Left Renal Cortical Thickness Measured by Ultrasound Can Predict Early Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease.

Aims: The kidney becomes atrophic in advanced chronic kidney disease, and renal size and parenchymal volume correlate with renal function. However, alterations in renal parenchymal volume have not been adequately studied in terms of the renal cortex and medulla. We investigated the relationship between the changes in the renal cortex and medulla and renal function.

Rapid and early α-fetoprotein and des-γ-carboxy prothrombin responses to initial arterial infusion chemotherapy predict treatment outcomes of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

The aim of the present study was to predict the effects of transarterial infusion (TAI) chemotherapy based on early changes in α-fetoprotein (AFP) and des-γ-carboxy prothrombin (DCP) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Seventy-four patients who underwent TAI with cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, mitomycin C and epirubicin for advanced HCC were enrolled. Antitumor responses were evaluated 6 months after TAI.

[A patient with unresectable progressive advanced rectal cancer maintained in a state of remission by using combination therapy].

We report the case of a patient with unresectable progressive advanced rectal cancer, who has been able to maintain a good quality of life because of combination therapy, including chemoradiotherapy. A 52-year-old woman was diagnosed with progressive locally advanced rectal cancer and invasion of the adnexa of the uterus and the left ureter. No distant metastasis was detected.