Hepatic hemangioma in a simple liver cyst mimicking biliary cystic neoplasm.

Background: Follow-up is recommended for an asymptomatic unilocular hepatic cystic lesion without wall-thickness and nodular components. A few liver cystic lesions represent biliary cystic neoplasms, which are difficult to differentiate from simple cysts with benign mural nodules on imaging alone.

Case Presentation: An 84-year-old woman with a history of simple liver cyst diagnosed one year prior was admitted for evaluation of a developed mural nodule in the cystic lesion.

Intraoperative subcortical mapping of a language-associated deep frontal tract connecting the superior frontal gyrus to Broca's area in the dominant hemisphere of patients with glioma.

Object: The deep frontal pathway connecting the superior frontal gyrus to Broca's area, recently named the frontal aslant tract (FAT), is assumed to be associated with language functions, especially speech initiation and spontaneity. Injury to the deep frontal lobe is known to cause aphasia that mimics the aphasia caused by damage to the supplementary motor area. Although fiber dissection and tractography have revealed the existence of the tract, little is known about its function.

[A case of splenic artery aneurysm simulating a pancreas tumor].

A 46-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for further evaluation of a hypoechogenic mass in the pancreatic body. He had no history of hypertension, pancreatitis, abdominal trauma, or portal hypertension. He had no abdominal symptoms.

Balloon overtube-guided colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection.

Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of a balloon overtube to assist colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) using a gastroscope.

Methods: The results of 45 consecutive patients who underwent colorectal ESD were analyzed in a single tertiary endoscopy center. In preoperative evaluation of access to the lesion, difficulties were experienced in the positioning and stabilization of a gastroscope in 15 patients who were thus assigned to the balloon-guided ESD group.

[Combination of irinotecan and Mitomycin C as second-line chemotherapy for patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer in clinical practice].

Background: Recently, combination S-1 and CDDP chemotherapy is considered as a standard regimen for unresectable or recurrent gastric cancer. Second-line chemotherapy is reportedly important to improve survival, and combination of Irinotecan and Mitomycin C as second-line chemotherapy has proven effective in phase II study of JCOG 0109-DI.

Purpose: We assessed the efficacy of combination of Irinotecan and Mitomycin C as second-line chemotherapy for unresectable and recurrent gastric cancer.

Prevalence of changes in undiagnosed glucose intolerance according to age and gender in Japanese middle-aged working people.

Background: Undiagnosed diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) have important health consequences.

Methods And Results: To examine the prevalence of undiagnosed glucose intolerance, oral glucose tolerance tests were administered to 1,142 consecutively enrolled middle-aged subjects (age range 40-55 years; 914 men, mean 50.7 years; 228 women, mean 49.

Staging of early colorectal cancers: magnifying colonoscopy versus endoscopic ultrasonography for estimation of depth of invasion.

Background And Aims: Preoperative estimation of depth of invasion in early colorectal cancers (CRCs) is essential for patient management. This study was conducted to compare the diagnostic accuracies of magnifying colonoscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) for estimating the depth of invasion of early CRCs.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 438 early CRCs were removed endoscopically or surgically from July 1993 through March 1999 at our hospital.

Magnifying colonoscopy as a non-biopsy technique for differential diagnosis of non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions.

Aim: To clarify whether mucosal crypt patterns observed with magnifying colonoscopy are feasible to distinguish non-neoplastic polyps from neoplastic polyps.

Methods: From June 1999 through March 2000, 180 consecutive patients with 210 lesions diagnosed with a magnifying colonoscope (CF-200Z, Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.

Incidence and localization of lymphoid follicles in early colorectal neoplasms.

Aim: To investigate the incidence and localizations of lymphoid follicles (LFs) in early colorectal neoplasms in human beings.

Methods: From July 1992 to September 1999, a total of 1,324 early colorectal neoplasms were removed endoscopically or surgically at our hospital; 1,031 (77.9%) were available for analysis in this study.

A new endoscopic tattooing technique for identifying the location of colonic lesions during laparoscopic surgery: a comparison with the conventional technique.

Background And Study Aims: Knowledge of the exact location of colorectal lesions is necessary but difficult to establish during surgery. Thus, endoscopic tattooing has been used as an important preoperative marker for identification. Using the conventional technique, we injected tattooing agents directly into the colonic wall.

Assessment of colorectal lesions using magnifying colonoscopy and mucosal dye spraying: can significant lesions be distinguished?

Background And Study Aims: Assessing the nature of lesions at the time of colonoscopy is important, and magnifying colonoscopy allows examination of mucosal crypt patterns. In this study, we assessed mucosal crypt patterns to see whether we could predict the histological findings.

Patients And Methods: This retrospective study of total colonoscopy using magnifying colonoscopy involved 4445 patients between December 1993 and July 1998 at the National Cancer Center Hospital East.

Clinicopathological differences between colonic and rectal carcinomas: are they based on the same mechanism of carcinogenesis?

Background: There is a difference in the location of colorectal mucosal lesions and invasive cancers.

Aims: To ascertain whether the location of colorectal neoplasms reflects the carcinogenesis pathway.

Methods: The subject material consisted of 4147 neoplastic lesions that had been resected endoscopically or surgically from 5025 patients.

Diagnostic findings in endoscopic screening of superficial colorectal neoplasia: results from a prospective study.

Background: A prospective study was carried out to clarify the efficacy of an endoscopic screening program for detecting superficial colorectal neoplasias by color changes such as faint redness or discoloration, which have been described as a key finding of these lesions in the literature.

Methods: We enrolled 716 consecutive cases in this study, but more than half of them did not reveal any abnormalities colonoscopically.

Results: Of the 716 cases, 48 (7%) were examined by magnifying colonoscopy with a dye spraying technique, following the detection of superficial color changes.

Growth patterns and genetic changes of colorectal carcinoma.

Background: Recent Japanese studies have shown that histogenesis of small colorectal carcinomas can be divided into two groups: polypoid growth arising from polypoid neoplasia, and nonpolypoid growth arising from flat or depressed neoplasia. This classification should be verified with genetic as well as morphologic characteristics.

Subjects And Methods: In order to classify our subject into polypoid growth and nonpolypoid growth types both histologically and endoscopically, we selected 42 colorectal carcinomas < 2 cm in size (35 submucosal and seven more advanced).

Diagnostic utility of endoscopic ultrasonography for preoperative rectal cancer staging estimation.

The preoperative staging accuracy of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) was assessed in 38 rectal cancer patients who underwent rectal EUS and curative surgery from July 1992 to September 1994. We used a GF-UM20 instrument with both 12- and 7.5-MHz transducers.

Concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy for locally advanced carcinoma of the esophagus.

A pilot study was undertaken to clarify the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy against locally advanced esophageal carcinoma. The 20 patients in this study had previously untreated esophageal carcinoma with evidence of T4 disease and/or distant node metastases. Chemotherapy consisted of protracted infusion of 5-fluorouracil at a dose of 400 mg/m2/day on days 1-5 and 8-12, combined with a 2-h infusion of cisplatinum at 40 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8.

Expression of integrin alpha 3 in gastric and colorectal cancers: its relation to wall contraction and mode of invasion.

We macroscopically classified 25 gastric and 23 colorectal advanced cancers into "contracted" and "uncontracted" types, and found immunohistochemically that integrin subunit alpha 3 was more frequently expressed in the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the former than in the latter (75%:9/12 vs. 38%: 5/13 in gastric and 86%:6/7 vs. 25%:4/16 in colorectal cancers, respectively).

Small cell carcinoma of the esophagus with an esophago-mediastinal fistula successfully treated by chemoradiation therapy and intubation: a case report.

A case of esophageal small cell carcinoma with cervical node metastases and an esophago-mediastinal fistula was treated successfully by chemoradiotherapy. The fistula, after irradiation, was handled successfully by esophageal intubation, followed by infusional 5-fluorouracil and cisplatinum chemotherapy, resulting in the closure of the fistula. Two courses of concurrent chemoradiotherapy, followed by additional cisplatinum and etoposide chemotherapy, were administered.