[Assessment of proximal aortic anastomosis device in coronary artery bypass grafting].

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and safety of a new proximal anastomotic device (PAD) "Enclose II" in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). PAD enables the construction of a proximal aortic anastomosis without the use of partial clamp of the ascending aorta, thus reduces the incidence of adverse perioperative neurologic injury related to atheroembolic events. This device was used in 41 off-pump CABG and 11 on-pump beating heart CABG patients for performing 46 radial artery (RA) and 9 vein anastomoses to the aorta. The subjects were 43 males and 9 females, with a mean age of 63.6 years. Thirteen (25%) patients had severe atherosclerotic cerebrovascular lesions preoperatively. The mean flow in the RA graft was 52.4 +/- 26.9 ml/min and that of saphenous vein graft (SVG) was 61.1 +/- 31.9 ml/min. Angiography showed all grafts patent. There was no procedure-related adverse events or cerebrovascular complication. Enclose II device can be a valuable tool to perform RA and vein anastomoses in CABG.

Development and utilization of a drug information system in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry.

Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for providing updated, relevant information on the efficacy, safety and quality of drugs to medical professionals and finally to patients. To fulfill this responsibility, we must always endeavour to collect and evaluate the relevant information. We developed a drug information database system called Advanced Medical Online Network of Daiichi (AMOND) to manage various information generated during development of new products and after launch of the products using the classification format for retrieval. This system has been used for 9 years for the purpose of supporting medical representatives who play a primary role in the drug information services in the pharmaceutical industry. This system is incorporated into an on-line network system, and can be directly accessed by more than 1200 people at 11 branch offices and more than 110 subbranches all over the country. We upgraded this system to AMOND-II to improve the function, including retrieval and output abilities. As a result, utilization by users of this system increased six times. We report on the improved system, AMOND-II and our experience of the system.