Significance of Continuous Low-Dose Lenvatinib for the Treating of the Patients with Unresectable Thyroid Carcinoma.

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor lenvatinib has been confirmed as an effective treatment option for patients with unresectable thyroid carcinoma. We conducted a retrospective analysis of the significance of the effect of continued lenvatinib treatment for the longest duration possible at a reasonable daily dose and with a minimum discontinuation period in 42 patients with unresectable thyroid carcinoma treated with lenvatinib between 2015 and 2020. A Cox proportional hazard model-based analysis revealed that the overall survival of the patients treated with a <8 mg/day mean dose of lenvatinib was significantly better than that of the patients treated with 8-24 mg/day (hazard ratio [HR] 0.

Therapeutic outcomes of laryngeal closure and laryngostomy in children with recurrent pneumonia.

Purpose: Children with medical complexity frequently experience difficulty breathing and swallowing and occasionally develop aspiration pneumonia. Long-term intubation may cause fatal trachea-innominate artery fistula (TIF). In the present study, we retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of laryngeal closure and laryngostomy in children with medical complexity.

Optimal Management of the Unilateral Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Involvement in Patients with Thyroid Cancer.

We aimed to determine the optimal management of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) involvement in thyroid cancer. We enrolled 80 patients with unilateral RLN involvement in thyroid cancer between 2000 and 2016. Eleven patients with preoperatively functional vocal folds (VFs) underwent sharp tumor resection to preserve the RLN (shaving group).

Treatment Outcomes of Pulmonary Metastases from Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Although the lung is the most common site of distant metastases from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), the number of reports about the effects of pulmonary metastasectomy for the treatment of lung metastasis from HNSCC is limited. Metachronous pulmonary metastases were detected in 45 HNSCC patients at Kumamoto University Hospital from 1998 to 2018. Twenty-two patients underwent an operative resection (Ope group) and 23 underwent chemotherapy (Chemo group).

Swallowing dysfunction following surgery for well-differentiated thyroid cancer with extrathyroid invasion.

Background: Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) can invade the surrounding aerodigestive tract. Radical surgery for locally advanced DTC will require resection of the trachea, recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), inferior pharyngeal constrictor muscles (IPCMs), or a part of the esophagus. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effect of resection of these surrounding tissues combined with total thyroidectomy and neck dissection on swallowing function following surgery.

Pharyngocutaneous fistula caused by dried 'Kombu' (edible seaweed) after total laryngectomy.

The most common early complication after total laryngectomy is pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF). However, there are no reports of PCF after total laryngectomy caused by 'Kombu' (edible seaweed) as a foreign body in the digestive tract. A 68-year-old Japanese man had undergone total laryngectomy 5 years previously.

Delayed transmastoid facial nerve decompression surgery in patients with Ramsay-Hunt syndrome presenting with neurophysiologically complete paralysis.

Objectives: To determine the efficacy of delayed transmastoid facial nerve decompression in patients with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome (RHS) presenting with complete facial paralysis.

Methods: Twenty-five RHS patients with complete facial nerve paralysis presenting electroneuronographic (ENoG) degeneration ≥90% underwent transmastoid facial nerve decompression more than 3 weeks after the onset of paralysis. The principal features measured were 12 months pre- and post-operative House-Brackmann (HB) grades and the presence of a direct intraoperative neural response (INR) prior to decompression procedure.

Transplanting mouse induced pluripotent stem cells into mouse otocysts in vivo.

The otocyst is an attractive target for studying treatment strategies for genetic hearing loss and for understanding inner ear development. We have previously reported that trans-uterine supplemental gene therapy in vivo into the otocysts of mice, which had a loss of function mutation in a causative gene of deafness, was able to prevent putative hearing loss. We herein set out to clarify the feasibility of allogenic cell transplantation into the mouse otocysts in vivo.

Protein transduction therapy into cochleae via the round window niche in guinea pigs.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are short sequences of amino acids that facilitate the penetration of conjugated cargoes across mammalian cell membranes, and as such, they may provide a safe and effective method for drug delivery to the inner ear. Simple polyarginine peptides have been shown to induce significantly higher cell penetration rates among CPPs. Herein, we show that a peptide consisting of nine arginines ("9R") effectively delivered enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) into guinea pig cochleae via the round window niche without causing any deterioration in auditory function.

Neurogenesis of the spiral ganglion cells in the cochlea requires the transcriptional cofactor TIS21.

The molecular mechanisms controlling the proliferation and differentiation of spiral ganglion cells (SGCs) in the inner ear are still largely unknown. TIS21 is a transcriptional cofactor that shows antiproliferative, antiapoptotic, and prodifferentiative effects on neural progenitor cells. To investigate the function of TIS21 during SGC development, we analyzed SGC neurogenesis from embryonic day 13.

Mouse otocyst transuterine gene transfer restores hearing in mice with connexin 30 deletion-associated hearing loss.

Although numerous causative genes for hereditary hearing loss have been identified, there are no fundamental treatments for this condition. Herein, we describe a novel potential treatment for genetic hearing loss. Because mutations or deletions in the connexin (Cx) genes are common causes of profound congenital hearing loss in both humans and mice, we investigated whether gene supplementation therapy using the wild-type Cx gene could cure hearing loss.

Protein transduction into the mouse otocyst using arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides.

The mouse otocyst, an anlage of the inner ear, is an attractive experimental target for developing treatment modalities for congenital inner ear diseases and for studying inner ear development. Poly-arginine (6-12 residues) is a cell-penetrating peptide and can be used to deliver cargo into cells. Here, we achieved transutero delivery of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fused to a nine-arginine peptide into mouse embryonic otocysts.