Publications by authors named "Kiminori Fujimoto"

Background: The prognostic factors in mild fibrosing interstitial lung disease (FILD) have not been established.

Methods: We retrospectively attempted to identify predictive factors of annual progression in mild FILD with gender-age-physiology (GAP) score of 3 or less using logistic regression analysis. Annual FILD progression was defined as meeting any two or more of the following conditions: 1, more than 10% decrease in forced vital capacity (FVC) or 15% decrease in diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (D); 2, worsening of dyspnea; 3, worsening of fibrotic change on CT at 1 year after admission.

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Introduction: Postpancreaticoduodenectomy hemorrhage (PPH) is a serious complication. Fatty or nonfibrous pancreas, or both, is a risk factor for pancreatic fistula. This study assessed various prognostic factors for interventional procedures for PPH, also focusing on the degree of pancreatic fatty infiltration/fibrosis evaluated histopathologically.

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Background And Purpose: Idiopathic dendriform pulmonary ossification (DPO) is mostly asymptomatic, and detected incidentally in lung CT. There have been no reports on the precise CT-pathologic correlation and the prevalence of idiopathic DPO. This study aimed to clarify the histological background and prevalence of idiopathic DPO.

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Objective: This study investigated the prognostic factors of anti-melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 antibody-positive dermatomyositis (MDA5-DM).

Methods: This study analysed 34 MDA5-DM cases (20 and 14 in the survival and death groups, respectively) encountered at Kurume University between 2008 and 2021. The clinical, physiological, and computed tomography findings, pulmonary function, and serological results were retrospectively evaluated for each MDA5-DM case during the first visit and throughout the next 12 weeks.

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F-FDG PET/CT is regarded as a modality utilized for the purpose of lesion localization, staging and assessment of treatment response in patients with lymphoma. However, it is difficult that we diagnose among multifocal lymphoma, IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD), or a combination of both conditions when confronted with multiple sites of F-FDG uptake with heightened serum IgG4 levels. We present a case of a 72-year-old male who was suspected of Sjögren's syndrome based on symptoms of xerostomia accompanied by swelling of the bilateral upper eyelid and salivary glands.

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A 50-year-old woman was diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia on general medical examination. Further, contrast-enhanced abdominal CT and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a large hypervascular mass with internal degeneration and necrosis in the retroperitoneal space. She was referred to our hospital for further evaluation and treatment.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study looked at a protein called periostin to see if it could help doctors predict how well patients with a lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) would do after treatment with a drug named nintedanib.
  • Researchers measured different levels of periostin in 87 patients and compared them to 43 other patients who hadn't been treated with antifibrotic drugs before.
  • They found that higher levels of periostin were linked to better chances of survival and more effectiveness of nintedanib in treating IPF, which might help doctors make better treatment plans in the future.
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Article Synopsis
  • A study examined periostin as a potential biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) by measuring various serum levels in patients and healthy controls.
  • Results showed that periostin levels were significantly higher in RA-ILD patients compared to those with RA alone and healthy individuals, with KL-6 being particularly effective in detecting ILD in RA patients.
  • The findings indicate that periostin correlates with certain lung disease patterns and could aid in diagnosing and assessing fibrosis in RA-ILD, suggesting its use in treatment decisions.
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Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a life-threatening inflammatory lung injury with high mortality; no approved medication exists. Efficacy and safety of bone marrow-derived, allogeneic, multipotent adult progenitor cells (invimestrocel) plus standard treatment in patients with ARDS caused by pneumonia was evaluated.

Methods: A randomized, open-label, standard therapy-controlled, phase 2 study (January 2019-September 2021) conducted in 29 centers in Japan.

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Objective: Anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase antibody-positive polymyositis/dermatomyositis-associ ated interstitial lung disease (ARS-ILD) has a good prognosis, with few cases progressing to respiratory failure. This study aimed to determine factors predictive of lung function changes in patients with ARS-ILD.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 49 patients with ARS-ILD treated at Kurume University Hospital Hospital between 2000 and 2018.

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Background: Transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) has widely used for the diagnosis of diffuse lung disease. However, it remains unclear whether TBLC is useful for the diagnosis in hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP).

Methods: We investigated 18 patients who underwent TBLC and were diagnosed with HP based on pathology or multidisciplinary discussion (MDD).

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Background: Interstitial lung abnormalities (ILAs) are subtle or mild parenchymal abnormalities observed in more than 5% of the lungs on computed tomography (CT) scans in patients in whom interstitial lung disease was not previously clinically suspected and is considered. ILA is considered to be partly undeveloped stages of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) or progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF). This study aims to clarify the frequency of subsequent IPF or PPF diagnosis, the natural course from the preclinical status of the diseases, and the course after commencing treatment.

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Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the value of fat-suppressed T2-weighted imaging (FS-T2WI) for predicting short-term pain relief after polidocanol sclerotherapy for painful venous malformations (VMs) in the extremities.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included patients with painful VMs in the extremities between October 2014 and September 2021, had their first sclerotherapy without history of surgical therapy, and underwent magnetic resonance imaging before sclerotherapy. Pain relief was assessed 2 months after 3% polidocanol sclerotherapy and was categorized as follows: progression, no change, partial relief, or free of pain.

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Background: Skeletal muscle atrophy, a common complication of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and its presence upon diagnosis can indicate a poor prognosis. Patients with IPF frequently experience acute exacerbations (AE), which is associated with a high mortality rate. However, the association between skeletal muscle atrophy and short-term mortality remains unknown.

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Unlabelled: The accuracy of transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) in each disease for pathological and multidisciplinary discussion (MDD) diagnosis is not yet established.

Method: We investigated 431 patients who were classified by MDD diagnosis and were grouped into the disease categories. For each category or disease, we used TBLC samples to calculate the sensitivities of the pathological diagnosis compared with MDD diagnoses.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find useful imaging features on non-contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that can divide patients with thymic epithelial tumor (TET) into clinical stage I-II and III-IV groups under assumption that contrast media are contraindicated.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study included 106 patients (median age, 60 years; range, 27-82 years; 62 women) with surgically resected TET who underwent MRI between August 1986 and July 2015. All cases were classified according to the 2015 WHO classification and staged using the eighth edition of the TNM system.

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Various autoantibodies are associated with clinical outcomes in patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs). We retrospectively analyzed the association between autoantibodies and malignancies in IIP patients. Comprehensive analyses of autoantibodies were performed using immunoprecipitation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in 193 consecutive IIP patients.

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Background: Although corticosteroid therapy with dose tapering is the most commonly used treatment for acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (AE-IPF), there is no consensus on the tapering regimen. This study aimed to investigate the association between early corticosteroid dose tapering and in-hospital mortality in patients with AE-IPF.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed the data of a cohort from eight Japanese tertiary care hospitals and routinely collected administrative data from a cohort from 185 Japanese hospitals.

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A 54-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple lung nodules during a health checkup. The nodules were up to 5 mm in diameter and randomly distributed in both lungs, appearing ring-shaped. No clinical symptoms were present.

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An 82-year-old woman complained of recurring cough and shortness of breath and was diagnosed with progressive multiple myeloma (MM). Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed bilateral ground-glass opacity and interlobular septal thickening predominantly in the lower lung zones. Histopathologic findings obtained by a transbronchial lung cryobiopsy (TBLC) revealed alveolitis and granulomas consistent with granulomatous-lymphocytic interstitial lung disease (GLILD).

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Vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in early December 2020 worldwide, and healthcare workers in Japan were vaccinated in February 2021. We encountered three patients who underwent F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for cancer screening at our institution, showing FDG uptakes in the axillary lymph nodes, which seemed to be reactive changes. Two of them were males in their 40s and one was a female in her 50s; all of them were healthcare workers.

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Background: This study aimed to determine whether ongoing vascular inflammation presents in patients who had coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs) caused by Kawasaki disease (KD).

Methods: Subjects were 26 patients with a history of KD; 15 had giant CAA (gCAA) ≥ 8.0 mm and 11 had smaller CAA (smCAA) < 8 mm in the acute phase.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Periostin is a protein that influences various cell functions and could serve as a biomarker for multiple diseases; however, its measurement is impacted by its complex formation with IgA in human serum.
  • - Researchers explored how this periostin-IgA complex affects measurement accuracy in their original ELISA system, and which parts of the periostin protein play a role in this interaction.
  • - They developed a new ELISA method that accurately measures periostin levels without being influenced by the IgA complex, enhancing its potential for use in diagnosing different diseases.
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Article Synopsis
  • - A rare case of HTLV-1-associated bronchioloalveolar disorder (HABA) was challenging to differentiate from fibrotic chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (CHP) due to similar symptoms and imaging results.
  • - Chest CT scans showed diffuse micronodules, interlobular septa thickening, ground-glass opacities, and signs of air trapping, leading to considerations of various diseases that could cause these lymphatic abnormalities.
  • - A surgical lung biopsy and Western blot analysis confirmed the presence of HTLV-1 antibodies in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, leading to a final diagnosis of HABA after collaborative evaluation by specialists.
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