[IgG4-related sclerosing disease].

Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is a peculiar type of pancreatitis of presumed autoimmune etiology. AIP is diagnosed currently based on characteristic radiological findings (irregular narrowing of the main pancreatic duct and enlargement of the pancreas) in combination with serological findings (elevation of serum IgG, and IgG4, and presence of autoantibodies), clinical findings (elderly male preponderance, occasional extrapancreatic lesions, and favorable response to steroid therapy), and histopathological findings (dense infiltration of IgG4-positive plasma cells and T lymphocytes with fibrosis and obliterative phlebitis in the pancreas). Based on histological and immunohistochemical examination of various organs of AIP patients, a novel clinicopathological entity of "IgG4-related sclerosing disease" has been proposed.

[Free/total prostate specific antigen ratio (%PSA) to predict probability of prostate cancer].

It has been reported recently that %PSA, the ratio of free-PSA(F-PSA) and total-PSA(T-PSA), remains significantly lower in sera of patients with prostatic cancer(PCA) than there in cases with benign prostate hypertrophy(BPH). We examined %PSA can be used for differential diagnosis of PCA from BPH. Forty-seven non-treated Japanese patients with prostate problem were examined for PSA assays and biopsy.

[Usefulness of cardiac troponin I in patients with acute myocardial infarction].

Cardiac troponin(cTn) is a sensitive marker for acute myocardial infarction(AMI). However, some cases of renal failure have been reported to show false positive results for cardiac troponin T(cTnT). Recently, it has been reported that heart-type fatty acid-binding protein(H-FABP) is a sensitive marker for AMI in the early phase.