Pacing lead-induced granuloma in the atrium: a foreign body reaction to polyurethane.

We described a case of an 82-year-old male who presented with a granuloma entrapping the polyurethane-coated pacing lead at the site of contact on the atrium. He had been paced for 8 years without symptoms or signs suggestive of an allergic reaction to the pacemaker system and died from thrombosis of the superior mesenteric artery and heart failure. A histological examination of the nodule showed an incidental granuloma with multinucleated giant cells.

The Effects of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy on Quality of Life in Patients With Dementia.

Background: To examine the effects of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) on quality of life (QOL) in patients with dementia.

Methods: We retrospectively included 53 Japanese community and tertiary hospitals to investigate the relationship between the newly developed PEG and consecutive dementia patients with swallowing difficulty between Jan 1st 2006 and Dec 31st 2008. We set improvements in 1) the level of independent living, 2) pneumonia, 3) peroral intake as outcome measures of QOL and explored the factors associated with these improvements.

[A case of meningeal carcinomatosis due to gastric cancer treated with intrathecal chemotherapy].

A 71-year-old man was admitted to our hospital in September 2009 because of severe headache due to meningeal carcinomatosis. In July 2007, subtotal gastrectomy was carried out for gastric cancer. Because intraabdominal cytodiagnosis was positive, he received systemic chemotherapy for 2 years.

Survival of geriatric patients after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in Japan.

Aim: To examine the long term survival of geriatric patients treated with percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) in Japan.

Methods: We retrospectively included 46 Japanese community and tertiary hospitals to investigate 931 consecutive geriatric patients (≥ 65 years old) with swallowing difficulty and newly performed PEG between Jan 1st 2005 and Dec 31st 2008. We set death as an outcome and explored the associations among patient's characteristics at PEG using log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazard models.

The sky blue method as a screening test to detect misplacement of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube at exchange.

Background: During tube exchange for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), a misplaced tube can cause peritonitis and death. Thus, endoscopic or radiologic observation is required at tube exchange to make sure the tube is placed correctly. However, these procedures cost extensive time and money to perform in all patients at the time of tube exchange.

[Gemcitabine treatment in patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer and prognostic factors for survival of patients with stage IVb(a retrospective survey at 15 hospitals in Niigata Prefecture)].

We performed a retrospective survey at 15 hospitals in Niigata Prefecture to assess the effectiveness of gemcitabine in patients with stage IV pancreatic cancer and to analyze prognostic factors impacting survival in patients with stage IVb. The subjects were 244 unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer patients(IVa 68, IVb 176)who were treated with gemcitabine as first-line therapy. The overall response rate was 6.

Pancreatic T-cell lymphoma with high level of soluble interleukin-2 receptor.

An 82-year-old man was admitted to hospital with symptoms of abdominal fullness and loss of appetite. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan and ultrasonography showed enlargement of the whole pancreas with para-aortic lymphadenopathy. Endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP) showed diffuse narrowing of the main pancreatic duct (MPD), and brushing cytology from the MPD was non-neoplastic.

Advanced gastric glandular-endocrine cell carcinoma with 1-year survival after gastrectomy.

Primary gastric endocrine cell carcinoma (ECC) is extremely rare. In general, when it is advanced, gastric ECC causes extensive ulceration (type 2) and invades or metastasizes to other organs, frequently to the liver and sometimes to the lungs or bones, and carries a poor prognosis. We herein report a 67-year-old man with advanced gastric ECC of extensive-polypoid shape (type 1) but without distant metastasis, who underwent total gastrectomy and treatment with oral tegafur-uracil (UFT), and showed no sign of recurrence 1 year later.

Risk factors for nodal micrometastasis of submucosal gastric carcinoma: assessment of indications for endoscopic treatment.

BACKGROUND: Despite the widespread use of endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for intramucosal gastric carcinoma, there is no standardized therapy for those patients in whom the carcinoma is found, after EMR, to have invaded the submucosa.Our aim in this study was to examine the relationship between the clinicopathological features of submucosal invasive carcinomas and their incidence of nodal micrometastasis, as detected by anti-human cytokeratin immunohistochemistry, in order to assess the curative potential of submucosal carcinoma by EMR.METHODS: Fifty surgically resected submucosal gastric carcinomas which would have satisfied the absolute indications for EMR, except for the criterion of submucosal invasion, were examined.