Incidence and clinical impact of silent pancreatitis after aortic arch surgery.

Background: This study was designed to investigate the incidence and types of pancreatic injury, risk factors, and time-course changes in computed tomographic findings following total aortic arch replacement with moderate hypothermic circulatory arrest.

Methods: Medical records of patients who underwent total arch replacement between January 2006 and August 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. A comparison study between the patients with (group P) and without pancreatic injury (group N) was conducted to elucidate the impact of pancreatic injury.

Carbon Dioxide Angiography for the Detection of Lower Gastrointestinal Arterial Bleeding Initially Occult to Angiography with Iodinated Contrast Media.

This study evaluated the utility of carbon dioxide (CO) in angiography for the detection of lower gastrointestinal arterial bleeding initially occult to angiography with iodinated contrast media. Fourteen patients underwent CO-enhanced angiography. In all patients, extravasation was identified by contrast-enhanced computed tomography but not by initial iodinated contrast-enhanced angiography.

Duodenal stenosis after transcatheter arterial embolization for rupture of an inferior pancreaticoduodenal aneurysm.

A 64-year-old man presented with epigastric pain and underwent contrast-enhanced computed tomography. Ruptured aneurysm of the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery was diagnosed. TAE was successfully accomplished using coils, but vomiting appeared 9 days later.

Use of microspheres in embolization for unruptured renal angiomyolipomas.

Purpose: To describe our initial experience with use of microspheres in transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) for unruptured sporadic renal angiomyolipomas (AMLs).

Materials And Methods: Seven consecutive patients with seven unruptured sporadic renal AMLs, 6 females and 1 male, with a median age of 45 years (range, 30-69 years), underwent TAE using microspheres between November 2016 and February 2020. We evaluated the technical success rate, complications related to the procedure, clinical success rate, and the shrinkage rate of renal AML.

Safety and utility of performing CT-guided biopsies of pulmonary lesions that arise after radiotherapy.

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, safety and usefulness of performing computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsies of pulmonary lesions that arise after radiotherapy. Seventeen patients (14 males and 3 females; median age: 69 years, range: 48-84 years) underwent CT-guided biopsies of pulmonary lesions that occurred in lung regions that had previously been treated with radiotherapy. Three patients underwent CT-guided biopsies twice, and thus, the total number of procedures was 20.

Safety of Transcatheter Arterial Embolization for Visceral Artery Pseudoaneurysms: Incidence of Intraprocedural Rupture.

Introduction: Transcatheter arterial embolization is the first-line treatment for visceral artery pseudoaneurysms (VAPAs); however, the intraprocedural rupture of pseudoaneurysms is an important complication. The present study was performed to evaluate the safety of embolization for VAPAs, including the incidence of intraprocedural rupture.

Methods: Among 56 consecutive patients with 57 VAPAs who underwent treatment between April 2009 and October 2020, 46 patients with 47 VAPAs underwent embolization.

Embolization for acute arterial bleeding: use of the triaxial system and -butyl-2-cyanoacrylate.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) using the triaxial system with N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate (NBCA) for acute arterial bleeding in comparison to TAE using the triaxial system with gelatin sponges (GS)　and/or coils.

Material And Methods: Between October 2013 and November 2018, 95 patients with acute arterial bleeding underwent emergency TAE using the triaxial system. Six patients underwent multiple TAEs and thus, 104 TAEs using the triaxial system were performed.

Use of 0.014-in. pushable bare platinum coils in super-selective embolization through the 1.6-Fr. microcatheter of the triaxial system.

Background: A triple-coaxial (triaxial) system, which consists of a small microcatheter, a large microcatheter, and a 4-Fr. catheter, has been reported to allow super-selective catheterization. A 1.

Bronchial arterial embolization using a gelatin sponge for hemoptysis from pulmonary aspergilloma: comparison with other pulmonary diseases.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcomes of bronchial artery embolization (BAE) using a gelatin sponge for hemoptysis from pulmonary aspergilloma and compare them with treatment outcomes for hemoptysis from other diseases.

Methods: Fifty-two patients underwent BAE using a gelatin sponge. The etiology of hemoptysis was pulmonary aspergilloma in 8 (PA group) and other diseases in 44 (control group).

Use of a steerable triaxial system for challenging catheterization.

A steerable triaxial system consisting of a small microcatheter, a high-flow steerable microcatheter, and a 4-Fr. catheter is currently used in clinical settings. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the steerable triaxial system for challenging catheterization.

Usefulness of dual-phase cone-beam computed tomography during arteriography and automated tumour-feeder detection software in transarterial embolization for obscure arterial bleeding in the abdomen.

We report the usefulness of dual-phase cone-beam computed tomography during angiography (CBCTA) and automated tumour-feeder detection software (AFD) in transarterial embolization (TAE) for three consecutive cases of obscure arterial bleeding in the abdomen. Two patients presented with lower gastrointestinal bleeding and one showed bleeding into the pancreatic pseudocyst. Superior mesenteric or common hepatic angiography did not demonstrate extravasation, but dual-phase CBCTA and AFD could identify extravasation and an access route to the bleeding point.

Excretion of necrotic hepatocellular carcinoma tissues into the biliary system after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization.

Aim: To evaluate the incidence and condition of necrotic tumor excretion into the biliary system in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) >5 cm treated with conventional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).

Methods: Eighty-three patients who underwent TACE for newly developed HCC >5 cm without an intraductal tumor thrombus and were followed-up by computed tomography for longer than 6 months were eligible. According to the location, the maximum tumors were divided into central (in contact with the left or right hepatic duct, n = 39) or peripheral (not in contact with them, n = 44).

Performance of novel virtual parenchymal perfusion software visualizing embolized areas of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Aim: To evaluate the performance of novel virtual parenchymal perfusion (VPP) software in conventional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (cTACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: VPP was retrospectively applied to 43 hepatocellular carcinomas treated with cTACE. The virtual embolized area (VEA) was estimated after positioning a virtual injection point on images of non-selective cone-beam computed tomography during hepatic arteriography, at the same position in superselective cTACE.

Evaluation of tumor recurrence after superselective conventional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: Comparison of computed tomography and gadoxetate disodium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

Aim: To retrospectively evaluate the detectability of tumor recurrence with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after superselective conventional transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (cTACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: The detectability of tumor recurrence with CT and gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI obtained within 30 days (mean, 16.9 ± 10.

Efficacy of automated tumor-feeder detection software using cone-beam computed tomography technology in transarterial embolization through extrahepatic collateral vessels for malignant hepatic tumors.

Aim: We evaluated the performance of automated tumor-feeder detection (AFD) software using cone-beam computed tomography technology in identifying tumor-feeders of extrahepatic collaterals.

Methods: AFD was prospectively used in superselective transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) or embolization (TAE) of extrahepatic collaterals for 29 hepatocellular carcinomas and one liver metastasis (mean tumor diameter ± standard deviation, 28 ± 15.6 mm) in 25 patients.

Preoperative transarterial embolization using gelatin sponge for hypervascular bone and soft tissue tumors in the pelvis or extremities.

Background: Preoperative transcatheter arterial embolization for hypervascular bone and soft tissue tumors plays an important role in reducing intraoperative blood loss (IBL).

Purpose: To evaluate the use of a gelatin sponge in preoperative transcatheter arterial embolization for hypervascular bone and soft tissue tumors in the pelvis or extremities.

Material And Methods: Thirty-seven patients (21 men, 16 women; median age, 61 years; age range, 23-79 years) underwent preoperative transcatheter arterial embolization between April 2004 and January 2015.

IgG4-related disease: dataset of 235 consecutive patients.

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a recently discovered systemic condition, in which various organ manifestations are linked by a similar histological appearance. Our knowledge of this condition is still fragmented, as most studies have examined only a few dozen patients or focused on a particular organ manifestation. This study was conducted to learn the demography and patient characteristics of IgG4-RD using a large cohort.

Light composite scalar in twelve-flavor QCD on the lattice.

On the basis of lattice simulations using highly improved staggered quarks for twelve-flavor QCD with several bare fermion masses, we observe a flavor-singlet scalar state lighter than the pion in the correlators of fermionic interpolating operators. The same state is also investigated using correlators of gluonic interpolating operators. Combined with our previous study that showed twelve-flavor QCD to be consistent with being in the conformal window, we infer that the lightness of the scalar state is due to infrared conformality.

Utility of the fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequence in detecting a hyperintense putaminal rim in multiple system atrophy-parkinsonism: a preliminary study.

Objective: To investigate the utility of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) imaging for diagnosing multiple system atrophy-parkinsonism (MSA-P).

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 49 subjects (19 with MSA-P including 11 with early-stage disease, 15 with Parkinson's disease and 15 matched controls) in order to compare the diagnostic value of FLAIR imaging to detect a hyperintense putaminal rim (HPR) with that of T(2)-weighted (T2W) imaging.

Results: Compared with T2W imaging, FLAIR imaging detected HPR more conspicuously in the 19 MSA-P patients (p = 0.

Can dual-energy CT evaluate contrast enhancement of ground-glass attenuation? Phantom and preliminary clinical studies.

Rationale And Objectives: Evaluation of contrast enhancement of pulmonary lesions with ground-glass attenuation (GGA) is difficult with conventional techniques but might be possible using contrast-mapping images (CMIs) obtained by dual-energy computed tomography. To address this issue, a phantom study was conducted, and this technique was then applied to clinical cases.

Materials And Methods: Phantoms made of agarose gel and those made of hollow resin clay, containing various concentrations of iodine or calcium, were used to simulate soft tissue and GGA, respectively.

Acute-onset unilateral psychogenic hearing loss in adults: report of six cases and diagnostic pitfalls.

We encountered 6 rare cases of acute-onset unilateral psychogenic hearing loss in adults. All were women in their 20s and 30s. Three cases had severe hearing impairment characterized by hearing loss at every frequency; 2 cases had profound hearing impairment, and 1 case had low-frequency hearing impairment.

Differences in expression between transcripts using alternative promoters of hMLH1 gene and their correlation with microsatellite instability.

hMLH1 is involved in DNA mismatch repair and its defects cause hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) as well as other types of cancer. A defective DNA mismatch repair system results in genetic instability, also referred to as microsatellite instability (MSI), which is a good indicator of HNPCC. Using in silico analysis of oligo-capping cDNA sequences, we initially identified a splicing (variant type 2) whose second exon is 5 bp shorter than that of a genuine hMLH1 transcript (variant type 1) and a transcript using alternative promoter (variant type 3) whose transcription starts about 300 bases downstream of variant type 1.

Large-scale identification and characterization of alternative splicing variants of human gene transcripts using 56,419 completely sequenced and manually annotated full-length cDNAs.

We report the first genome-wide identification and characterization of alternative splicing in human gene transcripts based on analysis of the full-length cDNAs. Applying both manual and computational analyses for 56,419 completely sequenced and precisely annotated full-length cDNAs selected for the H-Invitational human transcriptome annotation meetings, we identified 6877 alternative splicing genes with 18 297 different alternative splicing variants. A total of 37,670 exons were involved in these alternative splicing events.

Diversification of transcriptional modulation: large-scale identification and characterization of putative alternative promoters of human genes.

By analyzing 1,780,295 5'-end sequences of human full-length cDNAs derived from 164 kinds of oligo-cap cDNA libraries, we identified 269,774 independent positions of transcriptional start sites (TSSs) for 14,628 human RefSeq genes. These TSSs were clustered into 30,964 clusters that were separated from each other by more than 500 bp and thus are very likely to constitute mutually distinct alternative promoters. To our surprise, at least 7674 (52%) human RefSeq genes were subject to regulation by putative alternative promoters (PAPs).