Prospective study on the relationship between clinical efficacy of secondary hormone therapy with flutamide and neuroendocrine differentiation in patients with relapsed prostate cancer after first line hormone therapy.

Objective: The aim of this study was to prospectively verify the relationship between the clinical efficacies of secondary hormone therapy for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) following first line hormone therapy and neuroendocrine differentiation (NED).

Material And Methods: Forty-six consecutive patients with CRPC following first line hormone therapy who were treated with flutamide as secondary hormone therapy were prospectively assessed with a median follow-up of 21 months. Serum chromogranin A (CgA), as a marker of NED, was measured using an immunoradiometric assay.

Effects of α1-Blockers for Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms and Sleep Disorders in Patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia.

Objectives: We evaluated the association of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and sleep disorders (SD) in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). We also examined improvement of SD following the α1-blocker therapy for LUTS.

Methods: Sixty-eight male patients were enrolled in the study, consisting of 38 cases with LUTS and BPH (BPH group), and 30 men without significant LUTS or BPH (non-BPH group).

Metastasectomy for renal cell carcinoma as a strategy to obtain complete remission.

We report a case of 67-year-old Japanese woman with two types of metastasectomy for metachronous metastases of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The initial nephrectomy for left RCC was performed in April 1977. The pathological diagnosis was clear cell carcinoma grade1-2, pT1b.

Fluctuating liver functions in siblings with MPV17 mutations and possible improvement associated with dietary and pharmaceutical treatments targeting respiratory chain complex II.

Background/aims: To describe the clinical and biological findings of two Japanese siblings with novel MPV17 gene mutations (c.451insC/c.509C > T) manifesting hepatic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome.

Neoadjuvant LHRH analog plus estramustine phosphate combined with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy for intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer: a randomized study.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of a treatment regimen comprising neoadjuvant conventional androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) plus estramustine phosphate (EMP) combined with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) for patients with intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer.

Methods: Thirty-nine patients with intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer classified according to the NCCN practice guidelines recurrence risk group were randomly allocated into two groups: neoadjuvant LHRH agonist plus EMP for 6 months until completion of the 3D-CRT (EMP group, n = 20), or neoadjuvant LHRH agonist alone (LHRH group, n = 19). Both groups received 3D-CRT in daily fractions of 2 Gy for a total dose of 70 Gy.

Implications of circulating chromogranin A in prostate cancer.

Objective: To evaluate whether measurement of circulating chromogranin A (CgA) levels provides clinicopathological and prognostic information in prostate cancer.

Material And Methods: Plasma CgA levels were measured in 57 patients with histologically confirmed prostate cancer (stage B or less, n=22; stage C, n=10; stage D1, n=2; hormone-naive D2, n=12; hormone-refractory D2, n=11) and in 22 with undetected prostate cancer using an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay.

Results: Median plasma CgA levels were significantly higher in patients with prostate cancer than in those with undetected cancer (p=0.

Chronic contained rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm mimicking a retroperitoneal tumor.

Chronic contained rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a rare event that is difficult to diagnose due to the atypical and chronic symptoms. We report a case of chronic contained rupture of AAA mimicking a retroperitoneal tumor in a 36-year-old man. The patient presented with weight loss and chronic lower abdominal pain, and was referred to our clinic with a suspected retroperitoneal tumor.

Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural features of neuroendocrine differentiated carcinomas of the prostate: an immunoelectron microscopic study.

The purpose of this study was to further define the immunohistochemical and ultrastructural characteristics of neuroendocrine (NE) differentiated prostatic carcinomas. Seventy-seven specimens were obtained from prostatic carcinoma tumors during prostatectomy, transurethral resection of prostate or biopsy in 77 prostate cancer patients, and analyzed by immunohistochemical staining for chromogranin A (CgA). Nine of these tumors were also studied by elctron microscopy and 4 were examined by pre-embedding immunoelectron microscopy.

Multicentric liposarcoma.

Abstract A 72-year-old man complaining of upper abdominal discomfort was diagnosed as having retroperitoneal liposarcoma by means of diagnostic imaging. He then underwent an operation. One mass existed on the curvatura ventriculi major, extending to the hilum splenicum and pressing back the pancreal head and body.

The impact of angiogenesis on the prognosis of advanced renal cell carcinomas.

We studied the relationship between angiogenic factors and clinical responses in advanced renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) and evaluated the angiogenic factors to clarify the potential impact of these factors on the cancer-specific survival. From January 1990 to December 2000, 148 patients underwent a nephrectomy for RCCs at our institution. Of the 32 patients who had distant metastasis, 17 met the histopathologic analysis requirements for an immuno-histochemical investigation.

[Enucleation of renal cell carcinoma in von Hippel-Lindau disease using a microwave tissue coagulator].

The patient was a 37-year-old man who had undergone left nephrectomy under the diagnosis of left renal cell carcinoma associated with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease 4 years ago. Computed tomography (CT) revealed 3 individual tumors 20 mm, 13 mm and 9 mm in maximum diameter in the right kidney. All three renal tumors were enucleated with a microwave tissue coagulator (MTC) without renal pedicle clamping.

Expression and regulation of tumor suppressor gene maspin in human bladder cancer.

Maspin is a member of serine protease inhibitor family with tumor suppressing activity for breast and prostate cancers, acting at the level of tumor invasion and metastasis. However, there have been no published data regarding the role of maspin in human bladder cancer. We evaluated maspin expression in 65 series of bladder cancer samples (22 transurethral resection (TUR) and 43 radical cystectomy) and studied the regulatory mechanism of maspin gene activation in bladder cancer cells.

Aplastic anemia during growth hormone (GH) treatment in a girl with idiopathic GH-deficiency.

We report a 12-year-old girl with aplastic anemia accompanied by chromosome 8 trisomy during growth hormone (GH) therapy. When she was six years old she was diagnosed as idiopathic isolated GH deficiency, and GH therapy (0.175 mg/kg/week) was initiated.

[Continuous bilateral sacral neuromodulation as a minimally invasive implantation technique in patients with functional bladder changes].

Objective: Up to 50% of patients with bladder dysfunctions undergoing sacral neuromodulation treatment are non-responders. The most common treatment method today is the implantable neuromodulation system described by Tanagho and Schmidt; which allows unilateral sacral nerve stimulation. Our aim was to increase the number of responders and to improve the general efficiency of chronic sacral neuromodulation; therefore we have developed the bilateral electrode implantation by minimally invasive laminectomy.

Intravenous glycerol therapy should not be used in patients with unrecognized fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase deficiency.

Background: In Asian countries, glycerol solution that contains fructose (5%) is often used for management of brain edema. However, glycerol and fructose may cause severe hypoglycemia and metabolic acidosis in patients with fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) deficiency, even under stable conditions. The aim of the present study was to determine whether glycerol solution was used for brain edema during acute metabolic decompensation of hypoglycemia and metabolic acidosis in patients with unrecognized FBPase deficiency in Japan and to examine a long-term prognosis of the patients who had this kind of severe metabolic decompensation with or without glycerol therapy.