RESUMO
BACKGROUND@#Transapical off-pump NeoChord procedure is a novel minimally invasive surgical repair of degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR). Here, we report the first four cases of NeoChord procedure in patients with mitral valve prolapse in Chinese mainland.@*METHODS@#Four patients, aged 86, 84, 80 and 60 years, with severe MR due to posterior middle scallop prolapse (P2), underwent transapical off-pump artificial chordae implantation on April 9 and 10, 2019. The procedure was performed by left mini-thoracotomy under general anaesthesia and guided by 2D and 3D dimensional transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE).@*RESULTS@#Mitral valve repair via NeoChord procedure was successfully performed with implantation of 3 artificial chordae in the first patient and 3, 2, and 3 artificial chordae in the following patients, respectively. Intraoperative TEE and pre-discharge transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) showed only mild to moderate MR of these four patients and no postoperative complications were noted. There were no changes of TTE finding between one-month follow-up and pre-discharge.@*CONCLUSION@#The successful NeoChord procedures in four Chinese indicate that the valve repair using the NeoChord system for Chinese population is feasible.
RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The purpose of this retrospective cephalometric study was to compare changes of the upper lip soft tissue in patients with Class I malocclusion after extraction of either first premolars or second premolars.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The pretreatment and posttreatment records of 50 patients were used in the study. And 25 patients involved extraction of first premolars and 25 patients involved the extraction of second premolars. The lateral cephalometric radiographs taken before and after treatment were traced and measured. 15 typical values of soft tissue were measured in Winceph 7.0 software and statistical analysis was carried by SPSS 10.0 software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>1) The horizontal and vertical lines were not significant different in the two extraction group before the treatment. But after the treatment the vertical changes of upper lip (A'-X, UL-X) were more apparent in the second premolar extraction group (P < 0.05). 2)In the soft tissue measurements, the values of Sn-A'-UL in the first premolar extraction group were less than those in the second premolar extraction group significantly before the treatment. After the treatment all the patients had a significant increase in length of upper lip. At the same time, UL-EP, A'-EP distances were diminished obviously (P < 0.05). But the changes were not significant difference between the two premolar extraction groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The upper lips both changed remarkably after the treatment and there was no significant difference between the two premolar extraction groups.</p>
