Current Status of Surgical Training by Young Cardiovascular Surgeons and Their Intention for Off the Job Training System / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

Surgical proficiency significantly impacts cardiovascular surgery outcomes. Regular training for surgical procedures is essential. Since 2018, cardiovascular surgery's specialty system has mandated Off the Job Training (OffJT), defined as non-clinical work training that fulfills certification criteria. A minimum of 30h of OffJT is required for specialty acquisition. Presently, a review is being conducted to examine disparities in OffJT credit acquisition across various facilities and the lack of a standardized OffJT curriculum. This report details a survey of the current OffJT landscape, focusing primarily on executives under 40 years old. We employed a questionnaire-based approach to explore the types of training being conducted and the innovative strategies being implemented, along with an analysis of the findings.

Placement of an Open Stent Graft for Treatment of a Distal Aortic Arch Aneurysm and Migrated Stent Graft Nine Years after TEVAR for Stanford Type B Dissection / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

A 76-year-old man who underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) of an early chronic phase of Stanford type B dissection developed a 71 mm distal aortic arch aneurysm in conjunction with the migration of its proximal end over 9 years of follow-up. The proximal end of the graft had migrated 7 cm distal to the takeoff of the left subclavian artery. The patient underwent total arch replacement with an open stent graft which was connected with the TEVAR graft. He was discharged home 15 days after surgery without complications.

The Application and Pitfalls for Registering New Japanese Board of Cardiovascular Surgery / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

The first examination of the new board of the Japanese cardiovascular surgery took place in 2022. As it is a transitional period for the new system, many doctors are not familiar with the changes and details of the new system, and some have their concerns. Here, we held a round-table discussion with doctors who actually took the new board of the Japanese cardiovascular surgery under the new system, and we summarized their opinion.

Cardiac Tumor Resection through Right Mini-thoracotomy / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

We herein report a case of cardiac tumor resection through a right mini-thoracotomy. A 48-year-old man exhibited no symptoms. A mass was detected incidentally in the right atrium on computed tomography. We performed resection under cardiopulmonary bypass through a right mini-thoracotomy. Histopathological examination confirmed that this tumor was a lipoma. The patient's postoperative recovery was uneventful. He was discharged on postoperative day 6. As cardiac tumor resection through right mini-thoracotomy is minimally invasive, this approach may be useful for surgery in cases of benign cardiac tumors.

A Case in Which Mitral Valve Replacement Was Performed for Recurrent Severe Mitral Regurgitation by Single Leaflet Device Attachment (SLDA) after MitraClip / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

After a MitraClip was implanted for mitral regurgitation (MR), we experienced a case in which mitral valve replacement was performed for recurrent severe MR because of a detached MitraClip. The case was an 82-year-old woman. The MitraClip was implanted for severe MR and regurgitation was controlled to a mild level, but one month after the operation, symptoms of heart failure appeared, and single leaflet device attachment (SLDA) with severe MR was observed on the echocardiogram. As the heart failure symptoms recurred, surgical mitral valve replacement was performed. Because of severe kyphosis, the left atrial approach with a midline sternum incision made it difficult to achieve a good operative field and this was changed intraoperatively to a transseptal approach. The MitraClip was firmly fused with the anterior leaflet A2, so it was judged that removal of the clip was difficult and valve repair was impossible ; it was thus decided to replace the valve. The mark of the MitraClip could be observed on the posterior leaflet, and it appeared to have been inserted for only about 1-2 mm. A bioprosthetic valve was implanted, preserving the posterior leaflet. There were no problems in weaning the patient from cardiopulmonary bypass. The postoperative course was uneventful, and she was discharged on the 14th day after the operation. Valve repair is difficult in a case with a merged SLDA after insertion of a MitraClip, and valve replacement needs to be performed, so it is important to pay attention to the attachment of the MitraClip.