Prosthetic valve dysfunction due to pannus formation is an infrequent but serious complication of tricuspid valve replacement. An 87-year-old woman underwent tricuspid valve re-replacement for severe prosthetic valve stenosis and regurgitation. On removal, thick fibrous pannus and chordal attachments were observed on the ventricular side of the cusp, which corresponded to the septal leaflet of the native valve. Microscopic examination revealed inflammatory cell infiltration accompanied with severe fibrosis and scarring had compromised and broken the prosthetic valve cusp under the pannus. The elastic fiber, which was detected in the base of the pannus, suggested it was a remnant of the native tricuspid valve leaflet. Prevention of native tissue attachment to the prosthetic valve cusp, which may cause severe pannus formation, appears to be extremely important for the long-term outcome and valve durability. The choice of prosthesis for the tricuspid position remains controversial. We should especially consider the height of stent posts and the continuity between the cusp and suture ring in the choice of the bioprosthetic valve for tricuspid position.

A 16-year-old boy had a motorcycle accident and was given a diagnosis of blunt aortic injury (BAI) by contrast computed tomography (CT), complicated by diffuse brain injury, lung contusions and blunt liver injury. Despite conservative treatment his anemia worsened and further CT images revealed mediastinal hematoma. It was difficult to perform cardiopulmonary bypass with systemic heparinization because of his multiple injuries and therefore decided to perform endovascular stentgrafting. Aortography revealed that the proximal stent-graft landing zone to be very small, and therefore it was necessary to the cover left common carotid artery. Before stentgrafting, we performed a right subclavian artery-left common carotid artery bypass to attain a sufficient proximal landing zone, and stentgrafting was successful. We concluded that endovascular stentgrafting is an effective initial treatment for BAI complicated with multiple injuries. However, endovascular stentgrafting for BAI has some limitations because of the morphologic and anatomical characteristics of the thoracic aorta in cases of BAI. It is therefore important to perform endovascular stentgrafting for BAI on a case-by-case basis.

The shortage of physicians in Japan has been a social issue since the new postgraduate clinical training system started in 2004.The difficult working conditions of hospital physicians may influence this problem.We used a questionnaire to investigate the working hours, on-call frequency, work contents, and mental health of supervisors at various residency training hospitals in Japan.
1) We surveyed 479 physicians who worked at hospitals certified as residency-training facilities and who participated in a development workshop for supervisors or for residency training program managers held at 8 locations in 2004.
2) We found that supervisors worked, on average, more than 100 hours longer than statutory working hours per month and that more than one-fifth of supervisors worked more than 160 hours longer.
3) As for mental health, more than one-fifth of supervisors showed a depressive tendency.
4) These results suggest that the working conditions of supervisors at residency-training hospitals in Japan should be improved by reducing their clinical duties or managing their work content.

The new postgraduate clinical training system that started in 2004 is expected to have positive effects on the health of residents and the quality of treatment they provide.We performed a survey to examine the effects of this training system on the mental health of residents.
1) The subjects were first-year residents (458 in 2003 and 549 in 2004) who had started postgraduate clinical training at 38 hospitals in Japan.Self-administered questionnaires, which included items about working conditions and mental health, were mailed to each subject.
2) The mean score on the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire was 4.8 both before and after the new training system was introduced.The mean Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score was 15.3 before and 14.4 after the system's introduction.The results showed no significant difference in mental health of residents before and after the system was changed.
3) The results suggest that the new training system has a positive effect on residents' mental health by increasing sleep time and decreasing occupational stress; however, the new system has also decreased job satisfaction and negatively affected their mental health.
4) Job satisfaction may significantly affect the mental health of residents.

Case 1 of stuck valve was an 84 year old man, 25 years after mitral valve replacement (MVR) using a mechanical valve. Case 2 was a 67 year old woman, 18 years after the previous operation. These patients underwent re-do replacement of the prosthesis with a minimally invasive right thoracotomy approach using a microscope. Re-do cardiac surgery is commonly regarded high risk on account of difficulty in peeling the adhension, risk of injury to the heart, lung or large vessels, longer operation time, greater amount of transfusion, higher invasion and longer admission. In both cases however, because of microscope-assist and right thoracotomy MICS technique, we safely and successfully completed the operation without any unplanned troubles. We finally had a good course with a short admission, no perioperative transfusion or no perioperative complication.

A 41-years-old man with Marfan syndrome developed acute aortic dissection Stanford Type B. A new entry was located at the distal aortic arch. Medical treatment was given for a month, but the proximal descending aorta expanded to 50 mm. Because he had undergone partial arch replacement at the age of 36, thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) using the synthetic graft as proximal landing zone was performed to close the entry. Six months after TEVAR, the false lumen around the stent graft disappeared. Distal stent graft-induced new entry (d-SINE) did not occur after TEVAR. Three years after TEVAR, we performed thoracoabdominal aortic replacement because of expansion of the residual false lumen without any complication. Endovascular therapy could be useful option for extensive aortic lesion even in Marfan syndrome.