Thirty two years-old man with arthralgia in both hands was given with non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug and followed. The symptoms persisted, and hematuria and signs of infection were getting apparent. The patient was referred to our hospital with increasing dyspnea. The patient presented acute heart failure, acute renal insufficiency and respiratory failure. Echocardiography revealed vegetation and regurgitation in the aortic and mitral valve. Blood culture demonstrated α-Streptococcus. CT revealed enlargement of the aortic root. The patient was diagnosed with infectious endocarditis, and referred for surgery. At surgery, the aortic valve and mitral valve were severely destroyed. Aortic root and mitral valve replacement were performed. Pathological findings demonstrated valve destruction as a result of endocarditis due to active rheumatic fever. Clumps of bacteria were not noted around the valves. This is a rare adult case with valve destruction by acute rheumatic fever.

A 52 year old male who have stabbed in his anterior chest by a knife developed hemopericardium 30 years ago was admitted to our hospital because of general fatique, facial edema and swelling of liver L. Chest X-ray revealed calcification of pericardium and cardiac catheterization showed dip & plateau in right ventricle. Pericardium was about 2 to 10mm in thickness and pericardiectomy was successfully performed. It is difficult to determine that this case caused by trauma or tuberculosis. But from macro-and microscopic findings, this case might be constrictive pericarditis developed from traumatic exudative pericarditis due to penetrating stab wound of the heart.

Orthostatic Disregulation (OD, a kind of dysautonomia) is a syndrome which indicates disfunction of vessel contraction reflex during static standing. OD patients often show some symptoms of fainting, dizziness, headache and the like or syncope when they are holding orthostatic posture. OD is more recognized especially in preadolescence and adolescence periods (9-15 yrs.) . Brück & Oltmann (1957), Okuni (1958) etc, have reported details about OD.
The purpose of this study was to obtain and discuss details relating to recent appearance of OD, physique, growth characteristics, cardio-vascular functions and physical fitness on OD children by the questionnaire method and some experiments.
2, 227 children in elementary and junior high school in Yokohama and Kamakura cities as sub jectswere first screened by the questionnaire. And 165 subjects out of 2, 227 were at random selected for data on Schellong standing test, passive head-up tilt and distance running.
The value of 9-29%, which was the ratio of false OD (+) appearance by the questionnaire method in this study, was recognized higher than the value of 5-20% by previous studies'. Physique on false OD (+) children was somewhat lean in comparison with the normal. And they had more height increase than the normal.
In physical fitness, distance running, 50 m dash, broad jump, ball throw, chinning exercise and back pull-over tests, OD children were inferior than the normal.
A concrete datum in syncope for standing was got in this study. When an OD child exhibited syncope, systolic blood pressure became 78 mmHg (rest 120-130 mmHg) and heart rate became 76 beats per minute (standing before syncope 100-110 beats per minute) . T wave in II, _aV_F and P wave in II, III (depression, negative waves etc.) of ECG varied from resting ECG. Judging from these data about ECG and blood pressure on standing test, passive head-up tilt, it was indicated that a reflex system of vessel contraction on OD child didn't work well, and that the heart of OD child was much stressed by gravity in orthostatic posture and changing posture than the normal.
In addition, a fact was proven that false OD (+) children (39.1% boys and 48.2% girls) didn't like sports and physical activities comparing with the normal (16.4% boys and 23.5% girls), It was statistically significant. Therefore, it is estimated that there is a relationship between appearance of OD and physical activities in daily life.

Tachycardia caused by increased sympathetic nerve activity after cardiovascular surgery can induce an increase in myocardial oxygen consumption and myocardial ischemia. β-Blockers are expected to reduce myocardial oxygen consumption, but traditional β-blockers are long acting so it is difficult to use after cardiovascular surgery. From January 2007 to September 2007, 24 out of 60 patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery were administered landiolol. The average heart rate before landiolol infusion was 99.5±16.5 bpm and decreased to 89.5±10.7 bpm after landiolol infusion (p=0.0008). Average systolic blood pressure before and after landiolol infusion was 109±16 mmHg and 103±13 mmHg, respectively (p=0.15). Average cardiac index (14 patients) before and after landiolol infusion was 3.29±0.83 l/min/m²and 3.26±0.9 l/min/m², respectively (p=0.75). Four patients (17%) had atrial fibrillation during these hospital stay, whereas 20 patients out of 50 patients (40%) who underwent cardiovascular surgery before landiolol was used (from June 2006 to January 2007) had atrial fibrillation (p=0.045). Landiolol can be effective and used safely after cardiovascular surgery.

The Fontan type operation is currently considered to be a safe procedure. However, in some patients excluded from the indication for the Fontan type operation is contraindicated. A 12-year-old girl given a diagnosis of pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum was considered a high risk and was excluded form the indications of the Fontan procedure. She underwent balloon angioplasty for aortic stenosis (valvular) at the age of 2, and bidirectional Glenn anastomosis and aortic valve plasty at the age of 5. At the age of 7, she underwent cardiac catheterization. Although the Fontan procedure was contraindicated, her symptoms gradually progressed year by year, and desaturation caused a decrease in her exercise tolerance. At age 12, she underwent coil embolization of aortopulmonary collaterals and a fenestrated Fontan procedure. In order to keep the procedure as minimally invasive as possible, we performed intraoperative stenting of the peripheral pulmonary stenosis, and all manipulation of fenestrated extracardiac conduit Fontan procedures were performed in the beating heart with cardiopulmonary bypass. The postoperative course was uneventful. The oxygen saturation increased to 95%, and her exercise tolerance dramatically improved. Here we report some special techniques that hybrid operation and satisfactory results.

Tachycardia caused by increased sympathetic nerve activity after cardiovascular surgery can induce an increase in myocardial oxygen consumption and myocardial ischemia. β-Blockers are expected to reduce myocardial oxygen consumption, but traditional β-blockers are long acting so it is difficult to use after cardiovascular surgery. From January 2007 to September 2007, 24 out of 60 patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery were administered landiolol. The average heart rate before landiolol infusion was 99.5±16.5 bpm and decreased to 89.5±10.7 bpm after landiolol infusion (p=0.0008). Average systolic blood pressure before and after landiolol infusion was 109±16 mmHg and 103±13 mmHg, respectively (p=0.15). Average cardiac index (14 patients) before and after landiolol infusion was 3.29±0.83 l/min/m²and 3.26±0.9 l/min/m², respectively (p=0.75). Four patients (17%) had atrial fibrillation during these hospital stay, whereas 20 patients out of 50 patients (40%) who underwent cardiovascular surgery before landiolol was used (from June 2006 to January 2007) had atrial fibrillation (p=0.045). Landiolol can be effective and used safely after cardiovascular surgery.

A 50-year-old man with Marfan syndrome, was given a diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm in an anastomotic site of the left coronary artery after Bentall operation, with severe calcification. He was successfully treated with reanastomosis of a new graft to the left main trunk by the removal of a calcified intima. Coronary artery bypass grafting was not possible because his coronary arteries were covered with thickened fatty tissue due to a previous omental flap procedure for mediastinitis, and therefore we chose left main trunk coronary angioplasty. The whole calcified intima was excluded with a dissector and resected at both ostias of the left descending artery and left circumflex artery. An 8-mm woven Dacron graft was anastomosed at the left main trunk by large stitches of adhesive tissue around the adventitia, to the inside of the lumen of the left main trunk. The patency of the left main trunk was confirmed by CT and he was discharged in a good condition. Close observation is needed for long-term morbidity.

A 39-year-old woman, who had undergone aortic valve replacement with a Carpentier-Edwards pericardial bioprosthesis 16 years previously, was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of acute heart failure due to acute aortic regurgitation. An emergency operation was undertaken with the patient in a state of shock due to sudden cardiac arrest. The ascending aorta was cross clamped, and cardiac arrest was induced, and aortotomy was done. One of the leaflets of the CEP was entirely collapsed and dislocated to the LV side, which caused acute aortic regurgitation. Although there was no evidence of endocarditis, slight calcification and small perforation of the leaflet of the valve was observed. Aortic valve replacement was performed with a mechanical heart valve but it was impossible to wean from ECC, and therefore we additionally performed mitral valve annuloplasty with a prosthetic ring for moderate mitral regurgitation. After 4 h cardiopulmonary assistance, ECC was successfully withdrawn. She was discharged in a good condition an post operative day 29th.

Papillary muscle rupture is one of the common complications of acute myocardial infarction. We report a case of 77-years-old man with an acute posterior papillary muscle rupture without obvious coronary artery disease. The patient presented with cardiogenic shock and pulmonary edema. Emergency coronary angiogram showed no obstruction in coronary arteries. An echocardiogram and right heart catheterization data suggested acute mitral regurgitation caused by ruptured posterior papillary muscle. Percutaneous cardiopulmonary support was induced because of his unstable hemodynamics, and then emergency mitral valve replacement was performed. Intraoperative findings suggested some ischemic changes in the posterior papillary muscle. Pathologically, both old and new ischemic lesion presented in the same papillary muscle. Moreover, severe thickening of a small vessel wall was noted. This case presented one of the possible mechanisms of so-called idiopathic papillary muscle rupture.

Thirty-four patients with congenital cardiac disease were studied to evaluated the role of ultrafiltration after cardiopulmonary bypass without homologous blood transfusion. We used either polypropylene microporous hollow fiber hemoconcentrator (HC-30M or 100M) or polyacrylonitrile microporous hollow fiber hemoconcentrator (PHC-500). Ultrafiltration was useful in the reduction of fluid overloading after cardiopulmonary bypass with extreme hemodilution. Thirty-two patients tolerated the procedure uneventfully without donor blood transfusion and were discharged from the hospital. The values of hematocrit, serum protein and free hemoglobin increased significantly after ultrafiltration with either type of hemoconcentrator. However the degree of concentration of blood components was significantly higher with polyacrylonitrile hemoconcentrator than those with polypropylene hemoconcentrator. These results indicated that ultrafiltration was useful for maintaining water balance after cardiopulmonary bypass without homologous blood transfusion in pediatric cardiac surgery and that polyacrylonitrile microporous hollow fiber hemoconcentrator should be employed in patients with shorter bypass time and less hemolysis.