Predictive factors for transition to conversion therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma using atezolizumab plus bevacizumab.

Background: To identify predictive factors associated with successful transition to conversion therapy following combination therapy with atezolizumab and bevacizumab in the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: In total, 188 patients with HCC, who received atezolizumab plus bevacizumab combination therapy as the first-line chemotherapy, were studied. Patients who achieved complete response (CR) with systemic chemotherapy alone were excluded.

Anti-CTLA-4 Antibody Might Be Effective Against Non-small Cell Lung Cancer With Large Size Tumor.

Background/aim: Immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has revolutionized the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although several ICI options are available, the treatment regimen for NSCLC with large size tumors (large NSCLC) is controversial and the efficacy of anti-CTLA-4 antibody is unclear. This study thus investigated potential biomarkers for CTLA-4 blockade.

The prediction of early progressive disease in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma receiving atezolizumab plus bevacizumab.

Background And Aims: The IMbrave 150 trial revealed the usefulness of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab therapy in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), making it now considered the first-line systemic chemotherapy agent for HCC. The present study investigated factors associated with early tumor progression of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in patients with advanced HCC in real-world clinical practice.

Methods: A total of 184 HCC patients who received atezolizumab plus bevacizumab therapy were studied.

Long-term outcomes of drug-induced autoimmune-like hepatitis after pulse steroid therapy.

Aim: Pulse steroid therapy occasionally causes drug-induced autoimmune-like hepatitis (DI-ALH), but the long-term outcome of treated patients is not well known. In this study, we investigated the long-term outcomes of DI-ALH due to pulse steroid therapy.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 405 patients treated with pulse high-dose methylprednisolone in Kurashiki Central Hospital.

Corticosteroid-refractory autoimmune hepatitis after COVID-19 vaccination: a case report and literature review.

Several vaccines have been developed for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and are used worldwide. Here we report a case of severe acute hepatitis induced by COVID-19 vaccination. A 54-year-old woman received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and an additional dose of the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

Prognostic impact of clinical outcome after endoscopic gastroduodenal stent placement for malignant gastric outlet obstruction: a multicenter retrospective cohort study using a time-dependent analysis.

Background: Endoscopic gastroduodenal stent (GDS) placement is widely used as a safe and effective method to rapidly improve gastrointestinal symptoms of malignant gastric outlet obstruction (MGOO). While previous studies reported the utility of chemotherapy after GDS placement for prognosis improvement, they did not fully address the issue of immortal time bias.

Objectives: To examine the association between prognosis and clinical course following endoscopic GDS placement, using a time-dependent analysis.

Successful second conversion surgery after trastuzumab deruxtecan for recurrent HER2-positive gastric cancer.

A 65-year-old woman with HER2-positive gastric cancer with multiple liver metastases underwent first conversion surgery of gastrectomy with D2 lymph nodes dissection and three liver metastases after combination therapy with capecitabine, cisplatin, and trastuzumab. Two years later, she experienced multiple liver metastases that were refractory to combination therapy with paclitaxel albumin-bound nanoparticles and ramucirumab. She participated in the DESTINY-Gastric01 trial and received tri-weekly trastuzumab deruxtecan as third-line treatment for 26 cycles.

[Antiemetic Therapy for Vomiting and Nausea Related to Hepatic Arterial Infusion Chemotherapy Using Cisplatin in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma].

Combination therapy using multiple antiemetic drugs is recommended for intravenous administration of cisplatin, a highly emetogenic agent, whereas a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist alone is commonly used in hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy using cisplatin for hepatocellular carcinoma owing to its less toxicity than that in the intravenous administration. Given that optimal antiemetic therapy is not yet established, we retrospectively investigated the efficacy of antiemetic drugs for hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy using cisplatin. This study enrolled 72 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who received hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy using cisplatin at Kurashiki Central Hospital between January 2011 and May 2019.

Mycophenolate mofetil for immune checkpoint inhibitor-related hepatotoxicity relapsing during dose reduction of corticosteroid: A report of two cases and literature review.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) sometimes cause immune-related liver injury, which can lead to cessation of treatment, hospitalization, and even mortality. Although high-dose corticosteroids are usually effective in treatment of ICI-related liver injury, one fifth of affected patients require additional immunosuppressive therapy. It remains uncertain how best to treat ICI-related liver injury that relapses under corticosteroid therapy after temporary remission.

SR-CycleGAN: super-resolution of clinical CT to micro-CT level with multi-modality super-resolution loss.

We propose a super-resolution (SR) method, named SR-CycleGAN, for SR of clinical computed tomography (CT) images to the micro-focus x-ray CT CT ( ) level. Due to the resolution limitations of clinical CT (about ), it is challenging to obtain enough pathological information. On the other hand, scanning allows the imaging of lung specimens with significantly higher resolution (about or higher), which allows us to obtain and analyze detailed anatomical information.

Depth-based branching level estimation for bronchoscopic navigation.

Purpose: Bronchoscopists rely on navigation systems during bronchoscopy to reduce the risk of getting lost in the complex bronchial tree-like structure and the homogeneous bronchus lumens. We propose a patient-specific branching level estimation method for bronchoscopic navigation because it is vital to identify the branches being examined in the bronchus tree during examination.

Methods: We estimate the branching level by integrating the changes in the number of bronchial orifices and the camera motions among the frames.

Unsupervised colonoscopic depth estimation by domain translations with a Lambertian-reflection keeping auxiliary task.

Purpose: A three-dimensional (3D) structure extraction technique viewed from a two-dimensional image is essential for the development of a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for colonoscopy. However, a straightforward application of existing depth-estimation methods to colonoscopic images is impossible or inappropriate due to several limitations of colonoscopes. In particular, the absence of ground-truth depth for colonoscopic images hinders the application of supervised machine learning methods.

Analysis of pulmonary nodules caused by nontuberculous mycobacteriosis in 101 resected cases: multi-center retrospective study.

Background: Solitary pulmonary nodules caused by nontuberculous mycobacteriosis are included as a category of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterium disease. Clinical characteristics, treatments and prognosis are not fully known because there are a few related reports.

Methods: This was a multi-center retrospective study of 101 cases diagnosed as solitary nodular type of nontuberculous mycobacteriosis from January 2000 to March 2017 that underwent resection at 9 related facilities belonging to the Thoracic Surgery Study Group of Osaka.

Advanced Technologies for Stabilization and High Performance of Seawater RO Membrane Desalination Plants.

Seawater desalination plants that use reverse osmosis (RO) membranes have become a core part of social infrastructure, and should be designed to meet the needs of product water quality and production capacity, while considering various environmental factors such as the seawater quality, temperature and geographical features. Furthermore, stable operation while overcoming various problems should be achieved alongside the increasing demands for energy saving and cost reduction. As no universal plant apparatus and operation technology meets these various requirements, the plants need to be customized for individual solutions.

A case of repeat resection for recurrent pulmonary metastasis from sebaceous gland carcinoma.

Background: Sebaceous gland carcinoma (SGC) of the eyelid is an aggressive malignant eyelid tumor, and it can metastasize to the regional lymph nodes and distant organs. There have been only a few reported cases of patients who underwent pulmonary metastasectomy for metastatic SGC. We herein report a patient who underwent repeat pulmonary metastasectomies for recurrent pulmonary metastases from SGC.

A visual SLAM-based bronchoscope tracking scheme for bronchoscopic navigation.

Purpose: Due to the complex anatomical structure of bronchi and the resembling inner surfaces of airway lumina, bronchoscopic examinations require additional 3D navigational information to assist the physicians. A bronchoscopic navigation system provides the position of the endoscope in CT images with augmented anatomical information. To overcome the shortcomings of previous navigation systems, we propose using a technique known as visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) to improve bronchoscope tracking in navigation systems.

[A Case of Medullary Carcinoma of the Colon with Poor Prognosis].

An 87-year-oldwoman was referredowing to lightheadedness. Severe anemia(Hb 3.9 g/dL)was detected, and colonoscopy revealeda circumferential elevatedlesion at the transverse colon(Group 5, por).

[Pregnancy-Associated Stage Ⅳ Gastric Cancer with No Recurrence for a Long Time-A Case Report].

A 28-year-oldwoman visiteda clinic with a complaint of epigastralgia 3 months after delivery. She was diagnosedwith gastritis andtreatedwith medication. Two months later, in January 2006, she was admittedto our hospital with a complaint of dysphagia.

[Curative Resection for Liver Metastasis Ten Years after Surgery for Rectosigmoid Cancer-A Case Report].

Here, we report the case of a 73-year-oldfemale patient, who previously underwent high anterior resection for rectosigmoidcancer at the age of 63. Her scheduled5 years of follow-up after colorectal surgery hadbeen finished, but she kept undergoing endoscopic mucosal resection for colorectal polyps every 1 or 2 years since then. Blood examination 10 years 6 months after surgery for rectosigmoidcancer revealedthat the value of her serum CEA was 5.