In the recent years,many studies have confirmed that vascular endothelial progenitor cells(EPC)can migrate,proliferate and differentiate into mature endothelial cells.They participate in the angiogenesis not only during the process of embryonic development but also during the growth and metachoresis of tumor.Therefore,further studies on EPC are important for the understanding of the formation and treatment of tumor.This review summarizes the research progress in this field.

This paper is to analyze the clinical features of infective endocarditis (IE) and summarize the experience of surgical treatment. The retrospective review was based on 65 consecutive patients, who fulfilled the Duck criteria of the diagnosis of endocarditis, admitted from Jan 1997 to Jun 2002. There were 44 males and 21 females, with age ranged from 9 to 68 years. Pre operative blood cultures were positive in 20 out of 55 patients(45%), with Streptococcus in 8 (45%). Staphylococcus in 9 (40%), and other bacteria in 3 (15%). Echo cardiography revealed vegetations in 62 cases, involving the mitral valve in 19 cases, aortic valve in 31 case, pulmonary valve in 5 cases, tricuspid valve in 5 cases, and valsalva sinus in 2 cases. Among 65 patients, aortic valve replacement was performed in 22, mitral valve replacement in 13, combined aortic and mitral valve replacements in 5, mitral valve plasty in 3, repair of atrial septal defect in 2, ventricular septal defects in 14, rupture of Valsalva sinus in 3, correction of tetralogy of Fallot in 1, patent ductus arteriosus in 2. Four patients died in hospital. 56 patients (91%) were followed up for 6 months to 69 months. Two patients with replacement of aortic valve died 1 and 3 years later due to congestive heart failure and sepsis. In the other 54 patient, no recurrent infection was found. One year, 3 year, and 5 year survival rates were 96 6%, 90 1%,90 1%, respectively. The results suggest that urgent early diagnosis and optimal surgical intervention play key role in successful treatment of infective endocarditis.

Ligament of Marshall(LOM) is a bunch of epicardial structural deterioration.Because of its complex histological structure and electrophysiological properties, LOM plays an important role in the occurrence and maintenances of atrial fibrillation(AF).In addition, more and more studies indicated that ablation of LOM could effect the clinical result of AF treatment.We reviews on the anatomy, electrophysiological characteristics of LOM and the interrelationship between LOM and AF.

Objective To summarize the methods and experiences of aortic arch surgery. Methods In 75 aortic arch operations, 74 were performed by using deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA), including retrograde cerebral perfusion (RCP) in 54 cases and antegrade selective cerebral perfusion (SCP) in 20 cases. Surgical procedures included ascending aortic and hemiarch grafting in 53 cases, which concomitantly included stent placement intra decending aorta in 11, patching of arch intimal tear in 6 and of decending aortic one in 3. Ascending and total arch grafting in 20 cases,which concomitantly included traditional elephant trunk procedure in 12 and stent placement intra decending aorta in 4. Simple arch aneurysm resection in 1 and arch grafting in 1. Concomitant procedures included Bentall procedure in 17 cases, AVR in 12, Cabrol procedure in 3, mitral valvuloplasty in 5 and aortic valvuloplasty in 9. DHCA time ranged from 9 to 120 min (mean 42.3 min). Results Operative mortality was 6.7%. The most common complications were respiratory insufficiency(11 cases), renal insufficience(7 cases) and temporary mental anomaly(9 cases). Conclusion DHCA+RCP and DHCA+SCP are both effective while the latter is more suitable for complex aortic arch surgery. The choice of surgical procedures depends on the nature of lesion and location of intimal tear. Preoperative condition and surgical technique are the essential factors to success in aortic arch surgery.

The experiences of surgical treatment of valvular heart diseases in children were reported. Cardiac valve operations were performed in 87 children including 58 males and 29 females between the age of 4 to 14 years ( mean 10 2 years) . Of the 87 patients, 36 underwent mitral valve replacement, 13 aortic valves replacement, 6 mitral and aortic valves replacement, 13 aortic valvuloplasty, and 29 mitral valvuloplasty. Associated cardiac lesions were simultaneously managed. Postoperative complications included low cardiac output syndromes in 7 patients, respiratory failure in 3, and arrhythmia in 5 patients. The operative mortality was 4 60% (4 patients). Follow up was 0 5 to 14 5 years (mean 6 51 years). Late mortality was 3 61% (3 patients). The valvuloplasty operations were first choice for cardiac valve operations in children. It was advisable to use cardiac valve prosthesis of larger size(adult) for valve replacement in children.Anticoagulation with Warfarin was routinely used and the treatment of rheumatic fever should be emphasized postoperatively.

The experiences of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG ) surgery and perioperative management for critical patients are reported. Forty-five critical CAD patients aged from 41 to 78 years old with 32 male and 13 female underwent CABG.The critical conditions included coronary artery disease complicated with left ventricular dysfunction (LVEF less than 30%) in 7 patients, heart valve disease in 13, postinfarction giant LV aneurysm in 6, aged 75 years or older patients with hypertension, diabetes, and renal or severe lung dysfunction in 8, and emergent CABG because of insufficient blood supply from left coronary artery during cardiac valve replacement or ascending aortic aneurysm operation in 5. Among all the patients, pure CABG was performed in 20, and CABG with other simultaneous procedures in 25. Each of 45 patients received l to 4 bypass grafts with a mean of 2 9. During the early stage of postoperation,there were low cardiac output syndrome in 6 patients, renal failure in 3, pulmonary failure in 2, and MOSF in 1.With the application of IABP, 5 from 6 LCDS patients recovered.Three patients were complicated with renal failure, and they also recovered with the use of peritoneal or blood dialysis postoperatively. During the early stage of postoperation,two patients (4 4%) died of LCOS and MOSF, respectively. One died of arrhythmia 15 months later after operation .The experiences suggest that control of hypertension,heart rate and diabetes before operation, perfect revascularization of ischemic myocardium and effective myocardial protection during operation,prevention of LCOS and renal failure after operation could improve the results of CAD patients undergoing CABG.

To study the ischemia/reperfusion-induced dynamic changes in PLA 2 in cardiomyocytes and its effect on phospholipids of cardiomyocyte membrane during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), and to evaluate the protective effects of two kinds of cardioplegia. The results showed that there was an increase in PLA 2 activity during CPB followed by decreases in the contents of total phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. During the 6o-min aorta occlusion beriod,there were no obvious changes in the activity of PLA 2 and the contents of total phospholipids, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine when cardioplegia was used. During early reperfusion, there were a rapid increase in PLA 2 activity accompanied by a rapid decrease in contents of phospholipids.However,after 30~60min reperfusion, the contents of phospholipids for group C, D began to increase and the PLA 2 activity began to decrease. The changes in the contents of phospholipids and the PLA 2 activity in extracorporeal circulation with warm blood cardioplegia group were smaller in magnitude. These results suggested that the myocardial membrane injury was dependent on PLA 2 activation. Warm blood cardioplegia could provide better myocardial protection, and warrant further improvements.

To investigate the effect of transfection of adenovirus mediated vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF B) gene transfer on the proliferation of endothelial cells. We constructed a replication deficient recombinant adenovirus vector coding for human VEGF B, and detected its gene transcription and expression in Ad. VEGF B infected rat arotic endothelial cells (RAECs) with RT PCR and western blat. The effect of Ad.VEGF B on RAECs prolifeation was examined by MTT assay on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 after infection. RAECs were successfully infected with high efficiency and expressed a special protein that is immunoreactive to anti VEGF B monoclonal antibody. This protein could be detected in the culture medium. The proliferation assay of RAECs infected with VEGF B expressing adenovirus revealed a significant increase in cell number over control. These results implied that the use of VEGF B expressing recombinant adenovirus may induce angiogenesis, which might be potential in vivo gene therapy for ischemic heart disease.