Publications by authors named "Aiko Murayama"
Article Synopsis
- The study focuses on the importance of measuring hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for the management of chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB) and examines preS1 protein expression in patients.
- Researchers used seven monoclonal antibodies to analyze preS1 from various hepatitis B genotypes, discovering that the epitopes crucial for recognition are largely located in the aa33-47 region.
- Findings indicate that preS1 expression remains stable across different HBsAg levels and genotypes, emphasizing its potential as a therapeutic target in treating CHB.
Article Synopsis
- * Investigations showed low serum ceruloplasmin levels, high urinary copper excretion, and a known mutation in the ATP7B gene linked to copper metabolism.
- * A new mutation was identified in the patient's other allele, classified as 'likely pathogenic' based on guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics, confirming a diagnosis of Wilson's disease.
Article Synopsis
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors, specifically atezolizumab, can cause rare but serious side effects like aseptic meningitis during treatment for advanced cancer, such as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
- A 74-year-old woman experienced symptoms including anorexia, fatigue, and fever after receiving three cycles of atezolizumab combined with bevacizumab, leading to a diagnosis of aseptic meningitis confirmed through cerebrospinal fluid and MRI findings.
- Prompt steroid treatment effectively improved her symptoms and resolved imaging abnormalities, highlighting the need for careful monitoring of immune-related adverse events in patients undergoing checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
Article Synopsis
- An 80-year-old Japanese man experienced intra-abdominal hemorrhage from a ruptured liver tumor and initially underwent transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) to control the bleeding.
- Despite the initial success of TAE, he died four days later due to re-rupture of the tumor, which was later identified as hepatic angiosarcoma through autopsy.
- The procedure did not result in tumor necrosis or ischemic changes, indicating that TAE may not be an effective treatment for hepatic angiosarcoma and highlighting the need for better treatment options for this condition.
Aim: Sequential therapies are essential to extend overall survival (OS) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Several second-line treatments with molecular target agents have shown survival benefits. However, the significance of post-progression survival (PPS) in extending OS in patients with HCC given such treatments remains uncertain.
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- Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) show varying effectiveness depending on the metastatic site in gastric cancer (GC), influencing patient survival outcomes.
- In a study of 148 GC patients treated with ICIs, those with non-systemic progression lived significantly longer than those with systemic progression, indicating different responses based on tumor growth patterns.
- Liver metastasis was found to be particularly detrimental, correlating with lower CD8+ T-cell density and worse survival, suggesting that it may predict systemic progression in GC patients receiving ICIs.
Introduction: Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Atez/Bev) is a standard treatment for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) due to its good antitumor and survival prolongation effects. Post-progression survival (PPS) has been reported to be a great contributor in the treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors for unresectable HCC. This study aimed to clarify the significance of progression-free survival (PFS) or PPS of Atez/Bev treatment for HCC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Thrombocytopenia due to hypersplenism is a major complication of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated cirrhosis. HCV eradication improves these complications in some patients, but the long-term effects of HCV eradication on these complications remain unclear, especially in patients treated with direct acting antivirals (DAAs). The aim was to evaluate long term changes in thrombocytopenia and leucopenia after HCV eradication with DAAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (sHCC) is a rare phenotype of HCC with extremely poor prognosis and no established pharmacological treatment. Interventional therapies such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) or transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) have been shown to limit the development of sHCC through mechanisms involving hypoxia-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition. This report describes an 83-year-old man who developed sHCC 2 years after RFA treatment for HCC and experienced sHCC rupture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aim: Lenvatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) more effective against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than sorafenib, making lenvatinib a first-line treatment option for patients with unresectable HCC. In patients treated with sorafenib, post-progression survival (PPS) rather than progression-free survival (PFS) is essential for overall survival (OS). However, the importance of PPS for OS in patients treated with lenvatinib is uncertain, and optimal treatment after lenvatinib failure has not yet been established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients has a high risk of recurrence. Although eradication of HCV is expected to reduce this risk, the risk in patients with a history of HCC may be high after treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs).
Aim: To determine the risk factors for HCC recurrence in patients with HCV and a history of HCC.
Background And Aims: Although patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) usually show few symptoms, they exhibit decreased health-related QOL (HRQOL) with occurrence complications including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Health-related QOL is an important indicator in the management of CLD. The Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire (CLDQ) was established as a tool for assessment of HRQOL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe increased use of immune-checkpoint inhibitors to treat various types of cancer has increased the incidence of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Hepatic irAEs are frequent and can lead to serious conditions. Among the various types of hepatic irAEs reported to date, bile duct injury has been shown refractory to steroid treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA 36-year-old woman with decompensated liver cirrhosis type C was referred to our hospital to receive antiviral treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV). She had been diagnosed with intractable epilepsy and cerebral palsy at birth and was managed by central venous nutrition and nasal gastric feeding. At age 34 years, she was diagnosed with thrombocytopenia, probably associated with HCV infection.
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- The study assesses drug-eluting bead transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) as a treatment for patients with refractory liver cancer (HCC) who have poor liver function.
- A total of 27 patients were evaluated, revealing that those with better liver function (Child-Pugh A) had significantly better overall survival compared to those with worse function (Child-Pugh B). However, progression-free survival rates were similar for both groups.
- DEB-TACE is considered a viable option for advanced HCC patients with poor response to traditional treatments and manageable side effects during the procedure.*
Background: The prevalence of chronic constipation is increased in females and with age or environmental (low temperature), racial, socioeconomic, and habitual risk factors. The impact of low outside temperature on constipation drug use remains unclear. Here, we investigated risk factors for constipation drug use by evaluating data from the Japanese National Database.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLenvatinib is a first-line standard treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with better anti-tumor effects than sorafenib, as shown by greater inhibition of the kinases of fibroblast growth factor receptor and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor. This report describes a patient with advanced HCC who experienced perforation of the small intestine 1 month after starting the treatment with lenvatinib. This patient likely had partial necrosis of a metastasis to the small intestine before starting lenvatinib treatment, with subsequent ischemic changes leading to perforation of the small intestine.
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