A prospective clinical study evaluating short-term changes in body composition and quality of life after gastrectomy in elderly patients receiving postoperative exercise and nutritional therapies.

Background: Muscle mass loss after gastrectomy is associated with a negative impact on quality of life (QOL) and long-term prognosis following gastric cancer treatment, especially in elderly patients. We conducted a prospective study to examine short-term changes in body composition and QOL after gastrectomy in elderly patients with gastric cancer who received exercise and nutritional therapies.

Methods: Patients over aged 65 years of age who underwent gastrectomies for gastric cancer were enrolled in our study.

Risk factors associating with delayed gastric emptying after laparoscopic distal gastrectomy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of delayed gastric emptying among the patients receiving laparoscopic distal gastrectomy, and to explore their clinical features and risk factors.

Methods: Clinical data were collected for 223 patients who underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer. We retrospectively evaluated the clinicopathological features and analyzed the incidence of delayed gastric emptying among 223 patients.

Repair of a perineal hernia with a bladder patch after abdominoperineal resection: A case report and literature review.

Perineal hernia is the protrusion of the intra-abdominal viscera through the pelvic floor. It rarely occurs after abdominoperineal resection but has increasingly occurred after surgical treatment for rectal cancer. A patient was diagnosed as having perineal hernia 10 days after laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection with preoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

[Effect of Post-Gastrectomy Adjuvant S-1 Chemotherapy on Muscle Volume in Gastric Cancer Patients].

Objective: To examine the effect of S-1 adjuvant chemotherapy on muscle volume after curative gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients.

Patients: Forty-eight gastric cancer patients (31 men and 17 women) who underwent curative gastrectomy (distal gastrectomy: n=37, and total gastrectomy: n=11) between April 2010 and July 2011 were enrolled in this study. Sixteen patients underwent S-1 adjuvant chemotherapy (S-1 group) for 1 year after the operation, and 32 patients did not (NT group).

[A case of a patient with giant mucinous cystadenocarcinoma who presented with abdominal pain].

We report a case of a patient in whom a giant mucinous cystadenocarcinoma was treated with distal pancreatectomy. A 37-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital complaining of intermittent epigastric pain. The laboratory data revealed a marked increase in serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen( CEA 22 ng/mL), cancer antigen( CA) 19-9( 258,129 U/ mL), and CA125 (53 U/mL).

Magnetic resonance evaluation of the associations of thoracic and abdominal aortic plaques with the presence and extent of coronary artery stenosis.

The association between coronary artery disease (CAD) and thoracic aortic plaques has often been reported using transesophageal echocardiography. However, studies showing the association between CAD and abdominal aortic plaques are scarce. CMR can visualize plaques in both the thoracic and abdominal aortas.

A possible association between coronary plaque instability and complex plaques in abdominal aorta.

Objective: Coronary plaque instability causes myocardial infarction (MI). Angiographic lesions with such instability are complex lesions. Complex carotid plaques were reported to be prevalent in unstable angina.

In vivo magnetic resonance evaluation of associations between aortic atherosclerosis and both risk factors and coronary artery disease in patients referred for coronary angiography.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging was recently reported to detect atherosclerotic plaques in thoracic and abdominal aortas.

Methods: Using magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated associations of risk factors and plasma inflammatory markers with plaques in both thoracic and abdominal aortas in 102 patients undergoing coronary angiography. Associations between coronary artery disease (CAD) and aortic plaques were also evaluated.

Pulmonary vein dimensions and variation of branching pattern in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation using magnetic resonance angiography.

Unlabelled: Pulmonary veins are the most frequent origin of focal and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Although radiofrequency ablation has been attempted for the treatment of focal and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, the anatomy of the pulmonary vein is still not fully understood. To investigate the dimensions and anatomical variation of the pulmonary vein in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, we performed breath-hold gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography using a 1.