We report a 65-year-old man with a mobile thrombus in the distal aortic arch with no previous history of thromboembolic events. There was no evidence of either aneurysmal changes or aortic dissection. Transesophageal echocardiography revealed the presence of a mobile tumor in the distal arch. The patient underwent elective resection. The mobile tumor was attached to the aortic wall, approximately 3cm distal to the left subclavian artery. Histological examination revealed an old thrombus containing calcification. He was discharged on the 22nd postoperative day with no thromboembolic complications. This is the first report of a case of mobile thrombus in the distal aortic arch in Japan.

A combined aortic and mitral valve replacement was performed in a 50-year-old man who had undergone living-related renal transplantation one year previously. The oral administration of tacrolimus was continued perioperatively while monitoring blood tacrolimus level. The postoperative administration of human atrial natriuretic peptide (hANP) was effective to maintain urine output was performed in addition to frosemide, mannitol, dopamin and prostaglandin E₁ infusions. He was discharged on the 37th postoperative day without rejection, infection or renal dysfunction. This is the first report in Japan describing successful combined aortic and mitral valve replacement after renal transplantation.

We measured oxidative stress and antioxidative stress in clinical cases of cardiac and aortic surgery, especially in extracorporeal circulation cases. From June to October 2007, 18 cases who underwent cardiac and aortic surgery with extracorporeal circulation (ECC group) and 8 cases with an infra-renal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA group) were studied. We measured reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROM) in oxidative stress for the operative time, after the operation endpoint, and at one day postoperatively, one, two, and three weeks postoperatively, and one, two, three, and four months postoperatively. Regarding d-ROM, the level in the ECC group was significantly higher than that in the AAA group (p<0.0001). Peak values were observed 3 weeks postoperatively in the ECC group and 2 weeks postoperatively in the AAA group. Although the oxidative stress increased in both groups, the peak value in the ECC group was more marked than that in the AAA group. We concluded that oxidative stress under surgical stress in cardiovascular surgery with extracorporeal circulation was higher than that under surgical stress in cardiovascular surgery for infra-renal abdominal aortic aneurysms.

We report 3 cases of ascending aorta-abdominal aorta bypass for atypical coarctation with Takayasu's aortitis. We performed an extra-anatomical bypass from the ascending aorta to the terminal abdominal aorta. The graft was arranged to pass through the diaphragm from the pericardium, behind the left lobe of the liver and the stomach, to the front side of the pancreas to the terminal abdominal aorta. Although the graft was exposed in the abdominal cavity in part behind the stomach, it was completely covered with the great omentum thus avoiding direct contact between the graft the abdominal organs. Decrease in the pressure gradient between the ascending aorta and the abdominal aorta was achieved using a large prosthetic graft 14-16 mm in diameter. There are several advantages with this technique. (1) Positional change during surgery can be avoided. (2) Anastomosis can be performed in non-diseased vessels. (3) This bypass graft can be branched off to visceral arteries if necessary. Reduction of the after load on the left ventricle and long-term graft patency by using a large diameter prosthetic graft were anticipated. The postoperative courses of all cases were satisfactory. Case 1 died of another disease 11 years and 11 months postoperatively, but the graft to was still patent.

A 60-year-old man who had undergone aortic arch replacement 9 years prerviously was admitted complaining of motor and sensory disturbance of bilateral lower extremities. Bilateral femoral arteries were not palpable and he showed acute panperitonitis just after admission. Enhanced CT and arteriography revealed that the lower half of the body was severely ischemic due to the compression of the graft by a pseudoaneurysm of the proximal anastomotic portion of the aortic arch, and therefore performed an urgent operation. Recognizing acute bowel necrosis of the inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) area on laparotomy, Hartmann's operation was performed. After that, a right axillo-bifemoral bypass was also made in order to improve the perfusion of the lower half of the body. Though acute renal failure occurred because of DIC and myonephropathic metabolic syndrome (MNMS) postoperatively, the intensive therapy was eventually effective and he recovered.

We performed a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) to clip the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which was 5mm in internal diameter, in an 11-year-old girl, who first underwent a coil embolization ending in failure. Under general anesthesia with one-lung ventilation in a right lateral decubitus position, four thoracostomies were made in the left hemithorax. The PDA was clipped by two titanium clips, the length of which is 11mm at closing. Transesophageal echocardiography confirmed the location of the PDA and the absence of a residual shunt. The patient showed neither left recurrent laryngeal nerve dysfunction nor hemorrhage after operation, and was discharged on the 9th postoperative day. The clipping of the PDA by VATS can be applied for PDA without calcification if the external diameter is up to 7mm. This technique was minimally invasive and reliable. It was excellent in terms of the high quality of life achieved by the patient.

Malignant hyperthermia (MH) and antithrombin III (AT III) deficiency are both rare, but once they occur, the patient's prognosis is very poor. A 67-year-old man was referred to our hospital with a diagnosis of unstable angina. A coronary angiography revealed stenosis of LMT and triple vessels. The patient was considered a candidate for CABG. He had been prescribed 50mg/day of dantrolene for frequent muscular convulsions of the lower extremities. He had had a high CK level for a few years. Therefore he was considered to be at high risk for malignant hyperthermia (MH). He underwent CABG (×4). Dantrolene was administered orally at a dose of 25mg and then 160mg intravenously before anesthesia and modified NLA was performed in order to avoid probable MH. During the operation, AT III deficiency was suspected because the reaction of ACT after heparinization was poor. AT III preparation (1, 500 units) was used and CABG under cardiopulmonary bypass was completed without any events. It was proved after the surgery that the AT III volume had been almost normal but its activity had decreased. His postoperative course was good. For possibly fatal MH and AT III deficiency, it is necessary and important to predict, prevent and diagnose as early as possible.

There have been many reports radial artery grafts (RA) are useful in CABG, but there were very few reports about hand grasping power (GP), edema and sensory disturbance after surgery. From January to April, 1999, RA were used for 14 patients (R group) and were not in 16 patients (C group) among a total of 30 coronary artery bypass grafting procedures. The patients in the two groups were statistically similar. RA were anastomosed to #12 in 9 patients and #14 in 5. GP and the circumference of forearms were examined and sensory disturbance was also checked preoperatively and at 1, 2 and 4 weeks postoperatively. In both groups, left GP decreased slightly after surgery but gradually recovered. Four weeks after surgery, it was 26.2±9.6kg in the R group and 26.2±7.5kg in the C group (NS). The difference between left and right circumference of forearms, which indicates the degree of edema, was significantly larger in the R group than in the C group (3.5±3.6mm vs. -0.5±3.8mm, 1 week postoperatively, p<0.05). However, it gradually improved in the R group (2.1±2.6mm at 2 weeks and 1.9±2.6mm at 4 weeks postoperatively). No sensory disturbance was seen at any time. Therefore we conclude that using RA in CABG is not only useful but is also safe and does not increase postoperative risk.