A 6-month old girl who had pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and major aortopulmonary collaterals underwent one-stage complete repair with unifocalization through a bilateral thoracosternotomy(clamshell incision). There were no serious postoperative compli cations, and the postoperative echocardio-graphy showed no residual ventricular septal defect or significant pulmonary artery stenosis. In this condition, great surgical variability exists regarding the sources of pulmonary blood flow. Recent clinical work has focused on a one-stage complete repair. The potential advantages of the clamshell incision are apparent in terms of mediastinal approach, postoperative results, and safety.
Cations ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Female ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular* ; Humans ; Infant ; Pulmonary Artery ; Pulmonary Atresia*

Heart transplantation was planned for a 10-year old boy who had dilated cardiomyopathy with severe congestive heart failure and had been on dopamine for 1month. However, partial left ventriculectomy and mitral annuloplasty were performed instead, because there was no donor heart of the adequate size and the symptoms were aggravated. The clinical symptoms were markedly improved after the surgery. Comparing the postoperative echocardiographic results with the preoperative results, there were remarkable changes in the left ventricular ejection fraction(preoperative LV EF 17% to postoperative 3 months 29%, 6 months 35%, 1 year 36%) and the left ventricular end-diastolic dimension(preoperative 72 mm to postoperative 3 months 59 mm, 6 months 61 mm, 1 year 61 mm). Partial left ventriculectomy and mitral annuloplasty reduced the cardiac loading in the dilated cardiomyopathy. Partial left ventriculectomy and mitral annuloplasty may be considered as one of the alternative surgical metho s to carry over until a heart transplantation can be performed, especially for children.
Cardiomyopathy, Dilated* ; Child ; Dopamine ; Echocardiography ; Heart ; Heart Failure ; Heart Transplantation ; Humans ; Male ; Mitral Valve ; Mitral Valve Annuloplasty ; Tissue Donors

Vallecular cyst is an uncommon but potentially dangerous condition causing stridor and has been associated with sudden airway obstruction resulting in death due to its anatomical location in neonates. It may also present with various degrees of feeding problems resulting in failure to thrive. When a vallecular cyst is suspected clinically, endoscopic laryngoscopy is necessary to visualize it. Other conditions leading to neonatal stridor such as laryngomalacia and other laryngotracheal abnormalities should be ruled out. Marsupialization with a CO2 laser is the most effective and safest treatment to prevent recurrence. We report a case of a 1-month-old male infant with a vallecular cyst synchronous with gastroesophageal reflux, and failure to thrive. He was referred to our hospital because of hoarseness, inspiratory stridor, feeding-cyanosis, chest retraction and failure to thrive. Diagnostic workup revealed a cyst at the tongue base, suggesting a vallecular cyst. The cyst was removed by laryngomicrosurgery with CO2 laser. After the surgery, the symptoms improved and the body weight increased steadily. We report a successfully treated case of neonatal vallecular cyst with symptoms of upper respiratory obstruction, gastroesophageal reflux, and failure to thrive.
Airway Obstruction ; Body Weight ; Cyanosis ; Failure to Thrive ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Hoarseness ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Laryngomalacia ; Laryngoscopy ; Lasers, Gas ; Male ; Recurrence ; Respiratory Sounds ; Thorax ; Tongue

OBJECTIVE: Endometriosis is assumed to be one of the causes of infertility, although the mechanism remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic factors for the fertility in women with severe endometriosis. METHODS: Clinical data of 78 consecutive infertile patients who had taken surgery for stage III and IV endometriosis were retrospectively analyzed in two groups: A- pregnant after surgery (n=43, 55.1%): B- non-pregnant after surgery (n=35, 44.9%). All patients were treated with GnRHa after surgery. Each group were compared age, BMI, duration of infertility, stage of endometriosis, size and number of endometrioma, peritoneal implant outside the pelvic cavity, peritubal adhesion, ovarian adhesion and cul-de-sac obliteration. RESULTS: Among these factors, duration of infertility (p=0.03), peritoneal implant (p=0.01), tubal adhesion (p=0.04) and ovarian adhesion (p=0.02) were significantly different. However, patients' age, BMI, size and number of endometrioma, cul-de-sac obliteration and stage of endometriosis did not showed significantly different. CONCLUSION: We concluded that the duration of infertility and tubal and ovarian adhesion are important factors for predicting pregnancy after surgery in severe endometriosis.
Endometriosis* ; Female ; Fertility ; Humans ; Infertility ; Pregnancy* ; Retrospective Studies