Predictive factors of prognosis after radiation and steroid pulse therapy in thyroid eye disease.

To identify predictive factors of prognosis after radiotherapy with concurrent steroid pulse therapy for thyroid eye disease, retrospective analyses were performed among 77 patients. Clinical activity score and magnetic resonance imaging were used to evaluate degrees of orbital inflammation. As a pre-treatment work-up, the thyroid-stimulating antibody (TSAb) level was measured.

Effects of menstrual cycle on background parenchymal enhancement and detectability of breast cancer on dynamic contrast-enhanced breast MRI: A multicenter study of an Asian population.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of the menstrual cycle on BPE and cancer detectability in an Asian population.

Material And Methods: 266 premenopausal patients with regular menstrual cycles from 24 centers were included, and 176 of them were diagnosed by pathology as having breast cancer. Thirty-five patients were examined in the menstrual phase (days 1-4), 105 in the proliferative phase (days 5-14), and 126 in the secretory phase (days 15-30).

Clinical significance of serum anti-GM-CSF autoantibody levels in autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

Aim: Precise clinical significance of antigranulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) autoantibody levels in autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP) has not been well studied.

Methods: We obtained sera from 50 healthy controls, 46 aPAP patients, 50 with sarcoidosis, 52 with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia and 75 with pneumoconiosis. The clinical course of aPAP patients was assessed by scoring computed tomography images in 19 patients.

Interstitial Lung Disease after Pleurodesis for Malignant Pleural Effusion.

Objective Pleurodesis is an effective therapy for malignant pleural effusion (MPE). While interstitial lung disease (ILD) has been regarded as a serious complication of pleurodesis, its clinicopathological characteristics have not been fully understood. This study was conducted to elucidate the incidence of ILD and the risk factors for ILD in patients who underwent pleurodesis to control MPE.

The ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT statement "IPF by HRCT" could predict acute exacerbation of interstitial lung disease in non-small cell lung cancer.

Introduction: Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and interstitial lung disease (ILD) are at high risk of acute exacerbation of ILD (AE-ILD) when treated with systemic chemotherapy. Standard treatment for NSCLC complicated by ILD has not been established.

Purpose And Methods: To examine whether the type of ILD categorized by the official ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT statement as "idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT)" could predict chemotherapy-induced AE-ILD in NSCLC patients with ILD, we retrospectively reviewed all patients with NSCLC complicated by ILD who had received chemotherapy at our institute from January 2007 until December 2013.

Uterine artery embolization by use of porous gelatin particles for symptomatic uterine leiomyomas: comparison with hand-cut gelatin sponge particles.

Purpose: To evaluate the results of uterine artery embolization (UAE) for symptomatic uterine leiomyoma by use of porous gelatin particles (PGP) in comparison with conventional hand-cut gelatin sponge particles.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and fifteen consecutive patients who had undergone UAE were retrospectively assessed. The first 64 patients were treated with hand-cut gelatin sponge and the last 51 with PGP.

Metastatic embryonal carcinoma mimicking locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

A 50-year-old man with a history of smoking of 45 pack-years underwent right lower lobectomy after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer diagnosed on a bronchial biopsy and standard imaging examinations, including chest-abdominal contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and whole-body F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT. Left orchiectomy was performed simultaneously to treat the slightly swollen left testis, which had remained unchanged for over five years. The thoracic tumor was proven to be in pathological complete remission and the testicular lesion was pathologically diagnosed as an embryonal carcinoma.

Targeted sonography using an image fusion technique for evaluation of incidentally detected breast lesions on chest CT: a pilot study.

Background: With increasing use of computed tomography (CT), incidentally detected breast lesions are being encountered more frequently. The aim of our study was to verify the utility of targeted sonography using an image fusion technique, real-time virtual sonography (RVS) that coordinates real-time sonography images with previously obtained CT images using a magnetic position tracking system, for evaluation of incidentally detected breast lesions on chest CT.

Methods: Eleven lesions in 11 women with no history of breast cancer who were referred to our unit for assessment of breast lesions incidentally detected on CT were enrolled in this study.

Ethanolamine oleate sclerotherapy combined with transarterial embolization using n-butyl cyanoacrylate for extracranial arteriovenous malformations.

Purpose: This study was designed to assess the safety and effectiveness of ethanolamine oleate (EO) sclerotherapy combined with transarterial embolization using a liquid adhesive agent (n-butyl cyanoacrylate, NBCA) for treatment of extracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).

Methods: Twenty-four patients with symptomatic AVMs in the head and neck (n = 15), extremity (n = 5), and trunk (n = 4) with a mean age of 44 years (range, 18-78) treated with EO sclerotherapy were retrospectively assessed. AVMs were classified according to the angiographic morphology of the nidus.

Oblique approach for CT-guided liver radiofrequency ablation using multiplanar reformation images in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and safety of CT-guided radiofrequency (RF) ablation by caudal-cranial oblique insertion using multiplanar reformation (MPR) images for hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-two HCCs in 19 patients that were difficult to demonstrate on ultrasound (mean tumor diameter was 17.5 mm) were treated with CT-guided RF ablation by caudal-cranial oblique insertion to avoid pneumothorax, using MPR images after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization.

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and apparent diffusion coefficient in lung schwannoma.

Intrapulmonary schwannoma is uncommon and preoperative radiological diagnosis is rare. Described is a schwannoma that developed as a pulmonary hilar nodule in a 38-year-old woman. The nodule showed strong (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake with a maximum standard uptake value of 5.

Emergent coil embolization for ruptured renal artery aneurysm.

We report a case of ruptured renal artery aneurysm successfully treated by emergent transcatheter embolization with microcoils. A 66-year-old woman was referred for emergency treatment after presenting with sudden-onset left flank pain and vomiting. Blood examination showed anemia.