A 26-year-old woman at 40 weeks of gestation attended our emergency department due to sudden onset of chest and back pain, although she had experienced no previous abnormalities. The patient was very tall, had spider fingers and scoliosis, all of which indicated Marfan's syndrome. Enhanced computed tomography and cardiac ultrasonography revealed acute aortic dissection and annulo-aortic ectasia with aortic regurgitation. Thereafter, a baby weighing 3,070g was delivered by emergency Caesarean section and then a Bentall-type operation was performed consecutively. An intraoperative injection of heparin resulted in minimal uterine bleeding. Surgery at the 40th week of gestation was successful for both the mother and the neonate.

A 34-year-old female patient, who had undergone several operations relating to pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (PA/VAD), was admitted to our hospital for recurrent massive hemoptysis requiring blood transfusion. She had undergone a Potts' shunt (systemic-pulmonary shunt) at age 3, and undergone intraaortic patch closure for paraanastomotic pseudoaneurysm of occluded Potts' shunt at age 28. Chest CT scan revealed an enhancement of this aneurysm surrounding ground glass like appearance of left lung lobe which indicated pulmonary bleeding. In order to avoid skeltonization of severe adhesion of mediastinal and left thoracic space due to several prior operations, endovascular repair of this pseudoaneurysm with debranching of left subclavian artery was performed. Postoperative course was uneventful and hemoptysis was disappeared. She was discharged at 8 postoperative day.

Four patients with multiple dissecting aortic aneurysms treated surgically from 1960 to 1996 were evaluated clinically. The incidence of multiple dissecting aortic aneurysms was 3.2% of all surgically treated cases of aortic dissection. Only one case suffered from Marfan's syndrome. Morphologically, all cases showed chronic DeBakey II+III type dissection. Case 1 was treated by Bentall's operation for DeBakey II type dissection and the residual aortic aneurysm was not treated surgically. Case 2 underwent a two-staged operation: Bentall's operation first, followed by entry closure with plication of the DeBakey III type aneurysm. Case 3 underwent a two-staged operation: graft replacement of the ascending aorta combined with coronary artery bypass grafting in the first operation and graft replacement of descending and abdominal aorta in the second. Case 4 was treated by graft replacement of the hemiarch, resuspension of the aortic valve and entry closure of the DeBakey III type dissection. Among them, two cases (Cases 1 and 2) whose aneurysms were treated incompletely showed a rapid growth and rupture of residual DeBakey III type aneurysm. In conclusion, one-staged aggressive and complete operation should be done for the patients with multiple dissecting aortic aneurysms. When a two-staged operation is selected, more intensive follow-up of the residual aortic aneurysm is needed.

We encountered a case of aortic valvuloplasty for aortic regurgitation due to congenital bicuspid valve. A 31-year-old man was found to have aortic regurgitation due to prolapse of a leaflet of the bicuspid valve by echocardiography. Under cardiopulmonary bypass, the right and left coronary cusps were conjoined and that conjoined cusp was larger than that of the opposing leaflet and had a longer free edge. A raphe was present in the conjoined leaflet. At first, we shortened the elongated free edge of the prolapsing leaflet by means of a triangular resection, and placed horizontal mattress sutures at each commissure. Furthermore, we performed subcommissular annuloplasty at each commissure, resulting in good coaptation of cusps. The patient survived and has shown an uneventful recovery. It is likely that this method of aortic valvuloplasty can be used for aortic regurgitation due to congenital bicuspid valve.

We have experienced 3 successful repair surgeries for insufficient bicuspid aortic valve. The operative procedure consisted of combinations of suture placation, raphe triangular resection, commisural annuloplasty, and patch closure of perforation due to infectious endocarditis. The postoperative course was uneventful and postoperative echocardiography showed residual regurgitation as only trivial or mild. Retrospective study done on 19 previous cases with insufficient bicuspid aortic valve demonstrated that this operative procedure could have been applied in 15 (79%) of the cases. These results showed that repair surgery for insufficient bicuspid aortic valve is useful and has a wide application.

A descending thoracoaortic aneurysm excluded by stent-grafting had expanded during a period of one and a half years. There was no endoleakage but there was shortening of the stent-landing on both proximal and distal sides. Aneurysm seemed to be pressed by blood pressure through the graft in TEE. The aneurysm was replaced by an artificial graft through a left heart bypass. Because ESP diminished during the operation, VIth intercostal arteries were reconstructed immediately, and CSF drainage was performed. Following this procedure there was no paraplegia.

A 49-year-old man who had had severe tripple vessel coronary disease and low left ventricular function (EF=29%) underwent coronary artery bypass grafting. Following the procedure he could not be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) even with an intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP). Left ventricular assist using a centrifugal pump (CFP) together with IABP was then utilized with a dramatic recovery from profound postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock, and the CPB was successfully terminated. The left ventricular function recovered gradually from intraoperative myocardial damage. The CFP was successfully removed at 86 LHB hour and the IABP at 9th postoperative day. At present 12 months after LHB, he reveals no angina. Settting up the left ventricular support using a CFP is simple and not-time-consuming, so this system with IABP is of practical use in the case of unpredicted postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock.

Sixteen cases of malignant soft tissue sarcoma (STS; 10 canines and six felines) were treated with a novel triple therapy that combined photodynamic therapy, hyperthermia using indocyanine green with a broadband light source, and local chemotherapy after surgical tumor resection. This triple therapy was called photodynamic hyperthermal chemotherapy (PHCT). In all cases, the surgical margin was insufficient. In one feline case, PHCT was performed without surgical resection. PHCT was performed over an interval of 1 to 2 weeks and was repeated three to 21 times. No severe side effects, including severe skin burns, necrosis, or skin suture rupture, were observed in any of the animals. No disease recurrence was observed in seven out of 10 (70.0%) dogs and three out of six (50.0%) cats over the follow-up periods ranging from 238 to 1901 days. These results suggest that PHCT decreases the risk of STS recurrence. PHCT should therefore be considered an adjuvant therapy for treating companion animals with STS in veterinary medicine.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Cat Diseases/drug therapy/surgery/*therapy ; Cats ; Combined Modality Therapy/veterinary ; Dog Diseases/drug therapy/surgery/*therapy ; Dogs ; Hyperthermia, Induced/veterinary ; Indocyanine Green/*therapeutic use ; Photochemotherapy/veterinary ; Photosensitizing Agents/*therapeutic use ; Sarcoma/drug therapy/surgery/therapy/*veterinary