Purpose: To elucidate the performance of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) patients through a systematic review and meta-analysis.Methods: A systematic literature review was performed by searching eligible articles in PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, Google Scholar and CNKI. Meta-analysis of included case-control/cohort studies was further conducted. Relative risks (RRs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to compare clinical outcomes of BAV patients and non-BAV patients.Results: A total of 17 articles including eight case reports, four case series and five case-control/cohort studies with 166 BAV patients were analyzed. Device success rate achieved for TAVI in this cohort of BAV patients was 95.2%. The 30-day mortality rate was 8.4%, and the medium-term (range from 6 months to 2 years) mortality rate reported was 17.9%. Overall, the performance of TAVI in BAV patients was comparable to that in non-BAV patients, as reported by the included case-control/cohort studies (30-day mortality rate: RR = 1.05, 95%CI 0.57–1.95, p = 0.87; Device success rate: RR = 1.00, 95%CI 0.95–1.05, p = 0.94; Incidence of moderate to severe paravalvular regurgitation: RR = 1.25, 95%CI 0.85–1.84, p = 0.25).Conclusion: The present study suggested that TAVI may be a feasible and safe treatment modality for BAV patients.

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Objectives: Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) is a unique disorder. The aim of this study was to compare the surgical outcomes of lung cancer patients with CPFE and those with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) without emphysema.Methods: A total of 1548 patients who underwent surgery for primary lung cancer between January 2001 and December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed.Results: Of the 1548 patients, 55 (3.6%) had CPFE on computed tomography (CT), and 45 (2.9%) had IPF without emphysema. The overall and disease-free 5-year survival rates for patients with CPFE were not significantly worse than those for patients with IPF without emphysema (24.9% vs. 36.8%, p = 0.814; 39.8% vs. 39.3%, p = 0.653, respectively). Overall, 21 (38.1%) patients with CPFE and nine patients (20.0%) with IPF without emphysema developed postoperative cardiopulmonary complications. Patients with CPFE had significantly more postoperative cardiopulmonary complications involving pulmonary air leakage for >6 days, hypoxemia, and arrhythmia than patients with IPF without emphysema (p = 0.048).Conclusions: There was no significant difference in survival after surgical treatment between CPFE patients and IPF patients without emphysema, but CPFE patients had significantly higher morbidity than IPF patients without emphysema.

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Purpose: There is no data comparing different surgical techniques for diaphragmatic re-positioning for hemi-diaphragmatic eventration in adults. Our aim was to verify the potential pros and cons of two major surgical techniques in symptomatic eventration patients.Methods: Patients undergoing thoracotomy for diaphragmatic elevation repair either by un-opened (accordion placation) or by opened (double-breasted placation) diaphragmatic technique between January 2007 and August 2013 were analyzed retrospectively, and compared in terms of operative outcomes on 12th and 24th months.Results: Forty-two patients underwent accordion (n = 23) or double-breasted (n = 19) plication. Postoperative drainage was significantly increased (215 ± 66 ml vs. 114 ± 48 ml; P = 0.0082) in double-breasted group. Although the corrected diaphragm was radiologically better preserved in this group, this divergence showed no additional effect on postoperative pulmonary functions or the dyspnea score on 12th or 24th months. No complication particularly related to both techniques or recurrence was noted during follow-up of 28 ± 12 months.Conclusions: Radiological prospect of corrected diaphragm is better preserved with double-breasted plication, but the significant and permanent improvement of respiratory functions was similar. Since the clinical outcome is equivalent, incision of the diaphragm is not essential.

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Background: Pulmonary metastasectomy has come to be recognized as an effective treatment for selected patients with some malignancies. On the other hand, the role of pulmonary metastasectomy for gastric cancer is still unknown. Metastasectomy is rarely indicated in cases of pulmonary metastasis from gastric cancer, because in most cases, the metastasis occurs in the form of lymphangitic carcinomatosis and the lesions are numerous. The purpose of this study was to determine the surgical outcomes and prognostic factors for survival after pulmonary metastasectomy.
Methods: From 1985 to 2012, 10 patients underwent pulmonary metastasectomy for gastric cancer at Saitama Cancer Center, Japan. The overall survival rate was examined by the Kaplan-Meier method and univariate analysis was carried out to identify prognostic factors.
Results: The overall 3-year survival rate was 30.0 %. The median follow-up period was 26.8 months (range, 6.5-96.6) after the pulmonary metastasectomy. Univariate analysis revealed an advanced pathological stage of the gastric cancer and occurrence of extrapulmonary metastasis before the pulmonary metastasectomy as unfavorable prognostic factors.
Conclusion: Pulmonary metastasectomy should be considered in selected patients with lung metastasis from gastric cancer. An advanced pathological stage of gastric cancer and occurrence of extrapulmonary metastasis before the pulmonary metastasectomy are unfavorable prognostic factors.

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Purpose: Recently, performance of cardiac surgery in hemodialysis patients has increased, but the mortality rate is high.Methods: We retrospectively examined the early and long-term outcomes in 128 dialysis patients who underwent cardiac surgery with or without carperitide infusion and were followed for 2 years. Sixty-three patients received carperitide infusion during surgery and 65 patients did not.Results: The hospital mortality rate was 1.6% in the carperitide group and 12.3% in the non-carperitide group, being significantly lower in the carperitide group. The 2-year actuarial survival rate was 90.5% ± 3.7% in the carperitide group, and 76.9% ± 5.2% in the non-carperitide group, while the major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE)-free rate at 2 years postoperatively was 90.5% ± 3.7% in the carperitide group and 67.7% ± 5.8% in the non-carperitide group.Conclusions: These findings suggest that carperitide improves the early postoperative outcome in dialysis patients undergoing cardiac surgery, as has already been demonstrated in non-dialysis patients. An early postoperative cardioprotective effect of carperitide and improvement of renal function in oliguric patients might have contributed to this outcome. However, this was a retrospective study, so a prospective investigation is required to demonstrate the mechanisms involved. In addition, further evaluation of the long-term results would be desirable.

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Background: Infection of the percutaneous site of a ventricular assist device (VAD) is a challenging complication. We report our experience with crystal violet Solbase (Nihon University crystal violet method) for prevention of driveline or cannula infections in VAD patients.Patients and Methods: The crystal violet method was used in 10 patients (prophylaxis in nine and treatment in one). Eight patients had an extracorporeal VAD (Nipro) and two had an implantable VAD (Heart Mate II).Results: The infection-free period was 4–623 days (mean: 144.2 ± 222.9 days). All eight patients with an extracorporeal VAD died, while the two patients with an implantable VAD (Heart Mate II) survived. Infection was improved in a patient with MRSA, and the results of bacteriological examination were always negative in the patients receiving prophylaxis. The two patients with an implantable VAD had no infection for 2 and 20 months after implantation.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the Nihon University crystal violet method is effective for prevention and treatment of driveline or cannula infections in patients with a VAD.

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Objective: Total aortic arch replacement is a highly invasive procedure. Here, we have investigated patient outcomes following total aortic arch replacement with or without coronary artery bypass grafting.Methods: One hundred and eighty-one patients underwent total aortic arch replacement without coronary artery bypass grafting, and 65 underwent with coronary artery bypass grafting. We compared preoperative, operative, and postoperative factors and analyzed survival outcomes. We used univariate and multivariate analyses to determine factors associated with long-term mortality.Results: Cardiopulmonary bypass and surgical times were significantly longer in the concomitant total aortic arch replacement with coronary artery bypass grafting group. Hospital mortality was 3.3% in the total aortic arch replacement group and 7.7% in the concomitant total aortic arch replacement with coronary artery bypass grafting group. Perioperative myocardial infarction was not seen in either group. There were no significant differences in mortality between the groups. Multivariate analysis revealed preoperative age, ischemic heart disease, and estimated glemerular filtration rate (eGFR) as risk factors affecting long-term mortality, whereas concomitant total aortic arch replacement with coronary artery bypass grafting was not a risk factor.Conclusion: Although patients’ backgrounds should be considered, total aortic arch replacement can be concomitantly performed with coronary artery bypass grafting surgery without additional mortality risk.

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A 24 year old male presented with a history of recurrent bronchopulmonal infections. Chest computed tomography was performed, revealing a right central mass. In the following bronchoscopy and ultrasound guided needle aspiration of the tumour no specific diagnosis could be obtained. Due to the central location of the tumour thoracotomy and middle lobe resection was performed. Histopathological analysis revealed an intrapulmonary, subpleural located Morbus Castleman of the hyaline-vascular type.Castleman’s disease is a very rare disorder of the lymphatic tissue that is differentiated into two clinical subtypes. The localized type presents histologically almost always as the hyaline-vascular form. Findings have been reported in mediastinal lymph nodes, the abdomen and peripheral lymphnodes. Intrapulmonary development is very rare and only 9 cases have previously been described in literature.On the other hand the multicentric type accounts for approximately 10%–15% of cases and histologically usually presents as the plasma cell variant. It is accompanied by fatigue and general weakness and often requires systemic steroid or chemotherapy.The localized type develops less clinical symptoms and is curable by complete surgical resection.

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We report the case of a patient who had synchronous primary lung cancers in the left upper lobe (S¹⁺²a, S¹⁺²c), and underwent S¹⁺² segmentectomy. The lesion in S¹⁺²c was non-palpable, and the location was confirmed using intraoperative computed tomography (CT) scan. After A¹⁺² and B¹⁺² had been cut, the intersegmental border was marked with clips and intraoperative CT was performed. After confirming the correct anatomical intersegmental border and the resection margin was sufficient, we cut the intersegmental border. The two lesions were both adenocarcinomas. Intraoperative CT was useful for confirming the locations of non-palpable lesions and anatomical intersegmental borders.

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Chylopericardium is a rare complication in cardiac surgery, and an extremely rare occurrence in patients following orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT), which, however, can lead to cardiac tamponade. Here we present a case of a 59-year-old man who underwent OHT and suffered from chylopericardium resulting in cardiac tamponade late in the postoperative course, despite the initially uneventful early postoperative period (decreasing blood drainage was observed directly after the procedure, and the drains were safely removed). After the diagnosis of chylopericardium was made, the conservative treatment was initiated, which turned out to be insufficient, and eventually invasive approach for the recurrence of tamponade secondary to chylopericardium was required. We discuss the available therapeutic options for chylopericardium and demonstrate the successful invasive therapeutic approach with use of the absorbable fibrin sealant patch.

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