Prosthesis use and the change in activities of daily living following below-knee amputation in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Introduction: Patients undergoing hemodialysis are at an increased risk of peripheral arterial disease, amputation of lower extremities, and decline of activities of daily living. Although a prosthesis is used to support activities of daily living, no previous study reported the association of prosthesis use with the change in activities of daily living following leg amputation in hemodialysis patients. The purpose of this study was to compare the changes in activities of daily living following amputation between those who created a prosthesis and those who did not.

Reduced Risk of Progression from Non-Severe to Severe COVID-19 in Hospitalized Dialysis Patients by Full COVID-19 Vaccination.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination reduces the risk of progression to severe COVID-19 in the general population. To examine that preventive effect in dialysis patients, the association of vaccination status with severe COVID-19 progression was investigated in this retrospective observational study conducted from December 2020 to May 2022 of 100 such patients hospitalized for non-severe COVID-19 at Inoue Hospital (Suita, Japan). Fifty-seven were fully vaccinated, defined as receiving a COVID-19 vaccine second dose at least 14 days prior to the onset of COVID-19, while 43 were not.

Urodynamic outcomes after pelvic nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Our purposes of this study were to characterize a group of bulky cervical cancer patients who underwent a nerve sparing radical hysterectomy (NSRH) with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), to compare surgical outcomes and the preservation of bladder function, and to compare prognoses. Fifty-three patients had NSRH without NAC (Group A), and 33 patients had NSRH after NAC (Group B). With regard to prognostic factors, there was only a significant difference between both groups with regard to lymph node metastasis (15% vs 42%, = 0.

Comparable effect with minimal morbidity of low-dose Tokyo 172 strain compared with regular dose Connaught strain as an intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin prophylaxis in nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer: Results of a randomized prospective comparison.

Aim: The aim was to compare patients' morbidity and response of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) prophylaxis after the intravesical instillation of low-dose Tokyo 172 strain and regular dose Connaught strain in patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Patients And Methods: This was a randomized, active-controlled, open-label, monocenter study. Thirty-eight, NMIBC patients were treated sequentially, in a random order, with low-dose Tokyo 172 strain and regular dose Connaught strain, receiving each therapy for 6 weeks.

Predictors of success for stone fragmentation and stone-free rate after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy in the treatment of upper urinary tract stones.

Purpose: To evaluate factors affecting the success rate of stone fragmentation and stone-free rate after extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) in treatment of upper urinary tract stones.

Materials And Methods: A total of 121 patients with upper urinary tract calculi underwent SWL treatment.

Results: Success rate of stone fragmentation after SWL was 73.

Urinary continence following laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: Association with postoperative membranous urethral length measured using real-time intraoperative transrectal ultrasonography.

Urinary incontinence is a major complication following radical prostatectomy. The aim of the present study was to assess the association between urinary continence following laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) and various factors measured using real-time intraoperative transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS). Patients (n=53) with localized prostate cancer underwent LRP in combination with real-time intraoperative TRUS navigation and were evaluated for urinary continence for more than 6 months following LRP.

[Leiomyosarcoma of the scrotum].

A 31-year-old man visited another hospital with a chief complaint of a solid mass in the left scrotum. The diagnosis was a skin cancer of the scrotum, and he was referred to our hospital. We performed surgical resection of the mass, left testis, and bilateral superfical inguinal nodes.

Neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced bladder carcinoma: development of novel bladder preservation approach, Osaka Medical College regimen.

Cisplatin-based chemotherapy has been widely used in a neoadjuvant as well as adjuvant setting. Furthermore, trimodal approaches including complete transurethral resection of the bladder tumor followed by combined chemotherapy and radiation have generally been performed as bladder preservation therapy. However, none of the protocols have achieved a 5-year survival rate of more than 70%.

[A case report of small intestine metastasis from renal cell carcinoma].

A 71-year-old man underwent left nephrectomy for metastasis from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) of the small intestine. In spite of post-operative therapy (interferon-alpha or interleukin-2), multiple lung metastases and intestinal hemorrhage by metastatic tumor of small intestine appeared 9 years after the operation. To control the bleeding from the small intestine, the small intestine was partially excised and the histopathological diagnosis was metastasis of RCC.

[Analgesic effect of oral tramadol on transrectal ultrasound-guided needle biopsy of the prostate in a randomized double-blind study].

A total of 121 Japanese patients scheduled for prostate biopsy were randomly and double-blindly assigned to be given a single oral dose of 100 mg Tramadol mixed with 20 ml of sugar syrup or placebo, 30 minutes before the procedure. Pain severity was measured by verbal rating scale (VRS) and visual analog scales (VAS). We also analyzed cardio-respiratory parameters and complications.

Utility of transrectal ultrasonography guidance and seven key elements of operative skill for early recovery of urinary continence after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

In the present study, we report the utility of transrectal ultrasonography guidance for laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP), and the effect of a novel surgical approach of 'seven key elements of operative skill for the early recovery of urinary continence' ('7 key elements'). Among 170 patients who underwent laparoscopic prostatectomy between July 2007 and June 2010, 72 were treated on the basis of these 7 key elements (group 1), which included the preservation of 1) endopelvic fascia, 2) bladder neck, 3) pelvic nerve, 4) membranous urethra, 5) urethral sphincter and fixation of the organ positioning with 6) bladder neck sling suspension, and 7) restoration of the Denonvilliers' fascia, while the remaining 98 were not (group 2). We compared the data for the two groups with regards to the time taken for recovery of continence, and post-operative course.

Utility of the novel bladder preservation therapy, BOAI-CDDP-radiation (OMC-regimen), for elderly patients with invasive bladder cancer.

In this study, we investigated the novel bladder preservation therapy, the balloon-occluded arterial infusion (BOAI) of cisplatin/gemcitabine, concomitantly with hemodialysis, along with concurrent irradiation [the 'Osaka Medical College (OMC)-regimen'] in patients >70 years of age with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Eighty-three such patients were assigned to receive either the OMC-regimen (n=56) or cystectomy (n=27). The OMC-regimen patients who failed to achieve complete response (CR) underwent cystectomy, or secondary BOAI with gemcitabine (1600 mg).

Induction of donor-specific tolerance using superagonistic CD28 antibody in rat renal allografts: regulatory T-cell expansion before engraftment may be important.

Background: We hypothesized that a superagonistic monoclonal antibody specific for CD28 (CD28SA), which expands regulatory T cells (Tregs) in vivo, would prevent acute rejection and prolong the survival of renal allograft.

Methods: We examined whether CD28SA treatment induce donor-specific tolerance using our established rat renal allograft model (Wistar-Lewis).

Results: All control rats died within 13 days because of severe azotemia with marked destruction of graft tissue.

Combination therapy with VP16 and ethinylestradiol for hormone-refractory prostate cancer: good response with tolerability.

Objectives: This study evaluated the safety profile and therapeutic value of a combination therapy of etoposide and ethinylestradiol, which is a novel treatment protocol for patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC).

Patients And Methods: Patients were given etoposide (25 mg/day, daily) and ethinylestradiol (3 mg/day, daily) orally until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The response rate, survival and safety profiles were evaluated.

Novel bladder preservation therapy for locally invasive bladder cancer: combined therapy using balloon-occluded arterial infusion of anticancer agent and hemodialysis with concurrent radiation.

We investigated the effect of balloon-occluded arterial infusion (BOAI) of anticancer agent (cisplatin/gemcitabine), used concomitantly with hemodialysis, which delivers an extremely high concentration of anticancer agent to the site of a tumor without systemic adverse effects, along with concurrent radiation (referred to as the OMC-regimen) in patients with advanced bladder cancer. One hundred and ninety-two patients were assigned to receive either the OMC-regimen (n=96) or total cystectomy (n=96). Patients in the OMC-regimen group who failed to achieve CR underwent cystectomy, or secondary BOAI with an increased amount of CDDP or gemcitabine (1600 mg).

Basal cell carcinoma of the prostate: unusual subtype of prostatic carcinoma.

Basal cell carcinoma of the prostate, which has been generally considered to be indolent, is an unusual histological type of prostatic carcinoma and is extremely rare. This tumor has been classified according to the prevalent pattern of growth as adenoid cystic carcinoma or basaloid cell carcinoma (BCC), with the former growth pattern being considered to be the main feature of this entity. A 67-year-old Japanese man was admitted to a general hospital with obstructive urinary symptoms.

[Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: six key points of operative skill for achieving better urinary continence].

Postoperative urinary incontinence is a major impairment to patients' quality of life after prostatectomy, and is not limited to laparoscopic total prostatectomy. Improvements in devices and techniques of laparoscopic surgery have facilitated reliable cancer control, and in this situation there will now be increasing focus on postoperative quality of life (QOL), particularly urinary incontinence. Between July 2007 and March 2009, we have performed laparoscopic total prostatectomy for 53 patients, focusing on techniques to reduce urinary incontinence.

Conversion of prostate cancer from hormone independency to dependency due to AMACR inhibition: involvement of increased AR expression and decreased IGF1 expression.

Androgen-independent prostate cancer eventually develops metastasis, and radical treatment may not be possible for patients at this stage. In this study, we examined the gene-expression profiles of two prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP (androgen-dependent) and C4-2 (androgen-independent), using cDNA-microarray hybridization. We focused on the expression of alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR), whose expression is much higher in C4-2 than in LNCaP, and investigated its biological role in acquisition of androgen-independent cancer growth.

Total cystectomy versus bladder preservation therapy for locally invasive bladder cancer: effect of combined therapy using balloon-occluded arterial infusion of anticancer agent and hemodialysis with concurrent radiation.

Objectives: We tested the usefulness of balloon-occluded arterial infusion (BOAI) of anticancer agent (cisplatin/gemcitabine), concomitant with hemodialysis, which delivers an extremely high concentration of anticancer agent to the site of a tumor without systemic adverse effects, along with concurrent radiation [Osaka-Medical College (OMC)-regimen] in patients with locally advanced bladder cancer. The results were compared with those of cystectomy.

Methods: One hundred twenty-four patients were assigned to receive cystectomy (Gp1, n = 62) or OMC-regimen (Gp2, n = 62).

Anticancer effect of combination therapy of VP16 and fosfesterol in hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

Objectives: We conducted the present study to evaluate the safety profile and therapeutic value of a combination of etoposide and fosfestrol for treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC).

Methods: Forty patients with HRPC were included in the study. The median age was 71 years (range, 50-86 years), the Gleason's score ranged from 5 to 10, and the median prostate-specific antigen level was 62.

Effect of combined therapy using balloon-occluded arterial infusion of cisplatin and hemodialysis with concurrent radiation for locally invasive bladder cancer.

Objective: We tested the usefulness of combined therapy using balloon-occluded arterial infusion (BOAI) of cisplatin and hemodialysis, which delivers an extremely high concentration of cisplatin to the site of a tumor without systemic adverse effects, with concurrent radiation in patients with locally advanced bladder cancer.

Methods: Patients underwent transurethral resection of the bladder tumor followed by BOAI of cisplatin (100, 200, or 300 mg) concurrent with hemodialysis, via both common iliac veins, for 2 hours after initiation of BOAI. A total of 60.

Invasive ability of human renal cell carcinoma cell line Caki-2 is accelerated by gamma-aminobutyric acid, via sustained activation of ERK1/2 inducible matrix metalloproteinases.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was first discovered as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS) and has been reported to have a variety of functions, including regulation of cell division, cell differentiation and maturation, and to be involved in the development of certain cancers outside the CNS. In the present study, using the human renal cell carcinoma cell line Caki-2, we demonstrated that GABA stimulation significantly increased the expression of MMP-2 and -9 and subsequently increased the invasive activity of the cancer cells. Because MAPK signaling is one of the key regulators of MMP expression, we further evaluated MAPK signaling after stimulation with GABA.

FTY720 induced Bcl-associated and Fas-independent apoptosis in human renal cancer cells in vitro and significantly reduced in vivo tumor growth in mouse xenograft.

Background: A unique immunosuppressant, FTY720, selectively induces apoptosis in activated lymphocytes, but not in other hematopoietic cells. The potential that this unique mechanism could provide anticancer potential by inducing apoptosis in the human renal cancer cell line, ACHN, which is resistant to cisplatin, and its molecular pathway was investigated.

Materials And Methods: The difference in drug susceptibility to FTY720 between cancer cells and non-cancer cells was examined by MTT assay and flow cytometry.

Effect of Smad7 expression on metastasis of mouse mammary carcinoma JygMC(A) cells.

Background: Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) facilitates metastasis during the advanced stages of cancer. Smad6, Smad7, and c-Ski block signaling by the TGF-beta superfamily proteins through different modes of action. We used adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of these natural inhibitors in a mouse model of breast cancer to examine the roles of TGF-beta superfamily signaling in tumor growth and metastasis.