Background and Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the outcomes of Fontan surgery in the Republic of Korea, as there were only a few studies from Asian countries. Methods: The medical records of 1,732 patients who underwent Fontan surgery in 10 cardiac centers were reviewed. Results: Among them, 1,040 (58.8%) were men. The mean age at Fontan surgery was 4.3±4.2 years, and 395 (22.8%) patients presented with heterotaxy syndrome. According to the types of Fontan surgery, 157 patients underwent atriopulmonary (AP) type; 303, lateral tunnel (LT) type; and 1,266, extracardiac conduit (ECC) type. The overall survival rates were 91.7%, 87.1%, and 74.4% at 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively. The risk factors of early mortality were male, heterotaxy syndrome, AP-type Fontan surgery, high mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and early Fontan surgery year. The risk factors of late mortality were heterotaxy syndrome, genetic disorder, significant atrioventricular valve regurgitation (AVVR) before Fontan surgery, high mPAP in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and no fenestration. Conclusions In Asian population with a high incidence of heterotaxy syndrome, the heterotaxy syndrome was identified as the poor prognostic factors for Fontan surgery. The preoperative low mPAP and less AVVR are associated with better early and long-term outcomes of Fontan surgery.

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the outcomes of Fontan surgery in the Republic of Korea, as there were only a few studies from Asian countries. Methods: The medical records of 1,732 patients who underwent Fontan surgery in 10 cardiac centers were reviewed. Results: Among them, 1,040 (58.8%) were men. The mean age at Fontan surgery was 4.3±4.2 years, and 395 (22.8%) patients presented with heterotaxy syndrome. According to the types of Fontan surgery, 157 patients underwent atriopulmonary (AP) type; 303, lateral tunnel (LT) type; and 1,266, extracardiac conduit (ECC) type. The overall survival rates were 91.7%, 87.1%, and 74.4% at 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively. The risk factors of early mortality were male, heterotaxy syndrome, AP-type Fontan surgery, high mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and early Fontan surgery year. The risk factors of late mortality were heterotaxy syndrome, genetic disorder, significant atrioventricular valve regurgitation (AVVR) before Fontan surgery, high mPAP in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and no fenestration. Conclusions In Asian population with a high incidence of heterotaxy syndrome, the heterotaxy syndrome was identified as the poor prognostic factors for Fontan surgery. The preoperative low mPAP and less AVVR are associated with better early and long-term outcomes of Fontan surgery.

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the outcomes of Fontan surgery in the Republic of Korea, as there were only a few studies from Asian countries. Methods: The medical records of 1,732 patients who underwent Fontan surgery in 10 cardiac centers were reviewed. Results: Among them, 1,040 (58.8%) were men. The mean age at Fontan surgery was 4.3±4.2 years, and 395 (22.8%) patients presented with heterotaxy syndrome. According to the types of Fontan surgery, 157 patients underwent atriopulmonary (AP) type; 303, lateral tunnel (LT) type; and 1,266, extracardiac conduit (ECC) type. The overall survival rates were 91.7%, 87.1%, and 74.4% at 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively. The risk factors of early mortality were male, heterotaxy syndrome, AP-type Fontan surgery, high mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and early Fontan surgery year. The risk factors of late mortality were heterotaxy syndrome, genetic disorder, significant atrioventricular valve regurgitation (AVVR) before Fontan surgery, high mPAP in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and no fenestration. Conclusions In Asian population with a high incidence of heterotaxy syndrome, the heterotaxy syndrome was identified as the poor prognostic factors for Fontan surgery. The preoperative low mPAP and less AVVR are associated with better early and long-term outcomes of Fontan surgery.

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the outcomes of Fontan surgery in the Republic of Korea, as there were only a few studies from Asian countries. Methods: The medical records of 1,732 patients who underwent Fontan surgery in 10 cardiac centers were reviewed. Results: Among them, 1,040 (58.8%) were men. The mean age at Fontan surgery was 4.3±4.2 years, and 395 (22.8%) patients presented with heterotaxy syndrome. According to the types of Fontan surgery, 157 patients underwent atriopulmonary (AP) type; 303, lateral tunnel (LT) type; and 1,266, extracardiac conduit (ECC) type. The overall survival rates were 91.7%, 87.1%, and 74.4% at 10, 20, and 30 years, respectively. The risk factors of early mortality were male, heterotaxy syndrome, AP-type Fontan surgery, high mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and early Fontan surgery year. The risk factors of late mortality were heterotaxy syndrome, genetic disorder, significant atrioventricular valve regurgitation (AVVR) before Fontan surgery, high mPAP in pre-Fontan cardiac catheterization, and no fenestration. Conclusions In Asian population with a high incidence of heterotaxy syndrome, the heterotaxy syndrome was identified as the poor prognostic factors for Fontan surgery. The preoperative low mPAP and less AVVR are associated with better early and long-term outcomes of Fontan surgery.

Background: and Purpose The association between physical activity and dementia has been shown in various observational studies. We aimed to determine the risk of dementia in the elderly with lower-body fractures. Methods: We reconstructed a population-based matched cohort from the National Health Insurance Service—Senior Cohort data set that covers 511,953 recipients of medical insurance in South Korea. Results: Overall 53,776 subjects with lower-body fractures were identified during 2006–2012, and triplicate control groups were matched randomly by sex, age, and years from the index date for each subject with a fracture. There were 3,573 subjects (6.6%) with and 7,987 subjects (4.9%) without lower-body fractures who developed dementia from 2008 up to 2015. Lowerbody fractures were independently associated with a subsequent dementia diagnosis with a higher adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) (1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.49–1.62) compared with upper-body fractures (aHR=1.19, 95% CI=1.14–1.23). Conclusions These results support the protective role of physical activity against dementia and highlight the importance of promoting fracture prevention in the elderly.

Background: In this study, we aimed to compare the long-term therapeutic outcomes of drug-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) with those of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the initial treatment of a single small (≤ 3 cm) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: From January 2010 to December 2021, 259 consecutive patients who underwent DEB-TACE (67 patients) or RFA (192 patients) as a first-line treatment for a single small HCC were enrolled in this retrospective study. The therapeutic outcomes, including cumulative intrahepatic local tumor progression (LTP), progression-free survival (PFS), and longterm overall survival (OS) rates, were compared between the two groups before and after propensity score (PS) matching. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the prognostic factors and differences in OS and PFS between the two groups for all 92 patients after PS matching. Results: After PS matching, the 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year LTP rates were lower in the RFA group than those in the DEB-TACE group (P < 0.001), and the 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year PFS rates in the RFA group were higher than those in the DEB-TACE group (P = 0.007). However, the 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were not significantly different between the RFA and DEB-TACE groups (P = 0.584).Moreover, the OS was not significantly different between the RFA and DEB-TACE groups in the univariate and multivariate analyses, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.81. The PFS was significantly higher in the RFA group than that in the DEB-TACE group in the univariate analyses, with a HR of 0.44 (P = 0.009). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that albumin (P = 0.019) was an independent prognostic factor for OS. Additionally, the major complication rates were not significantly different between the DEB-TACE and RFA groups (P = 1.000). Conclusion The LTP and PFS rates of RFA were superior to those of DEB-TACE in the initial treatment of single small HCC after PS matching. However, the OS rates were not significantly different between RFA and DEB-TACE. Therefore, DEB-TACE may be considered an efficient substitute for RFA in some patients with a single small HCC who are ineligible for RFA.