Small multicentric pancreatic carcinoma usefully diagnosed by positron emission tomography.

Pancreatic carcinoma has a poor prognosis, and early detection is essential for potentially curative resection. Despite a wide array of diagnostic tools, pre-operative detection of small pancreatic carcinomas is difficult. We report a case of pancreatic carcinoma that was bicentric and small.

Psoas abscess and bacterial peritonitis caused by urinary tract infection in a patient of liver cirrhosis and diabetes mellitus.

Prognosis of patients with diabetes mellitus or liver cirrhosis can be worsened by the development of a variety of infectious diseases. We describe a case of psoas abscess and bacterial peritonitis in a 58-year-old woman with type C liver cirrhosis and diabetes mellitus hospitalized after having an elevated temperature caused by urinary tract infection for 2 months. The cirrhosis had not been treated and daily self-administration of insulin had been discontinued for the previous 5 months.

[A case of coronary artery embolism after double valve replacement].

A 69-year-old woman with combined valvular heart disease (mitral regurgitation and aortic regurgitation), ascending aortic aneurysm, and atrial fibrillation underwent double valve replacement (DVR) and, ascending aortic wall plication. The postoperative thrombo-test level was around 20%. The ST elevation on ECG (II, III, aVFm, V4 approximately V6) with chest pain were recognized on the 13 th postoperative day.

Epoxy compounds as a new cross-linking agent for porcine aortic leaflets: subcutaneous implant studies in rats.

The epoxy group of the epoxy compounds has an oxygen arm that can work as a flexible joint in a cross-linking bridge and can block not only the amino group but also the carboxy group of collagen peptide. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the anticalcification efficacy of the epoxy compounds as a cross-linking agent for xenograft bioprostheses. Porcine aortic leaflets were treated with 2% epoxy compounds and implanted in subcutaneous layer of 4-week-old rats.

In vitro analysis of performance of porcine xenografts with inward bending of stent posts: real-time measurement of valve orifice area using an area meter.

The influence of inward bending of the stent posts on bioprosthetic valve function was assessed in a hydromechanical simulation of the left heart. A Carpentier-Edwards mitral xenograft (31 mm) and an aortic xenograft (27 mm) were used. Valve function was evaluated before and after the stent posts were bent inward 15 degrees by suture constriction of the tops of the three posts.