Content from the Journal of the American Neurological Surgeons.
Ralph J. Damiano, Jr., MD, is the John M. Shoenberg Professor of Surgery and chief of cardiac surgery at Washington University School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from Duke University and went on to complete his general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery training at Duke University Medical Center, working for James Cox, the founder…
Dr. Juro Wada passed away on February 14, 2011 at his home in Tokyo, Japan. He was 88 years old. Dr. Wada was a pioneer in cardiothoracic surgery in Japan and was well-known among American and European surgeons by the nickname of “Jelly Wada”. Dr. Wada was also a confident and energetic teacher and mentor.…
Job Satisfaction Survey Assessment This survey was designed to evaluate the effects of increasing clinical workload, growing pressures for documentation and other paperwork, and decreasing income on a variety of aspects related to job satisfaction. The components of professional activity were scored by 250 respondents using a range of responses from 1 (very dissatisfied) through…
Replacement of the aortic valve remains an effective treatment of severe aortic stenosis (AS). The authors provide a brief introduction into catheter-based approaches for the treatment of severe AS, with a focus on the operative techniques. Introduction Replacement of the aortic valve remains an effective treatment of severe aortic stenosis (AS). With the aging population,…
Side-graft right axillary artery cannulation with a lateral anterior approach through the deltoid-pectoral groove, as shown in the video, is an easy technique to establish arterial inflow for cardio-pulmonary bypass in the treatment of type-A aortic dissections and aortic arch aneurysms. Between October 2008 and November 2009, 18 patients underwent right axillary artery cannulation using…
Systematic nodal dissection is increasingly becoming an integral part of VATS lobectomy for early lung cancer. This video gives details demonstrating the author’s technique of en-bloc mediastinal nodal dissection, which is a modification of the original Naruke technique. The azygos vein and the ligamentum arteriosum are always preserved. The relevant anatomical details of the thoracic…
Patient Selection Figure 1. Barium swallow demonstrating a giant paraesophageal hernia. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is extremely common in North America. The majority of these patients will have a simple type I hiatus hernia. The approach to this repair is usually by laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication. Much less frequently patients will present with a giant paraesophageal hernia…
Dr. Mack began his practice in Dallas in 1982 and soon became involved in the creation and development of minimally invasive surgical techniques including video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). He was also instrumental in the development of endoscopic spine surgery and has continued research on endoscopic applications of cardiac surgery. Michael Mack, MD, has been a…
As one of the country’s current leaders in the field of thoracic surgery, Mark B. Orringer, MD, has focused much of his academic career on the diagnosis and treatment of benign and malignant esophageal disease. He has developed two leading esophageal operations: the combined Collis-Nissen hiatal hernia repair and transhiatal esophagectomy without thoracotomy. Dr. Orringer…
David P. Taggart, MD, reviews the Guidelines on Myocardial Revascularization, developed in 2010 by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery (EACTS). Dr. Taggart is a cardiac surgeon at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. After becoming a consultant, he completed a PhD and wrote a systematic review on…
Peter Vincent Moulder, Jr. was born January 26, 1921. He died May 10, 2010, at age 89. Dr. Moulder was known as Pete to his residents and colleagues, even when familiarity between layers of the surgical hierarchy was uncommon. He earned his B.S. degree magna cum laude at Notre Dame University in 1942, and was…
Precision cautery excision, or the Perelman procedure, is ideal for: Resection of multiple lung lesions as in metastasectomy where preservation of lung tissue is important. Deep-seated lesions where placement of staplers is precluded by the thickness of the lung tissue. The principle behind this technique is to core out the nodule from the surrounding lung…
The article describes the 2-year follow-up of a patient with a 5-cm aneurysm of the descending thoracic aorta associated with a chronic Type B aortic dissection, which was successfully treated with an endovascular stent-graft. Introduction The current generation of endovascular stent-grafts are approved exclusively for the treatment of atherosclerotic aneurysms of the descending thoracic aorta.…
Patient Selection Indications for endovascular repair of the abdominal aortic aneurysm are: Patients with asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysm greater than 5 cm in an orthogonal projection or larger than twice the size of the normal abdominal aorta or an aneurysm diameter of 4–5 cm, which has also increased in size by 0.5 cm in last…
Patient Selection Indications for endovascular repair of the thoracic aortic aneurysm (Figure 1) are: Figure 1: The three-dimension reconstruction (Medical Metrx Solutions, West Lebanon, NH) off the aortic-centerline from a contrast-enhanced high-resolution computer tomography scan showing an “ideal candidate” for TEVAR. Patients with an asymptomatic descending aortic aneurysm larger than twice the size of the…
Patient Selection Indications for endovascular repair of the iliac artery are: Stenosis or (short-segment) occlusion of iliac artery (TASC type A and B, TASC C lesions are controversial) with ipsilateral lower extremity ischemia (lifestyle-limiting, progressive claudication, rest pain, gangrene). Patients with asymptomatic aneurysm greater than 4 cm in diameter. An iliac aneurysm which has also…
