A comparison of nephrotoxicity between patients with a solitary-functioning kidney and those with bilateral-functioning kidneys in cisplatin-based chemotherapy for advanced urothelial carcinoma: a Japanese retrospective multi-institutional study.

Background: To compare the prevalence of nephrotoxicity between patients with a solitary-functioning kidney versus those with bilateral-functioning kidneys during the administration of cisplatin-based chemotherapy for advanced urothelial carcinoma.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 244 advanced urothelial carcinoma patients treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy between 2004 and 2010 at 17 institutes in Japan. The 24 h creatinine clearance, Cockcroft-Gault formula, and estimated glomerular filtration rate equation (eGFR), were compared before all chemotherapies.

Demographics, management and treatment outcomes of benign and malignant retroperitoneal tumors in Japan.

Objectives: To show the demographics, type of treatment and clinical outcomes of patients with retroperitoneal tumors in Japan.

Methods: We carried out a retrospective analysis of patients with retroperitoneal tumors treated between 2000 and 2012 at 12 university hospitals in Japan. Histology was re-evaluated using the 2013 World Health Organization classification.

Development of an electrochemical detection system for measuring DNA methylation levels using methyl CpG-binding protein and glucose dehydrogenase-fused zinc finger protein.

DNA methylation level at a certain gene region is considered as a new type of biomarker for diagnosis and its miniaturized and rapid detection system is required for diagnosis. Here we have developed a simple electrochemical detection system for DNA methylation using methyl CpG-binding domain (MBD) and a glucose dehydrogenase (GDH)-fused zinc finger protein. This analytical system consists of three steps: (1) methylated DNA collection by MBD, (2) PCR amplification of a target genomic region among collected methylated DNA, and (3) electrochemical detection of the PCR products using a GDH-fused zinc finger protein.

Impact of acute kidney injury defined by CTCAE v4.0 during first course of cisplatin-based chemotherapy on treatment outcomes in advanced urothelial cancer patients.

Background: The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes group (KDIGO) defined acute kidney injury (AKI) as an elevation of serum creatinine (sCR) exceeding 0.3 mg/dl within 48 h. The widely used adverse events criteria for chemotherapy, Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events Version 4.

A novel case presenting with an unusual ureteral diverticular lesion similar to adenomyomatous hyperplasia of the gallbladder.

We present the first case of an unusual ureteral diverticular lesion demonstrating similarities to adenomyomatous hyperplasia of the gallbladder. A 68-year-old asymptomatic Japanese man with high prostate-specific antigen levels was clinically evaluated. Left hydronephrosis and benign prostatic hyperplasia were detected.

Current status of systemic chemotherapy for octogenarians with advanced urothelial cancer in Japan: a Japanese multi-institutional study (CURE study).

Background: The standard regimen of systemic chemotherapy for patients with advanced urothelial cancer (UC) changed from methotrexate, vinblastine, adriamycin, and cisplatin (MVAC) to gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC) in 2008 when the use of gemcitabine for UC began to be reimbursed by public health insurance in Japan. We examined its influence on the chemotherapy trend in elderly patients aged ≥80 years.

Methods: Among 345 patients included in our previous multicenter retrospective cohort study (chemotherapy for urothelial carcinoma: renal function and efficacy study; CURE study), the outcome of 30 patients aged ≥80 years was reviewed before and after 2008 and compared with 315 young patients.

Do metastatic upper tract urothelial carcinoma and bladder carcinoma have similar clinical responses to systemic chemotherapy? A Japanese multi-institutional experience.

Objective: There has been no clear evidence supporting similar chemo-responses for upper and lower urothelial carcinomas.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study to analyze urothelial carcinoma patients who underwent systemic chemotherapy at 17 centers from 2004 to 2010. A total of 298 patients with either urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (N = 151) or upper tract urothelial carcinoma (N = 147) were included.

CT evaluation of acupuncture needles inserted into sacral foramina.

Objective: To use CT scanning to evaluate the precision with which acupuncture needles can be inserted into sacral foramina to establish sacral nerve modulation by electroacupuncture.

Methods: The subjects were five adult women (mean age 71.6 years).

Japanese nationwide surveillance in 2011 of antibacterial susceptibility patterns of clinical isolates from complicated urinary tract infection cases.

To investigate antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of various bacterial pathogens isolated from complicated urinary tract infection (UTI) cases, the Japanese Society of Chemotherapy, the Japanese Association of Infectious Disease, and the Japanese Society of Clinical Microbiology conducted the second nationwide surveillance from January to September 2011. With the cooperation of 42 medical institutions throughout Japan, 1036 strains belonging to 8 clinically relevant bacterial species were collected. Among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain, the vancomycin (VCM) MIC for 5.

Impact of renal function of patients with advanced urothelial cancer on eligibility for first-line chemotherapy and treatment outcomes.

Objective: The aim of the study is to clarify the clinical effects of first-line chemotherapy regimens for advanced urothelial cancer on clinical responses and survival of patients grouped by renal function.

Methods: In this multicenter retrospective cohort study, 345 urothelial cancer patients received systemic chemotherapy for metastatic or unresectable disease in 17 centers (2004-10).

Results: Two hundred and forty-one patients were treated with methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin and cisplatin/methotrexate, epirubicin and cisplatin (n = 136) or gemcitabine and cisplatin (n = 105) followed by carboplatin-based treatments, non-platinum treatments or other regimens.

Superior vena cava syndrome due to metastasis from urothelial cancer: A case report and literature review.

Superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome is caused by compression or obstruction of the SVC. We report here in a case of SVC syndrome due to lymph node metastasis from urothelial cancer to the mediastinum and lung. The origin of metastasis was determined by computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsy of metastases.

Detection of histone modification by chromatin immunoprecipitation combined zinc finger luciferase-based bioluminescence resonance energy transfer assay.

Epigenetic modification such as DNA methylation and histone modification have important roles in gene regulation. Epigenetic modification can be altered by environmental influences and are related to diseases. Therefore, epigenetic modifications may serve as biomarkers.

[Effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for the treatment of refractory interstitial cystitis].

The efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment was examined on eight female patients with refractory interstitial cystitis (IC) who had been treated conservatively with hydrodistension, intravesical instillation of dimethyl sulfoxide, or oral medication. These patients had received hydrodistension on an average of 2.3±1.

Development of a method to measure DNA methylation levels by using methyl CpG-binding protein and luciferase-fused zinc finger protein.

DNA methylation, which is an important epigenetic event for transcriptional regulation, is regarded as a biomarker for cancer. A rapid and sensitive method for measuring DNA methylation levels in target genomic regions may enable early diagnosis of cancer. To detect DNA methylation levels conveniently, we developed a detection system for DNA methylation, designated as methylated DNA precipitation combined luciferase-fused zinc finger assay (MELZA), which uses methyl CpG-binding domain (MBD) and luciferase-fused zinc finger protein.

[The correlation between urodynamics and morphology in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia].

Objective: We have the impression that the degree of obstruction was stronger in the patients with a middle lobe of hyperplastic nodule than in those without such a lobe in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. In the present study, we compared the data from a pressure-flow study (PFS) and a presence of a middle lobe.

Materials And Methods: A transurethral resection for benign prostatic hyperplasia was performed in 2,439 patients, 798 underwent PFS.