With the marked decrease in operative mortality in simple heart diseases there have been several reports on the minimally invasive and cosmetic techniques including submammary incision right parasternal approach right anterolateral thoracotomy partial sternotomy and subxiphoid approach. We report here subxiphoid approach without sternotomy for the repair of atrial septal defect as the procedure that has less invasive technique and more cosmetic effect.
Cosmetic Techniques ; Heart Diseases ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial* ; Mortality ; Sternotomy ; Surgical Procedures, Minimally Invasive ; Thoracotomy

A total of 172 cases of MVR using the St. Jude Medical valve was conducted in the period from August 1986 to May 1996. The hospital mortality rate was 3.5% (n=6) and the late mortality rate was 3.3% (n=5). According to the follow-up of 161 surviving patients, the average length of survival was 50.23+/-0.27 months. Three cases of prosthetic valve related complication deaths were identified. Two cases could be ascribed to left atrial thrombi and resulting cerebral infarction, and one case was prosthetic valve endocarditis. Two cases were caused by hemorrhagic complications that we presume to have been accompanied by anti-coagulation therapy. The actuarial survival rate of all cases at 10 years was 92.3%. We conclude that good clinical results and a low complication rate could be achieved through mitral valve replacement with the St. Jude Medical valve. We also conclude that mid-term and long-term follow-ups were instrumental and necessary.
Cerebral Infarction ; Endocarditis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Mitral Valve* ; Mortality ; Survival Rate

Aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva on mostly congenital disease that develops more frequently in Orientals, is very low in incidence. In most cases, aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva extends to intracardiac and results in ruptures into the right ventricle or atrium. The likelihood of extracardiac aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva is very low. Cases of extracardiac aneurysm are usually accompanied by aortic regurgitation and can cause right ventricle outflow tract obstruction, myocardial ischemia, and myocardial infarction due to compression by aneurysm. Since the aneurysm can rupture in the intrapericardium and cause cardiogenic shock or sudden death, definite diagnosis and management are important. If confirmed, it is preferable operform a surgical correction. We report here, with a literature review, a case where myocardial ischemia and aortic egurgitation caused by aneurysm developed in the left coronary and noncoronary sinus, and were surgically corrected with satisfactory esults.
Aneurysm* ; Aortic Valve Insufficiency ; Death, Sudden ; Diagnosis ; Heart Ventricles ; Incidence ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Rupture ; Shock, Cardiogenic ; Sinus of Valsalva*

BACKGROUND: As the internal mammary artery is far superior to the vein in the patency rate recently there has been a tendency to use the arterial graft as much as possible in coronary artery bypass grafts with the expectation of better the short- and long-term patency rate. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We sequentially grafted the diagonal and the left anterior descending artery significantly influencing the cardiac function with the internal mammary artery. There were 32 cases of sequential grafts from July 1993 to December 1998: 21 men and 11 women. The age range was from 43 to 69 years with a mean age of 56.64+/-6.41 years. There were 22 unstable angina 7 stable angina and 3 acute myocardial infarction. 8 cases of them were accompanied by stenosis of the left main coronary artery. The grafts for coronary artery bypass surgery included the great saphenous vein at 60 the right gastroepiploci artery at 5 and the left internal mammary artery at 64 coronary arteries. RESULT: One patient died from sepsis and multiorgan failure. Complications included wound infections in two cases and gastrointestinal bleeding in one patient. All patients showed decrease or disappearance of angina after operation. The postoperative coronary angiogram performed in 9 patients showed neither occlusion nor stenosis of the grafts. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that sequential anastomosis of the internal mammary artery to the diagonal and the left anterior descending artery may result in excellent short-term patency diagonal and the left anterior descending artery may result in excellent short-term patency rate and be useful for the coronary artery bypass graft using only arterial grafts.
Angina, Stable ; Angina, Unstable ; Arteries ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Artery Bypass* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Male ; Mammary Arteries* ; Myocardial Infarction ; Saphenous Vein ; Sepsis ; Transplants ; Veins ; Wound Infection