Nanritsu Matsuyama

Right ventricular myxoma: report of a case.

We herein report a 36-year-old man who underwent surgical resection for myxoma. Preoperative two-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a mass in the right ventricle. Intraoperatively, the tumor was found to derive from an anterior papillary muscle of the tricuspid valve. The tumor was successfully excised and the tricuspid valve was repaired with chordoplasty and annuloplasty. A histopathological examination revealed myxoma and a 2-year follow-up has shown no evidence of recurrence or tricuspid valve regurgitation.

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery in dialysis patient

To determine the operative outcome of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) for severe coronary artery disease in long-term hemodialysis patients, we analyzed a group of 16 patients who underwent CABG over a ten-year period in our institution. Hospital mortality was 12.5% (2 of 16 patients). These two patients died of ischemic colitis and perioperative myocardial infarction, respectively. There were five late deaths: one patient died from myocardial infarction, one from uremia, one from gastro-intestinal bleeding, one from gastric cancer and one from unknown cause. There were four significant postoperative complications (morbidity 25%), consisted of one pulmonary tuberculosis, one sternal dehiscence secondary to mediastinitis, one mediastinal hematoma secondary to late bleeding from the LITA dissection area and one A-V shunt trouble. Graft patency rate within the first two months was 93% (30 to 42 in 13 patients). Hospital survivors experienced complete relief from angina. Actuarial survival was 68.8% at 3 years, 57.3% at 5 years and 28.6% at 7 years. This rate is not significantly different from the survival of all dialysis patients, but seems to be better than that of dialysis patients with not operated coronary artery disease. We concluded that CABG in dialysis patients can be accomplished with acceptable morbidity and mortality and effective relief of symptoms.

Left atrial free-floating ball thrombus with recent cardioembolic stroke

A 67-year-old man was admitted to a local hospital complaining of hemiparesis. Because of coexisting arrhythmia, he was examined by echocardiography and found to have an oval free-floating thrombus in the left atrium concomitant with mitral and aortic stenosis. He was transferred to our hospital for emergency surgery. He underwent an operation on the ninth day from the onset of neurological dysfunction, when a 2.5 x 2.5 x 3.0 cm ball thrombus was removed, and the diseased mitral and aortic valves were replaced. His postoperative course was uneventful, with no neurological sequelae. Though left atrial ball thrombus is rarely found in patients with mitral valve disease, when it is found, then immediate surgical intervention is recommended to avoid sudden death. However, there is a high risk that any cerebral lesion may worsen due to systemic heparinization. Therefore, the optimal time of surgery in a patient with a recent neurological deficit is controversial.

Removal of the endocardial pacemaker leads —Experience with 16 leads in 10 patients—

Recent advances in pacemaker leads have contributed to the improvement of their stability at the anchored sites. However, we sometimes have difficulty in removing them. We have experienced the removal of 16 leads in 10 patients (male: 7, female: 3) in the last 5 years. The age of patients ranged from 48 to 87 years, and the average was 60. The reasons for the removal were as follows; pocket infection in 6 cases, sepsis in 1 case, ischemic skin erosion in 1 case, retained fractured ventricular lead in 1 case, fracture of Accufix atrial lead in 1 case. The methods of removal consisted of using the removal kit, the snare or the basket snare transvenously, direct surgical approach or a combination of them. We used the removal kit alone in 12 electrodes (6 atrial, 6 ventricular), and removal of 5 atrial and 3 ventricular leads were successfully by this method only. The removal of 4 leads by kits alone failed, so that 2 ventricular leads were removed transvenously, one atrial and one ventricular lead were removed surgically, and 1 ventricular lead was left untreated. Finally, we were able to remove 15 of 16 leads (93.3%) successfully. This experience indicates that these interventions should be performed as less invasively as possible, yet we should give an explanation to the patients as to the options we may employ when we have failed in the intended procedure.