Intramural Hematoma of the Ascending Aorta: A case report / 대한흉부외과학회지

Aortic intramural hematoma is a clinical condition that still has not been completely defined. And the treatment of intramural hematoma remains controversial. We present a patient with intramural hematoma combined with hemopericadium who was treated by an emergent surgical treatment.

Surgical Treatment of T4 Lung Cancer with the Use of Extracorporeal Circulation: A case report of long-term survival / 대한흉부외과학회지

We report a case of a patient with lung cancer, which invaded the left atrium and pericardium. Right middle and lower lobectomy was performed with the use of the extracorporeal circulation. Postoperative pathologic examination revealed the stage of IIIB (T4N1M0). Although the postoperative clinical course was complicated by acute localized right sided pulmonary edema and the bronchopleural fistula, the patient recovered smoothly after the procedure of omentopexy with pedicled graft of greater omentum in closing the BPF. As of August 2003, he has been followed up for 6 years and he is healthy without any evidence of recurrence. We could not find any report concerning lung cancer resection using cardiopulmonary bypass in Korean literature and believe this is the first report, especially with long-term survival.

Experimental and Clinical Study of Staple-Line Reinforcement Using Expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene in Thoracoscopic Bullectomy for Spontaneous Pneumothorax / 대한흉부외과학회지

BACKGROUND: Thoracoscopic bullectomy (VATS-B) is now the preferred treatment for spontaneous pneumothorax despite of higher recurrence rate than open thoracotomy. Several methods have been used to prevent this problem. The effectiveness of staple line reinforcement (SLR) in VATA-B using endostaplers was assessed by clinical and experimental study. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In experimental study, canine lungs were harvested immediately (group I, N=5) and 48 hours (group II, N=5) after stapling. The pressures at which initial air leaks occurred were measured. In clinical study from February 1997 to March 1999, 106 procedures in 104 patients undergoing VATS-B for spontaneous pneumothorax were classified into two groups according to the presence of SLR and were compared. RESULT: The average pressure of the initial air leakage was significantly higher in SLR than that of staples alone (18+/-1.6 vs 48+/-3 mm Hg in group I; 23.8+/-1.9 vs 54+/-4.6 mm Hg in group II, p<0.001). In the clinical data, there were significant differences seen in the duration of drainage, the total length of endostaplers used, and the duration of the postoperative hospital stay between patients with staple alone and patients with SLR (4.4+/-1.4 vs 3.1+/-1.1 days in duration of drainage, 92.3+/-28.1 vs 71.1+/-30.6 mm in total length of endostaplers used, 5.9+/-1.9 vs 4.6+/-1.7 days in postoperative hospital stays, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: SLR was effective for preventing prolonged air leakage and responsible for shorter hospital stays after VATS-B for the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax.