Usefulness of Japanese staging in the prognosis of patients treated operatively for adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas.

Background: Differences in the clinical staging in Japan from that of the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) staging system may account for discrepancies in the prognosis of carcinoma of the pancreas between Japan and the United States of America.

Study Design: This study compares the usefulness of Japanese staging with the UICC staging in 1,689 patients who underwent resection for carcinoma of the pancreatic head registered with the Japan Pancreas Society.

Results: The survival rate was correlated with the Japanese stage classification.

Effect of chronic pancreatic juice diversion on enteroglucagon secretion and intestinal mucosal growth in dogs.

We developed a new canine model of chronic pancreatic juice diversion from duodenum to distal ileum in order to investigate the effect of pancreatic juice on the secretion of enteroglucagon, and the growth of intestinal mucosa. In seven adult mongrel dogs, the minor pancreatic duct was ligated and excised. Then, 3 cm of duodenal segment including the pancreatic duct was transformed into a small pouch which was anastomosed to the distal ileum.

Gastrointestinal motor activity after pylorus-preserving gastrectomy with or without vagotomy in dogs.

Background: In the present study we evaluated gastrointestinal motility after gastrectomy of a new pylorus-preserving technique that is becoming a popular operation for early stage carcinoma of the stomach.

Study Design: Using strain-gauge force transducers we studied gastrointestinal motility in control dogs, dogs after pylorus-preserving gastrectomy, and dogs after conventional distal gastrectomy with Billroth I reconstruction. Dogs with gastrectomy were reoperated upon after recording motility patterns, and the effect of vagal denervation of the gastric remnant on motility was investigated.

Validity of the Karnofsky Performance Status in an HIV-infected sample.

The Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) is the most widely used health status measure in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) medicine and research. Because there are limited data on KPS metric properties in this setting, we present evidence of the construct validity of the KPS in a sample of HIV-infected persons using data from the AIDS Time-Oriented Health Outcome Study (ATHOS). The sample consisted of 160 primarily white, homosexual/bisexual men with a mean age of 45 years and a mean KPS score of 82 (range, 40-100).

[Oral administration of OK-432 is an effective immunotherapy against colon cancer--a study in a murine mesenteric lymphnode metastasis model].

A simple and highly reproducible mouse colonic cancer model with mesenteric lymph node (MLN) metastasis was established by injecting COLON-26 tumor cells into lymphatic nodules in the tip of vermiform appendix of BALB/C mice. In this model, antitumor effect of orally administered OK-432 was examined. OK-432 was given orally at three different periods: before injection of COLON-26 cells (Protocol-A), early after injection of COLON-26 cells (Protocol-B), and late after injection of COLON-26 cells (Protocol-C).

Hepatocyte growth factor and Met receptor expression in human pancreatic carcinogenesis.

We have used immunohistochemistry to evaluate the clinicopathological significance of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and Met/HGF receptor expression in ductal lesions of 46 human pancreata. Normal duct epithelium shows no significant immunoreactivity for either HGF or Met. Strong immunostaining for HGF was respectively demonstrated in hyperplastic and severely dysplastic epithelia in 35.

Intragastric capsaicin stimulates colonic motility via a neural reflex in conscious dogs.

Background & Aims: Capsaicin is known to contract smooth muscles and to have an excitatory action on thin, primary afferent neurons. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that intragastric capsaicin may have an excitatory effect on colonic motility.

Methods: Mongrel dogs equipped with five strain-gauge force transducers on the colon (C1-C5) were used.

Establishment of a new extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma cell line, TFK-1.

A new human extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma cell line (TFK-1) was established from a surgically resected tumor specimen, which was histologically diagnosed as partly papillary adenocarcinoma and partly differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma. The tumor cells cultured in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% FBS grew as monolayers showing epithelial-like morphology with a population doubling time of 37 hr during exponential growth at passage 40. Chromosome number was distributed in the range of 72 to 76, with a modal number of 73.

Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 expression by macrophages in human gastrointestinal carcinoma: possible roles as host immune/inflammatory reaction.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) are one of the factors which modulate the carcinoma progression. The present study described immunohistochemical expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in stromal cells in human gastrointestinal carcinoma identifying the cell types by immunoelectron microscopy. In colon and gastric carcinomas, ICAM-1-positive cells were mostly stromal cells, and major cell types were identified as macrophages and fibroblasts by immunoelectron microscopy.

Clinical significance of reverse redistribution phenomenon after coronary artery bypass grafting.

The reverse redistribution (RR) phenomenon is a decrease in thallium 201 uptake during redistribution compared with 201Tl uptake immediately after exercise. We evaluated RR in 23 patients after coronary artery bypass grafting. Postoperative RR was present in 48% and was significantly more common in patients with a history of myocardial infarction (62%).

Cell adhesion molecule expression by vascular endothelial cells as an immune/inflammatory reaction in human colon carcinoma.

The cell adhesion of inflammatory cells to vascular endothelial cells is an important process in the recruitment of inflammatory cells to the site. In cancer tissue, infiltration of inflammatory cells has been suggested to be a mechanism of host resistance. To clarify this infiltration mechanism, we investigated cell adhesion molecule expression (E-selectin, P-selectin, and ICAM-1) in vascular endothelial cells by immunohistochemistry in colon carcinoma.

Gastric mucosal phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxide increases during cold water-immersion restraint stress in rats.

To know the role of lipid peroxidation in the pathogenesis of stress-induced gastric mucosal lesions, we performed the present study. Both gastric mucosal lesions and gastric mucosal phosphatidylcholine hydroperoxides (PCOOH) levels during cold water-immersion restraint (CWIR) stress were measured by the chemiluminecence-HPLC method in Sprague-Dawley rats. Ulcer indices increased time-dependently during the stress.

Comparison of false negative rates among breast cancer screening modalities with or without mammography: Miyagi trial.

False negative rates were compared in two screening modalities, physical examination with or without mammography, in an intervention study for women aged over 50 in Miyagi Prefecture. Thirty-five breast cancers were detected in 12,515 subjects who participated in the trial consisting of physical examination and mammography, whereas 44 breast cancers were detected in 50,105 subjects who received physical examination alone, so that the detection rates were 0.28% and 0.

Deletion mapping in squamous cell carcinomas of the esophagus defines a region containing a tumor suppressor gene within a 4-centimorgan interval of the distal long arm of chromosome 9.

Recent studies in our laboratory indicated that inactivation of a putative tumor suppressor gene on chromosome 9q is likely to be associated with an early step of esophageal carcinogenesis. To further define a region containing the putative tumor suppressor gene, we have examined loss of heterozygosity in 37 esophageal squamous cell carcinomas using 14 microsatellite markers mapped to 9q31-q34.1.

The role of angiogenesis in the tumor growth of Syrian hamster pancreatic cancer cell line HPD-NR.

Background/aims: New therapeutic approach is required for pancreatic cancer, one of the most intractable malignancies. The role of angiogenesis in the tumor growth of a Syrian hamster pancreatic cancer cell line HPD-NR, which closely resembles its human counterpart, was investigated.

Methods: Angiogenic activity was measured as stimulation of growth of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), and angiogenic factors produced by HPD-NR cells were identified by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and Northern blot analysis.

Effect of motilin on colonic motor activity in the interdigestive state in conscious dogs.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of motilin at various doses on colonic motility in the interdigestive state. Colonic motility was investigated in five dogs equipped with strain gauge force transducers on the gastric antrum, and on the proximal, middle, and distal colon. Exogenously infused motilin (0.

[Transfer of carmofur (HCFU) to the serum, bile, pancreatic juice and pancreatic tumor tissue in the cases of peri-pancreatic head cancer].

The concentrations of carmofur, 1-hexyl-carbamoyl-5-fluorouracil (HCFU), in the serum, bile, pancreatic juice and pancreatic tumor tissue were studied in 18 cases of peri-pancreatic head cancer with drainages of the pancreatic and biliary ducts after pancreatico-duodenectomy. As a result, high concentrations of HCFU and 5-FU were detected in the serum, bile and pancreatic juice after a per-oral administration of HCFU, 200 mg: HCFU was high in the order of serum > bile and pancreatic juice, and 5-FU in the order of bile, serum and pancreatic juice. Two hours after administration, 5-FU concentration in the bile and serum attained to the maximum levels of 0.

The time of occurrence of liver metastasis in carcinoma of the pancreas.

By measuring the doubling time of liver metastasis, the authors investigated the possibility of occult liver metastasis at the time of pancreatectomy in patients with pancreatic carcinoma. We calculated tumor doubling times of liver metastases in six patients after pancreatectomy for periampullary carcinoma and compared with cell doubling times. We also calculated the diameters of the occult liver metastases at the time of pancreatectomy on the assumption that the growth rates of liver metastasis were constant.

[Gastric emptying of semi-solid meal in normal man with special reference to relationship between plasma acetoaminophen concentrations and gastric emptying time].

Correlation between gastric emptying time measured by a radioisotope method and plasma acetoaminophen level was studied in 11 preoperative early gastric cancer in semisolid meal. A significant correlation was found between both gastric emptying half-time and plasma acetoaminophen level at 30, 45 minutes after ingestion of meal, and plasma acetoaminophen level at maximum. We conclude that acetoaminophen analysis is useful to measure gastric emptying at semisolid meal.

[Bacteriological and clinical evaluation tazobactam/piperacillin in infectious diseases in surgical field].

We carried out bacteriological and clinical studies on tazobactam/piperacillin (TAZ/PIPC), a combination drug of piperacillin with the new beta-lactamase inhibitor tazobactam, in various infectious diseases in surgical field such as intra-abdominal infections (peritonitis and intra-abdominal abscess), hepatobiliary infections (cholecystitis, cholangitis and hepatic abscess) and secondary infections in wound, etc. The total number of cases treated with the combination drug was 164. Of these cases, 141 cases were assessable for clinical responses including 60 cases with intra-abdominal infections, 38 cases with hepatobiliary infections, and 43 cases with secondary infections.

[Comparison of the long-term results of intra or extracardiac implanted bioprosthetic valves].

The long-term results following intra or extracardiac implanted bioprosthetic valves were compared. Forty-one patients, whose average age at the operation was 43.3 +/- 10.

Changes in wound healing factors in liver cirrhosis after esophageal transection for esophageal varices.

Quantitative changes in plasma wound healing factors in cirrhotic patients after esophageal transection were evaluated and compared with those of non-cirrhotic esophageal cancer patients (controls) after esophageal resection. Serum total protein, albumin and fibronectin were maintained at the same levels as those in controls when multiple units of fresh frozen plasma and albumin products were employed. Nevertheless, the principle protease inhibitors including alpha-1-antitrypsin and alpha-1-acid-glycoprotein showed little increase by the 3rd postoperative day, while those of controls increased as much as twofold at this time.