Rectourethral fistula after external beam radiotherapy for prostate cancer in a patient with thromboangiitis obliterans: A case report.

Introduction: Thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) is a rare disease of unknown cause that causes segmental vasculitis in peripheral blood vessels. It is uncertain whether its presence causes serious adverse events in patients receiving external beam radiotherapy.

Patient Concerns: A 73-year-old Japanese man with prostate cancer underwent external beam radiotherapy.

A newly developed patient fixation system using a dedicated mouthpiece and dental impression materials for head and neck radiotherapy: a preliminary study.

We evaluated the basic characteristics and efficacy of our newly developed patient fixation system for head and neck radiotherapy that uses a dedicated mouthpiece and dental impression materials. The present investigation demonstrated that with this system, the changes in the absorbed dose to water depending on the material of the mouthpiece were small, with a maximum of 0.32% for a 10-MV photon beam.

Bicuspidalization of the Native Tricuspid Aortic Valve: A Porcine in Vivo Model of Bicuspid Aortopathy.

: To examine early histologic changes in the aorta exposed to bicuspid flow. : A porcine bicuspid aortopathy model was developed by suturing aortic cusps. Of nine pigs, eight underwent sham surgery (n=3) or bicuspidalization (n=5); one was used as an intact control.

Minimized perfusion circuit for acute type A aortic dissection surgery.

A minimized perfusion circuit (MPC) may reduce transfusion requirement and inflammatory response. Its use, however, has not been standardized for complicated cardiovascular surgery. We assessed outcomes of surgery for acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) performed with a MPC under circulatory arrest.

Development of a new control device for stabilizing blood level in reservoir during extracorporeal circulation.

We developed a simple device that stabilizes the blood level in the reservoir of the extracorporeal circulation open circuit system by measuring the hydrostatic pressure of the reservoir to control the flow rate of the arterial pump. When the flow rate of the venous return decreases, the rotation speed of the arterial pump is automatically slowed down. Consequently, the blood level in the reservoir is stabilized quickly between two arbitrarily set levels and never falls below the pre-set low level.