Kunio Konuma

The successful reconstruction of thoracic tracheal defects with free periosteal grafts

A defect was created in the thoracic trachea in nine piglets (10 kg) by excising a segment from the entire thoracic trachea proximal to the right upper lobe bronchus (3 to 3.5 cm in length) and 30% of the circumference in width (1 to 1.5 cm). The defect was repaired with a free tibial periosteal graft (FPG) and in four piglets an omental pedicle graft (OPG) was applied to the surface of the FPG. An internal tracheal splint was inserted for 12 to 16 days to support the repair and prevent air leak. The splints were removed bronchoscopically. None of the pigs developed signs of airway obstruction at any stage following the repair. Eight were killed 3 months postoperatively when four to six times their original weight. One pig died on the 18th postoperative day of unknown cause. The tracheas were removed, x-rayed, and examined grossly and histologically. The results demonstrated normal tracheal growth with absence of either stenosis, collapse, or granulation tissue. All grafts were viable, bone formation was present, and the lumenal surfaces were lined with columnar and respiratory epithelium. The OPG did not improve vascularization of the FPG. This model suggests that tracheal stenosis in children may be surgically corrected by simply incising the stenotic segment longitudinally and enlarging the tracheal diameter by inserting a FPG into the defect.

Laparoscopic enucleation of a gastroenteric duplication cyst arising in a pancreatic tail that did not communicate with the pancreatic duct: report of a case.

Gastroenteric duplication rarely occurs in locations such as the pancreas. We report a case of gastroenteric duplication of the pancreatic tail, which was noncontiguous with the stomach and had no communication with the pancreatic duct, in a 3-year-old girl. The cyst was enucleated by laparoscopy, without the need for pancreatic resection. The optimal treatment procedures vary considerably, depending on where the gastroenteric duplication is located in the pancreas and, most importantly, whether there is communication with the pancreatic duct.

Solitary intrapulmonary cystic lymphangioma in an infant: A case report with literature review

Lymphangioma rarely presents as a solitary pulmonary lesion. We encountered a case of solitary cystic lymphangioma and present its clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical findings. A 2-month-old boy was referred to the hospital after developing a persistent cough. Chest X-ray showed a large cyst in the right lung. Under the preoperative diagnosis of bronchogenic cyst, he underwent right lower lobectomy at the age of 11 months. The resected specimen contained a 5.5-cm septate cystic lesion. Microscopically, the lesion consisted of a large cystic space and interconnected slit-like spaces surrounding bronchovascular islands. The cyst was lined by a monolayer of flat cells with focal multinucleated giant cells. Immunohistochemically, the cells lining the cystic lesion were positive for D2-40, Prox1, CD34, and CD31, and weakly positive for VEGFR-3, but were negative for AE1/3, HMB45, VEGF-A, VFGF-C, VEGFR-1. Differential diagnoses included lobar or interstitial emphysema, bronchogenic cyst, congenital pulmonary airway malformation and alveolar adenoma. D2-40 and Prox1 were useful in differentiation and in determining the extent of the lesion. A review of the literature found only 15 cases of solitary pulmonary lymphangioma. In younger patients, the lesions tend to occupy more of the lung. Focal giant cell reaction has not been described in the reported papers.

Comparison of the postoperative bowel function between transanal endorectal pull-through and transabdominal pull-through for Hirschsprung's disease: a study of the feces excretion function using an RI-defecogram

PurposeHerein, we compared the bowel function after a transabdominal and a transanal procedure for Hirschsprung’s disease (HD) using the clinical score and a quantitative evaluation of the feces excretion function based on the findings of an RI-defecogram.Materials and methodsThe subjects included 35 patients with short segment aganglionosis. In the two groups with transabdominal Z-shaped anastomosis (open group) and transanal endorectal pull-through (TEPT) (transanal group), the postoperative bowel function were evaluated based on the clinical score. In the RI-defecogram study, a time-activity curve was drawn for the 99mTc remaining in the rectum on defecation. The feces excretion function was thus quantified, with the time until the 99mTc in the rectum became 50% as T0.5 and the time until 90% of the feces were excreted from the rectum as T0.9.ResultsThe clinical score could be evaluated in 9 cases in the open group and in 15 cases in the transanal group. No significant difference was observed in the total clinical score between the two groups, but the urge to defecate and the constipation scores in the subcategories were significantly lower in the open group. The defecogram was performed included seven cases in the open group and five cases in the transanal group. When an analysis of covariance of the two groups was conducted for the T0.5 and T0.9 values using the postoperative months as a covariate, there was a significantly negative slope, and moreover, there was a significant difference between the two groups.ConclusionsThe RI-defecogram showed that feces excretion time improves with the postoperative months in both the groups, but the transanal group has higher feces excretion function in the early postoperative period compared with the open group. We consider the RI-defecogram to therefore be a useful examination method for evaluating the feces excretion function.

Patent ductus arteriosus flow patterns in the treatment of congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Background:  Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) mortality still remains high, due to lung hypoplasia and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the neonate (PPHN). Effective management of PPHN and time of operation are quite important to the improvement of CDH treatment. In order to determine the optimal time for operation, we monitored PPHN with cardiac ultrasound.