Potential relationship between the dosage of prednisolone and delayed healing at tooth extraction: A retrospective study.

Background/purpose: Delayed healing of the extraction socket is not uncommon when tooth extraction is performed on patients taking prednisolone. This study aimed to identify specific dosage of prednisolone and factors associated with delayed healing of the extraction socket in patients taking prednisolone.

Materials And Methods: This single-center retrospective study included 80 patients who underwent tooth extraction under local anesthesia and were taking prednisolone orally.

Endoscopic Papillary Balloon Dilation Can Be Safely Performed in Patients on Dual Antiplatelet Therapy: A Pilot Study.

Background And Aims: Endoscopic papillary balloon dilation (EPBD), a low-risk procedure for bleeding, has been suggested as an alternative to endoscopic sphincterotomy for papillary dilatation in patients undergoing endoscopic stone removal who are at a higher risk of bleeding. Several guidelines recommend that combination of two antiplatelet agents should be reduced to single antiplatelet therapy when endoscopic sphincterotomy is performed. However, there is no evidence that EPBD affects the risk of bleeding in patients receiving a combination of two antiplatelet agents; thus, we aimed to explore this problem.

Predictors of Long-Term Survival in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma after Pancreatectomy: TP53 and SMAD4 Mutation Scoring in Combination with CA19-9.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a fatal cancer for which even unfavorable clinicopathological factors occasionally fail to preclude long-term survival. We sought to establish a scoring system that utilizes measurable pre-intervention factors for predicting survival following surgical resection.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 34 patients who died from short-term recurrences and 32 long-term survivors among 310 consecutively resected patients with PDA.

Distinct effects of TU-100 (daikenchuto) on long-lasting dysbiosis in the small intestine in patients with colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.

The profile of the human small intestinal microbiota remains to be uncovered primarily due to sampling difficulties. Ileostomy provides the intestinal luminal contents as ileostomy effluents (IE) that offer opportunity for performing extensive analyses of nutrients, gastrointestinal fluids, metabolites, and microbiome. In the present study, we evaluated changes in the microbiome, pH, and bacterial short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in IE obtained from patients who had undergone ileostomy following surgical resection of colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

High Ligation of the Inferior Mesenteric Artery Induces Hypoperfusion of the Sigmoid Colon Stump During Anterior Resection.

Anastomotic leakage (AL) after colorectal surgery is associated with insufficient vascular perfusion of the anastomotic ends. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of high vs. low ligation of the ileocolic artery and inferior mesenteric artery, respectively, on the vascular perfusion of the bowel stumps during ileocecal resection (ICR) and anterior rectal resection (AR).

Direct oral anticoagulants increase bleeding risk after endoscopic sphincterotomy: a retrospective study.

Background: Bleeding can be a serious adverse event of endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST). However, the risk of EST bleeding between direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) users and those who received no antithrombotic agents has not been clarified. This study analyzed the risk factors for bleeding after EST in patients on DOAC and evaluated the Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society (JGES) guidelines for gastroenterological endoscopy in patients undergoing antithrombotic treatment.

Intestinal hypoperfusion in patients with Crohn's disease revealed by intraoperative indocyanine green fluorescence imaging.

Background: Anastomotic leakage has been reported as an independent risk factor for surgical recurrence at the anastomotic site in patients with Crohn's disease. An inadequate blood supply may contribute to this leakage. Real-time indocyanine green angiography has been useful for confirming vascular perfusion of the intestines.

The feasibility of circulating tumor DNA analysis as a marker of recurrence in triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a poorer prognosis than other breast cancer subtypes; therefore, identifying markers of early recurrence is important. The present study aimed to establish a liquid biopsy protocol for droplet digital PCR-based detection of frequently mutated genes in patients with TNBC. Tumor DNA from 36 patients with TNBC who relapsed within 2 years after surgical resection was retrospectively analyzed.

Prognostic significance of skeletal muscle decrease in unresectable pancreatic cancer: Survival analysis using the Weibull exponential distribution model.

Background/objectives: Decrease in skeletal muscle mass and function is associated with a poor prognosis following surgical resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAs). This study evaluated whether skeletal muscle mass decrease affects PDA outcomes.

Methods: Data of 112 patients with advanced and unresectable PDA who underwent chemotherapy in a single institution were retrospectively analyzed.

Metachronous intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms disseminate via the pancreatic duct following resection.

Metachronous development of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms in the remnant pancreas following resection is a significant clinical burden. Our aim was to characterize the clinicopathological and molecular features of the patients with metachronous tumor development to identify predictive factors and the possible route(s) of dissemination. Seventy-four patients who underwent resection of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms with no invasive compartment or associated carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed.

Surgical Recurrence at Anastomotic Site After Bowel Resection in Crohn's Disease: Comparison of Kono-S and End-to-end Anastomosis.

Background: Anastomotic surgical recurrence after bowel resection in Crohn's disease patients is problematic. This study was performed to evaluate the increased risk of anastomotic surgical recurrence.

Methods: From 2006 to 2016, we performed anastomoses in 215 consecutive Crohn's disease patients.

Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio for the Assessment of Intermediate Coronary Artery Stenosis in Patients With Severe Aortic Valve Stenosis: Comparison With Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy.

Objectives: This study investigated the diagnostic performance of instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) in patients with aortic valve stenosis (AS).

Background: The iFR was introduced as a new, nonpharmacologic stress index of coronary stenosis severity. However, the diagnostic performance of iFR has not been sufficiently explored in patients with severe AS.

Comparison of efficacies of the self-expandable metallic stent versus transanal drainage tube and emergency surgery for malignant left-sided colon obstruction.

Background/objective: Patients with left-sided malignant colorectal obstruction require emergency treatment. Emergency stoma surgery has traditionally been recommended, however many stomas became permanent, decreasing patient quality of life. Recently, self-expandable metallic stents (SEMS) and transanal decompression tubes (TDT) have become widely used decompression methods to avoid stoma surgery.

An improved digital polymerase chain reaction protocol to capture low-copy KRAS mutations in plasma cell-free DNA by resolving 'subsampling' issues.

Genetic alterations responsible for the initiation of cancer may serve as immediate biomarkers for early diagnosis. Plasma levels of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in patients with cancer are higher than those in healthy individuals; however, the major technical challenge for the widespread implementation of cfDNA genotyping as a diagnostic tool is the insufficient sensitivity and specificity of detecting early-stage tumors that shed low amounts of cfDNA. To establish a protocol for ultrasensitive droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) for quantification of low-frequency alleles within a limited cfDNA pool, two-step multiplex ddPCR targeting eight clinically relevant mutant KRAS variants was examined.