Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum based on a novel morphology-tailored, patient-specific approach is effective for quality repair of the full spectrum of pectus excavatum, including asymmetry and adult patients. Continuous technical refinements have significantly decreased the complication rates and postoperative morbidity.

The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes in pectus excavatum patients undergoing a Ravitch operation with those undergoing a Nuss procedure. Retrospective study was conducted on one hundred and twenty three patients who underwent Ravitch operation (n=16) and Nuss procedure (n=107) between 1995 and 2002. Mean age of the patients was 7.9+/-6.2 yr. In the Ravitch group, operation time was 196.9+/-61.0 min, and required 10.2+/-2.6 chondral bone resections. Average hospital stay time was 15.9 days. In the Nuss group, operation time was 67.2+/-33.1 min, and bar removal was required two years after the bar insertion. The length of hospital stay was averagely 8.0 days, and postoperative reoperations were performed in five patients due to bar displacements, while early bar removal was required in one patient. The patient interviews for operation results were conducted and revealed that 92.3% of the patients in the Ravitch group showed good to excellent, while 93.3% of Nuss bar removed patients replied good to excellent. Though Nuss procedure has many advantages, it also has some disadvantages. So, the method of the operation should be selected according to the characteristics of the patient.

Chronic pressure overload in the absence of LV systolic dysfunction resulted in LA hypertrophy and increased susceptibility to AF, which might be related to conduction abnormality via decreased expression and lateral distribution of Cx43 as well as interstitial fibrosis.

Although the number of vascular surgeries using vascular grafts is increasing, they are limited by vascular graft-related complications and size discrepancy. Current efforts to develop the ideal synthetic vascular graft for clinical application using tissue engineering or 3D printing are far from satisfactory. Therefore, we aimed to re-design the vascular graft with modified materials and 3D printing techniques and also demonstrated the improved applications of our new vascular graft clinically. We designed the 3D printed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) templates according to the vessel size and shape, and these were dip-coated with salt-suspended thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Next, the core template was removed to obtain a customized porous TPU graft. The mechanical testing and cytotoxicity studies of the new synthetic 3D templated vascular grafts (3DT) were more appropriate compared with commercially available polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts (ePTFE; standard graft, SG) for clinical use. Finally, we performed implantation of the 3DTs and SGs into the rat abdominal aorta as a patch technique. Four groups of the animal model (SG_7 days, SG_30 days, 3DT_7 days, and 3DT_30 days) were enrolled in this study. The abdominal aorta was surgically opened and sutured with SG or 3DT with 8/0 Prolene. The degree of endothelial cell activation, neovascularization, thrombus formation, calcification, inflammatory infiltrates, and fibrosis were analyzed histopathologically. There was significantly decreased thrombogenesis in the group treated with the 3DT for 30 days compared with the group treated with the SG for 7 and 30 days, and the 3DT for 7 days. In addition, the group treated with the 3DT for 30 days may also have shown increased postoperative endothelialization in the early stages. In conclusion, this study suggests the possibility of using the 3DT as an SG substitute in vascular surgery.

Recurrence after thoracoscopic surgery for primary spontaneous pneumothorax is a lingering problem, and many intraoperative methods to induce pleural symphysis have been introduced. We analyzed the effects of chemical pleurodesis during thoracoscopic procedures. Between August 2003 and July 2005, 141 patients among indicated surgical treatment for primary spontaneous pneumothorax in two hospitals of our institution allowed this prospective study. The patients were randomly assigned to 3 groups: thoracoscopic procedure only (group A, n=50), thoracoscopic procedure and pleurodesis with dextrose solution (group B, n=49), and thoracoscopic procedure and pleurodesis with talc-dextrose mixed solution (group C, n=42). There was no significant difference in demographic data among the three groups. The two groups that underwent intraoperative pleurodesis had significantly longer postoperative hospital stays (A/B/C: 2.50±1.85/4.49±2.10/6.00±2.58 days; p=0.001) and a higher incidence of postoperative fever (A/B/C: 10.0/22.45/52.38%; χ2=21.598, p=0.00). No significant differences were found for recurrence rates or the number of postoperative days until chest tube removal. Therefore, the results of our study indicate that intraoperative chemical pleurodesis gives no additional advantage to surgery alone in deterring recurrence for patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Thus, the use of such scarifying agents in the operating room must be reconsidered.

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VATS-IFRR was safe and had several advantages. Thus, VATS-IFRR is a minimally invasive surgical option suitable for treating selective cases of TOS.