Best period to replace or change plastic stents with self-expandable metallic stents using multivariate competing risk regression analysis.

In endoscopic biliary drainage (EBD) for various benign and malignant biliary disorders, the appropriate timing to replace or change a plastic stent (PS) with a self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) remains unclear. This study aimed to define the best period to replace or change a PS with a SEMS. Between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2018, 1,887 consecutive EBD procedures, including 170 SEMS placements, were retrospectively identified.

Treatment with chemotherapy and dendritic cells pulsed with multiple Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1)-specific MHC class I/II-restricted epitopes for pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: We performed a phase I trial to investigate the safety, clinical responses, and Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1)-specific immune responses following treatment with dendritic cells (DC) pulsed with a mixture of three types of WT1 peptides, including both MHC class I and II-restricted epitopes, in combination with chemotherapy.

Experimental Design: Ten stage IV patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) and 1 patient with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) who were HLA-positive for A*02:01, A*02:06, A*24:02, DRB1*04:05, DRB1*08:03, DRB1*15:01, DRB1*15:02, DPB1*05:01, or DPB1*09:01 were enrolled. The patients received one course of gemcitabine followed by biweekly intradermal vaccinations with mature DCs pulsed with MHC class I (DC/WT1-I; 2 PDA and 1 ICC), II (DC/WT1-II; 1 PDA), or I/II-restricted WT1 peptides (DC/WT1-I/II; 7 PDA), and gemcitabine.

Risk factors of post-ERCP pancreatitis at a tertiary referral center in Japan.

Purpose: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) has played a major role in the diagnosis of biliary and pancreatic diseases. The prevalence and mortality rate of post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP) remains a serious issue that needs to be resolved. Here, we report the first ERCP study that was conducted at a high-volume center of an educational institution in Japan.

Contrast-enhanced harmonic endoscopic ultrasonography in the differential diagnosis of gallbladder wall thickening.

Background And Aims: Differentiation of gallbladder (GB) carcinoma from benign GB wall thickening is challenging. The recent introduction of second-generation ultrasonic contrast agents has made contrast harmonic imaging with EUS possible. The aim of our study was to evaluate the utility of contrast-enhanced harmonic EUS (CH-EUS) for the differential diagnosis of GB wall thickening.

How do we select an endoscopic treatment for esophageal varices on the basis of hemodynamic analysis using color Doppler endoscopic ultrasonography.

We investigated the hemodynamics of the left gastric vein (LGV) and its association with variceal recurrence using color Doppler endoscopic ultrasonography (CD-EUS). The long-term results of our technique known as combined ligation and sclerotherapy showed that the risk of variceal recurrence decreased after long-term follow-up with timely repeated therapies. On the basis of the hemodynamic background of these results, it was suggested that the posterior branch of the LGV could have developed as an extravariceal shunt, whereas the anterior branch, which directly feeds varices, seemed to disappear through long-term follow-up with repeated treatments.