Phenotypic analysis of vertigo 2 Jackson mice with a Kcnq1 potassium channel mutation.

The KCNQ1 gene encodes a voltage-dependent potassium ion channel, and mutations in this gene are the most common cause of congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS). In the present study, we investigated the various phenotypic characteristics of vertigo 2 Jackson (C3H/HeJCrl-Kcnq1(vtg-2J)/J) mice with a Kcnq1 mutation. Both heterozygotes (vtg-2J/+) and homozygotes (vtg-2J/vtg-2J) showed prolonged QT intervals in electrocardiograms (ECGs) compared to C3H/HeJ control (+/+) mice.

Risk factors for para-aortic lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer from a randomized controlled trial of JCOG9501.

Background: No risk factor has been confirmed for para-aortic lymph node (PAN) metastasis from gastric cancer. To identify the risk factors and the most frequent route of metastasis to PAN, we analyzed the prospective data from a phase III trial.

Methods: In JCOG9501 comparing D2 and D2 + PAN dissection, 260 patients with T2(SS)-T4 gastric cancer underwent radical gastrectomy with PAN dissection.

Laparoscopic pancreatic resection: the past, present, and future.

Since the early 1990s, laparoscopic techniques have been applied to a growing number of pancreatic surgeries. Laparoscopic pancreatic resections have been performed in patients with a variety of diseases including chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic trauma, congenital hyperinsulinism, and neoplasms of the pancreas; e.g.

Lower limb ischaemia caused by fractured osteochondroma of the femur.

Osteochondroma is the most common benign bone tumour and can arise in any bone. They frequently develop around the knee in the distal femur and the proximal tibia. These are usually asymptomatic, but can occasionally impinge on the surrounding vessels and cause various clinical manifestations.

Graft selection algorithm based on congestion volume for adult living donor liver transplantation.

A major concern in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation is the selection of graft type; that is, is it is better to use the right lobe with or without the middle hepatic vein (MHV)? This choice has a considerable impact on donor safety, vascular reconstruction and graft function in the recipient. To facilitate making an appropriate choice, on the basis of a preliminary study (n = 17), we herein propose a graft selection algorithm using three parameters: graft-to-recipient body weight ratio (GRWR), percentage remnant liver volume (%RLV) and estimated congestion ratio (ECR). The algorithm was evaluated with 50 consecutive cases with respect to postoperative liver function of donors and recipients and survival of recipients.

Diffusion-weighed MR imaging of pancreatic carcinoma.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of body diffusion-weighted (DW) MR imaging in the evaluation of a pancreatic carcinoma.

Material And Methods: In nine normal volunteers and in eight patients with pancreatic carcinoma, DW images were obtained on the axial plane scanning with a multisection spin-echo-type single-shot echo planar sequence with a body coil. Moreover, we measured the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value in a circular region of interest (ROI) within the normal pancreas, pancreatic carcinoma, and tumor-associated chronic pancreatitis.

Primary patency with cutting and conventional balloon angioplasty for different types of hemodialysis access stenosis.

Purpose: To compare primary patency rates of cutting balloon percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) (hereafter, cutting PTA) and conventional balloon PTA (hereafter, conventional PTA) in the treatment of different types of hemodialysis access stenosis.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board approved this study. Written informed consent was obtained for the prospective component of this study and waived for the retrospective component.

Evaluation of lymph node metastases of breast cancer using ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: We assessed the utility of enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) in the evaluation of axillary lymph node metastases in patients with breast cancer.

Study Design: MR examination of the axilla was performed before and 24-36 h after USPIO administration for patients with stage II or III breast cancer. Diagnostic performance was compared using size criteria (metastasis was defined when short axis diameter >5 or >10mm) or morphologic criteria on conventional MRI, the combined study of USPIO precontrast and postcontrast images, and USPIO postcontrast study alone.

Correlation between thymidylate synthase and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase mRNA level and in vitro chemosensitivity to 5-fluorouracil, in relation to differentiation in gastric cancer.

Purpose: It has been suggested that the gene expression levels of thymidylate synthase (TS) and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) help in the prediction of the response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in vivo and in vitro in gastric cancers.

Methods: In this study, intratumoral TS and DPD gene expressions were evaluated with real time reverse transcriptional polymerase chain reaction technique to determine the correlation between the expression of these two genes and in vitro sensitivity to 5-FU, assessed by the histoculture drug response assay on 87 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma.

Results: The sensitivity to 5-FU did not show any difference in clinicopathological groups.

Radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of unresectable lung metastases in patients with colorectal cancer: a multicenter study in Japan.

Purpose: Results after lung radiofrequency (RF) ablation were retrospectively evaluated to determine whether lung RF ablation is an effective therapeutic option for the treatment of unresectable lung metastases from colorectal cancer.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-one patients with 155 unresectable colorectal lung metastases underwent computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous RF ablation at four institutions. The maximum tumor size was 3 cm or less in 61 patients and 3.

Current topics on precursors to pancreatic cancer.

Prognosis of invasive pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is bleak and the vast majority of patients with pancreatic cancer die of their disease. The detection and treatment of the non-invasive precursor lesions of pancreatic cancer offer the opportunity to cure this devastating disease and therefore great efforts are being made to identify the precursors to pancreatic cancer. Several distinct precursor lesions have been identified.

Clinical impact of multidetector row computed tomography on patients with pancreatic cancer.

Objectives: This study was designed to compare multidetector row computed tomography (MDCT) and CT-assisted hepatic arteriography (CTHA)/CT during arterial portography (CTAP)/angiography/contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) findings prospectively for accuracy in the detection of liver metastasis and vascular involvement of the tumor.

Methods: The study included 43 patients with pancreatic cancer who were evaluated from September 2002 to December 2003. These patients underwent preoperative evaluation by angiography/CTHA/CTAP/CECT (7-mm thickness) and by MDCT (1.

COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib suppresses tumor growth and lung metastasis of a murine mammary cancer.

Background: The antitumor growth and antimetastatic actions of celecoxib [a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor] were investigated in a metastatic murine mammary cancer model.

Materials And Methods: Mice bearing mammary tumors, developed after inoculation of syngeneic BALBIc mice with a mammary carcinoma cell line carrying a p53 mutation, were treated with celecoxib at 0, 7.5 and 15 mg/kg five times a week for seven weeks.

A multicenter study on oncologic outcome of laparoscopic gastrectomy for early cancer in Japan.

Background: Laparoscopic surgery for gastric cancer is technically feasible, but it is not widely accepted because it has not been evaluated from the standpoint of oncologic outcome. We conducted a retrospective, multicenter study of a large series of patients in Japan to evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic gastrectomy for early gastric cancer (EGC).

Methods: The study group comprised 1294 patients who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy during the period April 1994 through December 2003 in 16 participating surgical units (Japanese Laparoscopic Surgery Study Group).

A case of hepatocellular carcinoma treated by MR-guided focused ultrasound ablation with respiratory gating.

Focused ultrasound surgery (FUS) is a method of noninvasive focal thermal ablation. Temperature-sensitive phase-difference magnetic resonance (MR) imaging allows monitoring of the focal point and measurement of tissue temperature elevation in real time, ensuring delivery of a therapeutic dose. A newly developed respiratory monitoring system enables us to track liver tumors, which move with respiration.

Percutaneous transluminal cutting-balloon angioplasty for hemodialysis access stenoses resistant to conventional balloon angioplasty.

Purpose: To examine the value of cutting-balloon percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) for hemodialysis access with residual stenosis after conventional balloon PTA.

Material And Methods: Angioplasty with conventional balloons was performed on 48 hemodialysis access stenoses in 28 patients. If the balloon waist still remained at the rated burst pressure, the balloon was reinflated up to three times.

Influence of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization on the prognosis after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with severe liver dysfunction.

Background: The influence of preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) on postoperative survival and recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after resection is still controversial. The effect of preoperative TACE on the prognosis of HCC after hepatectomy in 243 patients with liver dysfunction was evaluated.

Materials And Methods: Among 243 patients who underwent curative resection of HCC between 1992 and 2005, 124 patients had an indocyanine-green retention rate at 15 min (ICGR15) of <17% (49 underwent TACE), while 119 patients had an ICGR15 of > or =17% (66 underwent TACE).

Proteomics-based approach identifying autoantibody against peroxiredoxin VI as a novel serum marker in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Purpose: Detection of novel tumor-related antigens and autoantibodies will aid in diagnosis of early-stage cancer and in development of more effective immunotherapies. The purpose of this study was to identify novel tumor antigens in an esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell line (TE-2) and related autoantibodies in sera from patients with ESCC using a proteomics-based approach.

Experimental Design: TE-2 proteins were separated by two-dimensional PAGE, followed by Western blot analysis in which sera of patients with ESCC, healthy controls, and patients with other cancers were tested for primary antibodies.

Stage migration caused by D2 dissection with para-aortic lymphadenectomy for gastric cancer from the results of a prospective randomized controlled trial.

Background: Extended lymphadenectomy (D2) provides accurate nodal staging of gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to clarify the degree of stage migration seen with D2 combined with para-aortic lymph node dissection for gastric cancer invading the subserosa, the serosa and adjacent structures (T2ss-4) in patients considered not to have distant metastases (M0).

Methods: Between July 1995 and April 2001, 523 patients were recruited and randomized in a prospective phase III trial comparing D2 with D2 and para-aortic nodal dissection for T2ss-4 gastric cancer without macroscopic para-aortic nodal metastases.

Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging after percutaneous vertebroplasty does not improve the short-term prediction of new compression fractures.

Purpose: To investigate the relationships between contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and new compression fractures occurring after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) in order to determine the necessity of contrast-enhanced MRI.

Material And Methods: The material comprised 13 consecutive patients (27 vertebrae) with compression fractures who underwent vertebroplasty. Twenty-nine adjacent vertebrae were monitored for new compression fractures.

Clinical assessment of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for painful metastatic bone tumors.

Purpose: To investigate the pain-alleviating effects of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on metastatic bone tumors in relation to tumor size, combined therapy, and percent tumor necrosis rate following RFA.

Methods: Subjects comprised 24 patients with 28 painful metastatic bone tumors. A 17G internally cooled electrode was inserted into the tumor for CT guidance and ablation was performed.

Self-expandable metallic stent placement for patients with inoperable esophageal carcinoma: investigation of the influence of prior radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and complications of self-expandable metallic stent placement for patients with inoperable esophageal carcinoma after radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: We obtained data from 19 patients with advanced or recurrent esophageal carcinoma between 1996 and 2000. In all patients, a self-expandable metallic stent was placed under fluoroscopic guidance.

CT and MR features of sclerosing mesenteritis mimicking a mesenteric metastasis from the carcinoid tumor.

Sclerosing mesenteritis is a rare and benign inflammatory entity characterized by fibrofatty thickening of the mesentery. To our knowledge, there are only a few reports on the features of sclerosing mesenteritis on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and computed tomography (CT). In this present case, MR imaging demonstrated tissue characterization of fibrosis, and partial maximum intensity projection (MIP) and three-dimensional angiography images obtained using multislice CT clearly revealed the extent of the tumor and the vascular appearance affected by the mass.

Preoperative diagnosis of lymph node metastases in gastric cancer by magnetic resonance imaging with ferumoxtran-10.

Background: Knowledge regarding the presence and location of lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer is essential in deciding on the operative approach. Lymph node metastases have been diagnosed with imaging tests such as computed tomography (CT) and ultrasonography (US); however, the accuracy of such diagnoses, based on size and shape criteria, has not been adequate. Ferumoxtran-10 (Combidex; Advanced Magnetics) is a lymphotropic contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) whose efficacy for the detection of metastatic lymph nodes in various cancers has been reported by several investigators; however, its efficacy for this purpose has not been reported for gastric cancer.

A case of spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma with multiple lung metastases.

Spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rare phenomenon. We present herein the case of a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma with multiple lung metastases in whom malignancy spontaneously regressed after taking Pheliinus linteus Mycelium. A 79-year-old man consulted our hospital complaining of epigastric discomfort.