Overestimation ratio of hepatic lesion size on spiral CT arterial portography: an indicator of malignancy.

Purpose: To assess the reliability of the size-overestimation ratio obtained from spiral CT arterial portography (CTAP) and spiral equilibrium-phase CT (EPCT) in distinguishing malignant focal hepatic lesions from benign ones.

Methods: The CTAP images and EPCT images obtained five minutes after CTAP in 39 patients with focal hepatic lesions were retrospectively analyzed. Fifty-eight lesions (hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC], 33; metastasis, 10; liver cyst, 10; cavernous hemangioma, 2; adenomatous hyperplasia [AH], 2; focal nodular hyperplasia [FNH], 1) had their sizes measured on CTAP and EPCT images using the calipers on the CT console.

Enhanced engraftment of intravenously transplanted hematopoietic stem cells into bone marrow of irradiated mice treated with AcSDKP.

The effect of the tetrapeptide Acetyl-N-Ser-Asp-Lys-Pro (AcSDKP) on intravenously transplanted hematopoietic stem cell engraftment into the bone marrow (BM) of irradiated mice was studied. When 5 x 10(4) marrow cells were transplanted into lethally irradiated mice given 10 microg AcSDKP, the survival of these animals 4 weeks posttransplantation increased markedly from 20.0 +/- 4.

Focal hepatic lesion detection: comparison of four T2-weighted MR imaging pulse sequences.

Purpose: To evaluate T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with conventional spin-echo, breath-hold fast spin-echo, respiratory-triggered fast spin-echo, and breath-hold multishot spin-echo echo-planar sequences for detection of focal hepatic lesions.

Materials And Methods: T2-weighted MR images obtained with the four sequences in 56 patients with 107 solid and 124 nonsolid lesions were retrospectively analyzed. Image review was conducted on a liver segment-by-segment basis; a total of 408 liver segments were reviewed separately and independently for solid and nonsolid lesions by three radiologists.

Detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis: MR imaging versus angiographically assisted helical CT.

Objective: The purpose of our study was to compare the combination of conventional spin-echo, phase-shift gradient-recalled echo (GRE), and triple-phasic dynamic GRE MR imaging with the combination of helical CT hepatic arteriography (CTA) and CT performed during arterial portography (CTAP) in the preoperative detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials And Methods: Thirty-seven patients with cirrhosis underwent MR imaging and angiographically assisted CT imaging. Paired T1- and T2-weighted spin-echo images, paired in-phase and out-of-phase GRE images, triple-phasic dynamic GRE images, the combined MR images, and the paired CTA and CTAP images were retrospectively and independently reviewed by three radiologists.

CD44 expression on blood eosinophils is a novel marker of bronchial asthma.

Bronchial asthma is characterized by infiltration of the respiratory tracts by eosinophils. A wide variety of adhesion molecules expressed by eosinophils have been proposed to be involved in binding of eosinophils to the vascular endothelium and subsequent transmigration from the circulation to the airways, while little is known about CD44 expression on eosinophils. We introduced a novel staining combination with which surface markers on eosinophils could be analyzed without purification prior to staining, and examined the expression of CD44 on eosinophils.

Overestimating the size of hepatic malignancy on helical CT during arterial portography: equilibrium phase CT and pathology.

Purpose: Overestimating the size of hepatic malignancy with helical CT during arterial portography (CTAP) can be a potential pitfall in determining liver resection area. We evaluated the prevalence and extent of overestimation of hepatic malignancy on CTAP in correlation with helical equilibrium phase CT (EPCT) and pathologic findings.

Method: CTAP and EPCT in 47 histologically proven malignant hepatic tumors [33 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) and 14 metastases] in 39 patients were retrospectively studied.

Isolation from fetal bovine serum of a fragment b of complement factor B-like protein improving a long-term survival of human endothelial cells.

It is known that serum is a most important factor supporting cell survival and growth. Particularly, the deprivation of serum would result in the death of human endothelial cell. Our previous paper reported an endothelial cell-viability maintaining factor (EC-VMFa) purified from fetal bovine serum and identified as an apolipoprotein.

Methodological assessment of combined spiral CT angiography and CT arterial portography.

Background: To assess an optimal methodology of combined spiral computed tomographic (CT) angiography (CTA) and CT arterial portography (CTAP) for detection and characterization of liver tumors.

Methods: We performed spiral CTAP only in five patients with 30-32% contrast (subset A), CTAP combined with preceding spiral CTA using 30-32% contrast in 19 (subset B), and CTAP combined with preceding spiral CTA with 60-64% contrast in seven (subset C). The CT numbers of the aorta immediately before preceding CTA and subsequent CTAP and the CT numbers of malignant tumor and liver parenchyma with CTAP were measured.

Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in cirrhosis: enhancement of ascites on delayed MR imaging.

Delayed contrast enhancement of ascites in MR imaging performed in a 61-year-old cirrhotic patient who developed spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is discussed. Delayed T1-weighted spin-echo MR images after the IV injection of gadolinium-diethylenetriamine penta-acetic acid (Gd-DTPA) showed remarkable enhancement of ascites. The ascites showed marked elevation in total protein value and neutrophil count, establishing a diagnosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

Detection and characterization of hepatic tumors: value of combined helical CT hepatic arteriography and CT during arterial portography.

Objective: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of combining helical CT hepatic arteriography (CTA) with helical CT during arterial portography (CTAP) for detecting and characterizing hepatic tumors.

Materials And Methods: From January 1994 to September 1995, combined helical CTA and CTAP were performed in 52 patients (38 men and 14 women, 37-83 years old [mean, 64.1 years old]) with suspected primary or metastatic hepatic tumors before they were evaluated for hepatic resection.

Three-dimensional CT demonstration of intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt draining into the inferior vena cava.

An unusual form of intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt draining into the inferior vena cava was demonstrated using three-dimensional images reconstructed from spiral CT during arterial portography, colour Doppler ultrasonography with flow velocity measurement, and digital subtraction portovenography. The utilization of modern radiological techniques in evaluating intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunts is discussed.

[A case of retained surgical sponge penetrated into the sigmoid colon].

A thread of surgical sponge was found by colonoscopy at the sigmoid colon wall in the tip of a granuloma. The patient was a 50-year-old woman who complained of diarrhea and had a history of Cesarean section and complete hysterectomy. A radiopaque thread that used to be part of the surgical sponge was demonstrated with plain pelvic X-ray films.

Signature current of SO2-induced bronchitis in rabbit.

To investigate abnormalities of airway epithelial ion transport underlying chronic inflammatory airway diseases, we performed electrophysiological, histological, and molecular biological experiments using rabbits exposed to SO2 as a model of bronchitis. By comparison with control, the SO2-exposed trachea exhibited decreased short circuit current (Isc) and conductance associated with increased potential difference. In normal trachea, apical ATP induced a transient Isc activation followed by a suppression, whereas the bronchitis model exhibited a prolonged activation without suppression.

Eosinophils as a source of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in asthmatic airway inflammation.

Bronchial asthma is characterized by eosinophil infiltration and tissue remodeling. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are thought to play critical roles by degradating interstitial matrices in a wide range of lung diseases associated with reorganization of the airway architecture. To investigate whether MMPs are involved in the pathologic processes of bronchial asthma, we examined MMP expression in asthmatic subjects.

Bovine oviductal epithelial cells: their cell culture and applications in studies for reproductive biology.

Epithelial cells of the mammalian oviduct play an important role in reproductive and developmental events that occur there. Oviductal epithelial cells from several mammalian species can be isolated and cultured in serum or serum-free medium in vitro and cell culture of bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOEC) has been described by many investigators. Cultured BOEC show a wide variety of secretory activities and these secretory factors may influence early embryonic development or sperm function.

Experience of patients with end-stage heart failure who underwent heart transplant at UCLA.

From 1993 to 1997, nine Japanese heart transplant candidates were accepted by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center, because no donor heart was available in Japan from a brain-dead patient. In all nine heart transplant patients described in this investigation, the preoperative diagnosis was dilated cardiomyopathy. One patient underwent implantation with a Novacor left ventricular assist device (Baxter Japan, Tokyo, Japan) as a bridge to heart transplant.

Possible involvement of bone marrow stromal cells in agranulocytosis caused by vesnarinone treatment.

Vesnarinone, an oral therapeutic agent for cardiac failure, causes agranulocytosis as a side effect. To elucidate the mechanism of occurrence of the agranulocytosis, we examined the effect of vesnarinone on granulopoiesis using an in vitro human long-term bone marrow culture system. Addition of vesnarinone to the culture decreased the total number of hematopoietic cells, mainly composed of mature granulocytes and macrophages, but increased the number of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (CFU-GM) and CD33-CD34+ cells as compared with an untreated control.

Primary malignant lymphoma of the rectum with distant metastasis to the stomach: report of a case.

Primary extranodal malignant lymphoma frequently occurs in the gastrointestinal tract: however, it is rarely encountered in the rectum. We report herein the case of an 85-year-old man who underwent abdominoperineal resection for primary malignant lymphoma of the rectum, and 1 year later, developed hematemesis caused by gastric metastasis. To our knowledge this is the first case report of such distant metastasis developing from malignant lymphoma of the rectum.

Nonpathological focal enhancements on spiral CT hepatic angiography.

Background: To assess the frequency and characteristics of nonpathological focal enhancements seen on spiral computed tomographic (CT) hepatic angiography (CTA).

Methods: Spiral CTA and spiral CT arterial portography (CTAP) were performed in 31 patients with suspected liver malignancy prior to potential liver resection. The CTA images were retrospectively reviewed for focal enhancements by two radiologists.