BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common complication in elderly patients with atrial septal defect (ASD). The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the maze procedure in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between February 2000 and May 2011, 46 patients underwent the maze procedure as a concomitant operation with ASD closure. Three patients who underwent a right-sided maze were excluded, and one patient was lost to follow-up. The mean follow-up duration was 3.2+/-2.5 years. Electrocardiography was performed 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after surgery, and checked annually after that. RESULTS: AF persisted in 4 patients after surgery. One year after surgery, among 38 patients, 55.3% remained in sinus rhythm without antiarrhythmic drugs. However, when including the patients who took antiarrhythmic drugs, 92.1% were in sinus rhythm. Freedom from AF recurrence at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years after surgery were 97.4+/-2.6, 94.4+/-3.8, 91.2+/-4.9, 87.8+/-5.8, 79.5+/-7.6, and 68.2+/-12.4, respectively. There was no early mortality after operation. CONCLUSION: Concomitant treatment with the maze procedure and ASD closure is safe and effective for restoring the sinus rhythm.
Aged ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Electrocardiography ; Follow-Up Studies ; Freedom ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; Humans ; Lost to Follow-Up ; Recurrence ; Survival Analysis

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma is a rare thoracic tumor, and pathophysiology or clinical course of this tumor is not yet fully described. Furthermore, there is no consensus on the standard operative procedure for this tumor. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Medical records of thirty-two patients, who underwent surgical resection of pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma from 1996 to 2007, were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Nineteen patients underwent lobectomy and thirteen patients underwent limited resection. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery was performed in 9 patients in the latter group. Lymph node dissection was done in 21 patients, and one patient was found to have lymph node metastasis of the tumor. There was no postoperative complication, no early death and no tumor-related late mortality. The mean follow-up duration was 39.3 months (2 months~129 months), and all patients were free of local recurrence and distant metastasis during this period. There was no significant difference in patient's characteristics between the two groups, except that the mean hospital stay was shorter in limited resection group than in lobectomy group (p=0.0031). CONCLUSION: Pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma usually requires surgical resection for both diagnosis and treatment. Limited resection can decrease hospital stay with a surgical outcome comparable to lobectomy, and may be preferred to lobectomy if sufficient resection margin can be achieved.
Consensus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hemangioma ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Medical Records ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Postoperative Complications ; Pulmonary Sclerosing Hemangioma ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Surgical Procedures, Operative ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted

Sarcopenic dysphagia is a complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This report describes the approach to rehabilitation in a 65-year-old man with sarcopenic dysphagia who contracted severe COVID-19 and underwent awake venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vv-ECMO). He started active rehabilitation while receiving vv-ECMO and underwent a course of comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation lasting 115 days. The sarcopenic dysphagia improved, and he regained physical functional independence without any complications at hospital discharge.

Graft infections after aortic replacement are a rare, but severe complication. Because surgical removal of the infection source is essential, an accurate diagnosis is required to prevent unnecessary treatment. Both of the patients described herein were diagnosed with graft infections using dual-modality positron emission tomography-computed tomography; one patient was a false-positive, and the other was confirmed with an infection.
Electrons ; Humans ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Transplants

Blastomyces dermatitidis is a dimorphic fungus that causes the systemic pyogranulomatous disease known as blastomycosis. Blastomycosis most often involves the lungs, skin, and may involve nearly every organ in the body. It is difficult, however, to diagnose blastomycosis in the early stage of pulmonary disease because clinical manifestations are varied from subclinical infection to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Since blastomycosis is often accompanied by granulomatous inflammation in histopathologic findings, differentiation from other etiologic diseases is important. We report a case of a 45-year-old male with pulmonary blastomycosis who had been misdiagnosed with tuberculosis for 3 months.
Asymptomatic Infections ; Blastomyces ; Blastomycosis ; Fungi ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lung ; Lung Diseases ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Skin ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary

Pulmonary tumor embolism can be a cause of respiratory failure in patients with cancer even though it occurs rarely. We describe a 56-year-old man who underwent a pulmonary tumor embolectomy using cardiopulmonary bypass on beating heart combined with inferior vena cava embolectomy and right radical nephrectomy. Aggressive surgical treatment in this severe case is necessary not only to reduce the fatal outcome of pulmonary embolism in the short run, but also to improve the oncological prognosis in the long term.
Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Embolectomy ; Fatal Outcome ; Heart ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating ; Nephrectomy ; Prognosis ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Vena Cava, Inferior