to December 1995, 77 patients underwent surgical resection for primary non-small cell lung cancer at GNUH, and were evaluated clinically. There were 65 males and 12 females(M:F=5.4:1), and the peak incidence of age was 6th decade of life(44.5%). The major symptoms were cough, hemoptysis and chest pain due to anatomical effects of the mass. Histopathologically, squamous cell carcinoma was 81.8%, adenocarcinoma 14.3%, and adenosquamous carcinoma 3.9%. There was no significant difference in survival among three groups. The pneumonectomy was performed in 26 cases(33.8%), lobectomy 30 cases(38.9%), bilobectomy 9 cases(11.7%), and overall resectability was 84.4%. The postoperative official stagings were as follows ; 26 patients of stage I(34%), 14 patients of stage II(18%), 22 patients of stage IIIa(29%), 14 patients of stage IIIb(18%), and one patients of stage IV(1%). In all cases, 3 year survival rate are showed stage I 83%, stage II 26%, stage IIIa 17%, and stage IIIb 0%.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chest Pain ; Cough ; Hemoptysis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lung Neoplasms ; Male ; Pneumonectomy ; Survival Rate