Surgical Removal of Knotted Pulmonary Artery Catheter: A Case Report / 대한흉부외과학회지

The complications associated with the use of pulmonary artery catheter include dysrhythmias, heart block, pulmonary artery rupture, pulmonary infarction, endocardial damage, balloon rupture, arterial puncture, thromboembolism, air embolism, infection, pneumothorax, and knotting of the catheter. Knotting of the catheter is a rare complication and it should be anticipated if there is an excessive advancement of the pulmonary artery catheter beyond the normally expected distance. We report a successful surgical removal of knotted pulmonary artery catheter by sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass.

Experimental Model of Cardiac Xenograft , Mouse Heart to Rat / 대한흉부외과학회지

BACKGROUND: The transplantation of organs between phylogenetically disparate or harmonious species has invariably failed due to the occurrence of hyperacute rejection or accerelated acute rejection. But concordant cardiac xenograft offer us an opportunity to study xenotransplantation in the absence of hyperacute rejection. Current therapeutics for the prolongation of survival of rodent concordant xenotransplantation are not ideal with many regimens having a high mortality rate. Cyclosporine A & Mycophenolate Mofetil are new immunosuppresive agent which has been shown to be effective at prolonging survival of allograft, as purine synthesis inhibitor. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We used white mongrel rats as recipient and mice as donor, divided 4 groups(n=6), control group(Group 1) has no medication or pretreatment, Group 2 has splenectomy as pretreatment 7~10 days before transplantation, Group 3 has Cyclosporine A treatment group, Group 4 has combined treatment of Cyclosporine A & Mycophenolate Mofetil(RS 61443). We compared survival time. RESULT: We can't find significant difference of survival time between each groups. CONCLUSION: We concluded that rejection of cardiac xenograft was different from rejection of allograft, and new immunossuppresive Agent(Mycophenolate Mofetil, Cyclosporine A) was not effective for prolongation of survival time after cardiac xenograft.

The Successfully Redoaugmentation of Budd-Chiari Syndrome with Using Gore-Tex Patch of the IVC Obstruction / 대한흉부외과학회지

Budd-Chiari syndrome is a state of hepatic failure caused by impairment of blood flow anywhere from the inferior vena cava to the right atrium. In this case, a 45 year old patient had undergone membranotomy and dilatation with autogenous pericardial graft due to obstruction of the inferior vena cava caused by a congenital membrane in 1987. Ten years after the operation, restenosis occurred. Although a noninvasive method with a Gianturco stent dilatation was performed, a satisfactory result was not obtained. A reoperation was performed. The stenotic segment of inferior vena cava was excised and after augmentation with a prepared pentagon shaped Gore-Tex artificial graft allowing passage of two fingers. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful without signs of rebleeding or any other complications and the patient was discharged at postoperative two weeks without the use of anticoagulants. An excellent result was obtainable after operation using a prepared Gore-Tex graft and such a result. Reoperational case of Budd-Chiari syndrome may require rapid and excellent the operative techenic by prevention of massive bleeding under use of extracorporeal circulation.

Medistinal Teratoma with Pleural and Pericardial Effusion Teratoma with Pleural and Pericardial Effusion / 대한흉부외과학회지

Mediastinal teratoma is a tumor that thoracic surgeons made an operation much less commonly than other mediastinal masses and most of them are asymptomatic. But very rarely, this tumor invades the pleura and pericardium resulting in pleural effusion, pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade in severe cases. The mechanism of invasion and perforation of the tumor is unknown and tumor-consisting tissue factor is suspected of a cause. In this case, we operated on a patient whose anterior mediastinal teratoma invaded and perforated pericardium and pleura resulting in pericardial effusion and pleural effusion. The patient was improved and discharged with no problem after resection of mass and involved pericardium.