Pathological Characteristics of the Vascular Septum in Chronic Aortic Dissection: A Case Report.

A 46-year-old male developed a Stanford type B aortic dissection. At age 48, he underwent left open thoracic descending aorta replacement because of the enlargement of the descending thoracic aorta. At 51 years old, he underwent abdominal aorta replacement because of ischemia in the right lower extremity and the enlargement of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The septum between the true and false lumens was submitted to histopathological examination, which revealed bilateral intimal tissue with the tunica media lying in between.

Outcomes of Vascular Surgery Performed Jointly With Other Departments.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of vascular surgery performed at our hospital, a tertiary emergency general hospital, in patients undergoing surgery in other departments. The results of the study were reviewed. METHODS: The study included cases in which cardiovascular surgery was performed at the request of other departments over a 15-year period from January 2006 to October 2022. Patient backgrounds, departments that requested surgery, surgical procedures, use of extracorporeal circulation, and surgical techniques were reviewed. Patients with femoral artery exposure or ECMO removal during transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) requested by cardiology were excluded. RESULTS: There were 58 vascular surgery cases requested by other departments during the study period. The age was 63±14 years, 43 (74%) were male and 15 (26%) were female. The departments of the patients were urology in 29 (50%), gastroenterology in 18 (31%), orthopedics in seven (12%), emergency department in three (5%), and obstetrics and gynecology in one (2%). The following surgical procedures were performed: tumor resection and reconstruction due to tumor invasion of the inferior vena cava in 27 cases (47%), bypass to secure intraperitoneal arterial blood flow in 15 cases (26%), bypass during resection of the femoral tumor in four cases (7%), hemostasis due to trauma in three cases (5%), intraperitoneal hemostasis in three cases (5%), thrombectomy in two cases (3%), and others in four cases (7%). Extracorporeal circulation was used in six (10%) of the patients. CONCLUSION: A 15-year case study of vascular surgery supports operations requested by other departments at our hospital. All reconstructed sites were open at the time of discharge.

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Using the No-Touch Great Saphenous Vein Graft Harvesting Technique: A Retrospective Study.

Background We focused on coronary artery bypass grafting using the great saphenous vein and compared the no-touch great saphenous vein and conventional great saphenous vein. Methods Coronary artery bypass grafting using the great saphenous vein was performed at our hospital over a 15-year period from 2007/04 to 2022/08. The primary endpoint was the patency of the great saphenous vein at discharge, and secondary endpoints were delayed healing of the great saphenous vein harvest wound, delayed healing of the mid-thoracic wound, and factors related to coronary artery bypass surgery. Results There were 183 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery using the great saphenous vein during the study period. There were 131 male patients (72%) and 52 female patients (28%) with a mean age of 69 years (38-94 years). The method of harvesting the great saphenous vein was a no-touch great saphenous vein graft (NT-SVG) in 29 cases (16%) and conventional SVG in 154 cases (84%). Patients were divided into two groups: the NT-SVG group and the standard-collection saphenous vein graft (SVG) group. We compared graft patency at discharge, healing failure of the lower leg wound, healing failure of the mid-thoracic wound, and flow by transit-time flow measurement (TTFM). Conclusion There were no significant differences in perioperative outcomes between the NT-SVG and conventional SVG groups in this study.

[Simultaneous Resection of Mediastinal and Liver Hydatid Disease].

Cystic echinococcosis is an uncommon zoonosis in Japan. Typical location of the cyst is the liver and the lung. Mediastinal hydatidosis is found in less than 0.1% of all hydatid disease patients. We report a rare case of 68 years old male with mediastinal and liver hydatid cysts. Serological test confirmed the diagnosis of hydatidosis. The patient underwent complete resection of mediastinal and liver cysts successfully. Postoperative follow-up for two years has not shown any signs of recurrence. Simultaneous resection of the cysts in different sites including mediastinum is rare and has not been reported in Japan. Hydatid disease is an important differential diagnosis for patient who has cryptogenic liver cyst and history of contact to wildlife or unsterile water.

Lanthanoid-free perovskite oxide catalyst for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene working with redox mechanism.

For the development of highly active and robust catalysts for dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (EBDH) to produce styrene; an important monomer for polystyrene production, perovskite-type oxides were applied to the reaction. Controlling the mobility of lattice oxygen by changing the structure of Ba1 - x SrxFe y Mn1 - y O3 - δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0.2 ≤ y ≤ 0.8), perovskite catalyst showed higher activity and stability on EBDH. The optimized Ba/Sr and Fe/Mn molar ratios were 0.4/0.6 and 0.6/0.4, respectively. Comparison of the dehydrogenation activity of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst with that of an industrial potassium promoted iron (Fe-K) catalyst revealed that the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst showed higher initial activity than the industrial Fe-K oxide catalyst. Additionally, the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst showed high activity and stability under severe conditions, even at temperatures as low as 783 K, or at the low steam/EB ratio of 2, while, the Fe-K catalyst showed low activity in such conditions. Comparing reduction profiles of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ and the Fe-K catalysts in a H2O/H2 atmosphere, reduction was suppressed by the presence of H2O over the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst while the Fe-K catalyst was reduced. In other words, Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ catalyst had higher potential for activating the steam than the Fe-K catalyst. The lattice oxygen in perovskite-structure was consumed by H2, subsequently the consumed lattice oxygen was regenerated by H2O. So the catalytic performance of Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ was superior to that of Fe-K catalyst thanks to the high redox property of the Ba0.4Sr0.6Fe0.6Mn0.4O3 - δ perovskite oxide.