Has laparoscopic bariatric surgery been accepted in Japan? The experience of a single surgeon.

Background: Obesity is steadily increasing in Asia due to factors such as a lack of exercise, adoption of a more Western diet, changing lifestyles, environments, or stresses. Even in Japan, this tendency is notable, and metabolic syndrome has become widely recognized. However, bariatric surgery is still uncommon in Japan.

Laparoscopic treatment of paraesophageal hiatal hernia with incarceration of the pancreas and jejunum.

We present a successful laparoscopic treatment of paraesophageal hiatal hernia with an incarceration of the pancreas and jejunum. The patient was a 75-year-old woman who had complaints of epigastric pain and dysphasia. A chest x-ray revealed a mediastinal air-fluid level.

Early gastric cancer located just above Dieulafoy's ulcer, with massive bleeding.

In 2003, a 69-year-old man visited our emergency department because of hematemesis and anemia. Emergency gastroscopy revealed massive bleeding from Dieulafoy's ulcer in the upper body of the stomach. The arterial bleeding was successfully controlled by endoscopic clipping.

[Experience with capecitabine in patients with anthracycline and/or taxane-resistant recurrent breast cancer].

We evaluated the safety and efficacy of capecitabine in 12 patients with anthracycline and/or taxane-resistant metastatic breast cancer on an outpatient basis. Their mean age was 57 years, and they previously received chemotherapy consisting of anthracycline in 7 cases, taxane in 12 and doxifluridine in 8. Their mean disease-free interval was 28.

[Docetaxel (TXT), epirubicin (EPI) and doxifluridine (5'-DFUR) combination neoadjuvant chemotherapy for outpatients with locally advanced breast cancer].

We evaluated the safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel (TXT), epirubicin (EPI) and doxifluridine (5'-DFUR) in 5 patients with locally advanced breast cancer on an outpatient basis. Their mean age was 49.6 years, and preoperative stages were IIa: one case, IIb: two; and IlIb: two; respectively.