Yoonjin Kang

BACKGROUND: The clinical value of 3-field lymph node dissection (3FLND) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains controversial. This study aimed to identify the patterns and prognostic significance of cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in ESCC. METHODS: A retrospective review of 77 patients with ESCC who underwent esophagectomy and 3FLND between 2002 and 2016 was conducted. For each cervical node level, the efficacy index (EI), overall survival, recurrence rate, and complication r

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to compare the efficacy and safety of left atrium appendage (LAA) elimination using stapled excision with those using internal suture obliteration. METHODS: In all, 158 patients with atrial fibrillation who underwent surgical elimination of the LAA during cardiac surgery and later underwent postoperative computed tomography (CT) were enrolled. Of these, 102 patients underwent stapled excision (SE group), and 56 underwent internal suture obliteration (IO group

This study was conducted to compare the occurrence and the risk factors of structural valve deterioration (SVD) after bioprosthetic tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) between bovine pericardial valves and porcine valves. One-hundred and thirty-four TVR patients were enrolled; 108 patients underwent TVR with bovine pericardial bioprostheses (BTVR group) and 26 underwent TVR with porcine bioprostheses (PTVR group). The early results and long-term clinical outcomes were compared. The median follow-u

Abstract Background As redo surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR) is relatively high risk, valve-in-valve transcatheter AVR has emerged as an alternative for failed prostheses. However, the majority of studies are outdated. This study assessed the current clinical outcomes of redo AVR. Methods and Results This study enrolled 324 patients who underwent redo AVR due to prosthetic valve failure from 2010 to 2021 in four tertiary centers. The primary outcome was operative mortality. The secondary

Septic shock exhibits diverse etiologies and patient characteristics, necessitating tailored fluid management. We aimed to compare resuscitation strategies using normal saline, Ringer's lactate, and albumin, and to determine which patient factors are associated with improved outcomes. We analyzed septic shock patients from the MIMIC-IV database, categorizing them by the fluid administered: normal saline, Ringer's lactate, albumin, or their combinations. A deep learning-based causal inference mod

Background: This study evaluated the outcome of surgical ablation (SA) for atrial fibrillation (AF) concomitant with redo left-sided valvular surgery. Methods: The study enrolled 224 AF patients (paroxysmal: 13 patients, persistent: 76 patients, long-standing persistent AF: 135 patients) undergoing redo open heart surgery for left-sided valve disease. The early results and long-term clinical outcomes were compared between those who underwent concomitant SA for AF (SA group) and did not (NSA grou

Background: This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of fractional flow reserve (FFR) on clinical outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Methods: Five online databases were searched for studies that (1) enrolled patients who underwent isolated CABG or CABG with aortic valve replacement and (2) demonstrated the effect of an FFR-guided strategy on major adverse cardiac events (MACE) after surgery based on a randomized controlled trial or adjusted analysis. MACE inclu

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia associated with increased morbidity and mortality among intensive care unit (ICU) patients. This study aimed to evaluate heart rate fluctuation (HRF) and its association with in-hospital mortality among ICU patients with AF. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia associated with increased morbidity and mortality among intensive care unit (ICU) patients. This study aimed to evaluate heart rate fluctuation (HRF) and its association with in-h

BACKGROUND: Infective endocarditis (IE) carries high in-hospital mortality, particularly among intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The predictive role of blood culture positivity in these patients remains unclear. METHODS: We analyzed 484 adult IE patients from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) database, divided into training (n = 339) and testing (n = 145) cohorts. A suite of demographic, clinical, laboratory, and blood culture variables was used to develop tree-ba

BACKGROUND: Vasoplegia is defined by systemic vascular resistance (SVR) < 800 dynes·s/cm5, cardiac index (CI) > 2.2 L/min/m2, and hypotension, and is associated with poor outcomes. Maintaining adequate blood pressure with vasopressors is considered essential in these cases. However, some patients exhibit low SVR and high CI while maintaining normal blood pressure, and the benefits of vasopressor use in this population have not been studied. METHODS: This study utilized the Medical Information Ma

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to assess long-term clinical outcomes after mitral valve repair using machine-learning techniques. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 436 consecutive patients (mean age: 54.7 ± 15.4; 235 males) who underwent mitral valve repair between January 2000 and December 2017. Actuarial survival and freedom from significant (≥ moderate) mitral regurgitation (MR) were clinical end points. To evaluate the independent risk factors, random survival forest (RSF), extreme