We describe three children with chronic renal failure who developed mitral obstructive disease over a period when maintained on hemodialysis. The development and progression of the mitral disease was documented by cardiac catheterization in one child and by Doppler echocardiography in the other two children. These three patients had the lowest body weight among the 16 children undergoing chronic dialysis who were examined cardiologically in our hospital. Autopsy in one child who died from heart failure revealed marked thickening of the leaflets and subvalvar apparatus of the mitral valve with severe obliteration of the intercordal spaces. We found no sign of calcification at the mitral annulus nor at the attachments of the leaflets of the aortic valve, and no Ashoff bodies. We attempted percutaneous catheter balloon valvoplasty in one child which permitted successful renal transplantation after failure of an initial transplantation because of severe pulmonary venous congestion. We conclude that mitral obstructive disease could be a complication of long-term hemodialysis for chronic renal failure. Catheter intervention may serve to release the obstruction, although the procedure is not curative.

A buried tungsten (W) mask structure with GaN is successfully obtained by epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technique via low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (LP-MOVPE). The selectivity of GaN growth on the window region vs. the mask region is good. An underlying GaN with a striped W metal mask is easily decomposed above 500 °C by the W catalytic effect, by which radical hydrogen is reacted with GaN. It is difficult to bury the W mask because severe damage occurs in the GaN epilayer under the mask. It is found that an underlying AlGaN/GaN layer with a narrow W stripe mask width (mask/window = 2/2 μm) leads the ELO GaN layer to be free from damage, resulting in an excellent W-buried structure.

Selective area growth (SAG) and epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of GaN using tungsten (W) mask by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) have been studied. The selectivity of the GaN growth on the W mask as well as the SiO2 mask is excellent for both MOVPE and HVPE. The ELO-GaN layers are successfully obtained by HVPE on the stripe patterns along the <1 00> crystal axis with the W mask as well as the SiO2 mask. There are no voids between the SiO2 mask and the overgrown GaN layer, while there are triangular voids between the W mask and the overgrown layer. The surface of the ELO-GaN layer is quite uniform for both mask materials. In the case of MOVPE, the structures of ELO layers on the W mask are the same as those on the SiO2 mask for the <11 0> and <1 00> stripe patterns. No voids are observed between the W or SiO2 mask and the overgrown GaN layer by using MOVPE.

A buried tungsten (W) mask structure with GaN is successfully obtained by epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) technique via low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (LP-MOVPE). The selectivity of GaN growth on the window region vs. the mask region is good. An underlying GaN with a striped W metal mask is easily decomposed above 500 °C by the W catalytic effect, by which radical hydrogen is reacted with GaN. It is difficult to bury the W mask because severe damage occurs in the GaN epilayer under the mask. It is found that an underlying AlGaN/GaN layer with a narrow W stripe mask width (mask/window = 2/2 νm) leads the ELO GaN layer to be free from damage, resulting in an excellent W-buried structure.

Selective area growth (SAG) and epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of GaN using tungsten (W) mask by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) have been studied. The selectivity of the GaN growth on the W mask as well as the SiO2 mask is excellent for both MOVPE and HVPE. The ELO-GaN layers are successfully obtained by HVPE on the stripe patterns along the <1100> crystal axis with the W mask as well as the SiO2 mask. There are no voids between the SiO2 mask and the overgrown GaN layer, while there are triangular voids between the W mask and the overgrown layer. The surface of the ELO-GaN layer is quite uniform for both mask materials. In the case of MOVPE, the structures of ELO layers on the W mask are the same as those on the SiO2 mask for the <1120> and <1100> stripe patterns. No voids are observed between the W or SiO2 mask and the overgrown GaN layer by using MOVPE.

InGaN has been grown on GaN and AlGaN epitaxial layers by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and ‘the composition pulling effect’ at the initial growth stage of InGaN has been studied in relation to the lattice mismatch between InGaN and the bottom epitaxial layers. Crystalline quality of InGaN is good near the interface of InGaN/GaN and the composition of InGaN is close to that of GaN. With increasing growth thickness, the crystalline quality becomes worse and the indium mole fraction is increased. The composition pulling effect becomes stronger with increasing lattice mismatch.