A phase II trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of perioperative pirfenidone for prevention of acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in lung cancer patients undergoing pulmonary resection: West Japan Oncology Group 6711 L (PEOPLE Study).

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) often accompanies lung cancer, and life-threatening acute exacerbation (AE) of IPF (AE-IPF) is reported to occur in 20 % of IPF patients who undergo lung cancer surgery. Pirfenidone is an anti-fibrotic agent known to reduce disease progression in IPF patients. A phase II study was conducted to evaluate whether perioperative pirfenidone treatment could reduce the incidence of postoperative AE-IPF patients with lung cancer.

Long-term outcomes after surgical resection of pulmonary metastases from colorectal cancer.

Background: Surgical resection has been widely performed on patients with pulmonary metastases from colorectal cancer with favorable outcomes. However, there are currently no standard surgical indications for pulmonary metastases.

Methods: We reviewed 94 patients who underwent complete resection of pulmonary metastases from colorectal cancer between November 1991 and April 2013.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma originating from the chest wall with rib metastases.

An asymptomatic 39-year-old woman was referred to us for an abnormal nodular opacity detected on the chest X-ray. Histopathological and further examinations revealed findings consistent with epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) originating from the chest wall with metastases to the ribs. Complete excision was performed; however, adjuvant chemotherapy was not administered because of the patient's mental disorder.

Resection of an azygos vein aneurysm that formed a thrombus during a 6-year follow-up period.

We report a resection of an azygos vein aneurysm that formed a thrombus during a 6-year follow-up period. An azygos vein aneurysm is commonly detected as an asymptomatic mediastinal mass. A thrombus could suddenly form without enlarging the aneurysm.

Usefulness of FDG-PET/CT in the detection of pancreatic metastases from lung cancer.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the ability to detect pancreatic metastasis of lung cancer and to clarify the degree of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) accumulation and computed tomography (CT) characteristics of pancreatic metastasis from lung cancer.

Methods: A total of 573 patients (415 men and 158 women) with lung cancer were retrospectively evaluated. All patients underwent FDG-positron emission tomography (PET)/CT with contrast-enhanced CT for first=stage (313 patients; initial study group) or follow-up study (260 patients; follow-up study group).

A logistic regression predictive model and the outcome of patients with resected lung adenocarcinoma of 2 cm or less in size.

Diagnostic criteria to identify small lung adenocarcinomas that relapse after resection have yet to be established. For this purpose, we developed a mathematical logistic model in the present study. We collected data for patients with lung adenocarcinoma of 2 cm or less in size: the original cohort comprised 28 men and 25 women and the validation cohort comprised 11 men.

F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose accumulation in an inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen.

We report on a case with an inflammatory pseudotumor of the spleen, which showed a moderate accumulation of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in the tumor. F-18 FDG accumulated mainly in the peripheral portion of this tumor that showed abundant hypercellular inflammatory cells histopathologically. Splenic inflammatory pseudotumors should be recognized as F-18 FDG-avid benign tumors of the spleen.

Amyloid deposition in primary pulmonary marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue.

A rare association between primary pulmonary marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma), and pulmonary immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis is described in a 65-year-old woman suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA). All four nodules in the resected upper lobe of the lung had a similar histological appearance. They were composed of small-medium-sized atypical lymphocytes.

Long-term survival after repeat resections of metastases in liver, lung, and stomach from sigmoid colon cancer: report of a case.

A 74-year-old female patient underwent a simultaneous colectomy and hepatectomy for sigmoid colon cancer and its hepatic metastases. Six months later she underwent a hepatectomy for recurrent hepatic metastases; then 10 months later, a pulmonary resection for pulmonary metastasis; and 24 months later, a partial gastrectomy for gastric metastasis. As of December 2005, at 7 years 6 months after the first surgery and at 4 years after the last surgery, the patient is still alive with a good quality of life and no sign of recurrence.

High F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose accumulation in solid pseudo-papillary tumors of the pancreas.

We report two cases of young women with a solid pseudo-papillary tumor of the pancreas which having cystic and hemorrhagic components with marked calcification on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed abnormally increased accumulation of F- 18 fluorodeoxyglucose in the pancreas tail tumors, especially in the non-calcified solid portion of the tumors. These patients underwent elective resection of the masses and distal pancreatectomy and were diagnosed with solid pseudo-papillary tumors by histopathological analysis.

Using the supercharge technique to additionally revascularize the gastric tube after a subtotal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.

Background: Maintaining sufficient blood flow to the gastric tube after a subtotal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer is crucial for decreasing esophagogastric anastomotic leakage.

Methods: After subtotal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer, the supercharge technique was performed in 21 esophageal reconstruction patients to additionally revascularize the gastric tube using the splenic artery and vein, external carotid artery, and internal jugular vein. Operative results of the supercharge group were retrospectively compared with those of the control group (patients not receiving the technique).

Reconstruction of the portal vein and the splenic vein in pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer.

Background/aims: We reconstructed the splenic vein besides the portal vein and/or the superior mesenteric vein after resection of the superior mesenteric-portal vein confluence during pancreaticoduodenectomy for carcinoma of the pancreas and the outcome was retrospectively assessed.

Methodology: Twenty-five patients were classified into three groups. Group O, the splenic vein was left intact (n = 11), Group I, the splenic vein was anastomosed to another vein (n = 6), and Group II, the splenic vein was reconstructed to another vein through autovein graft interposition (n = 8).

Reconstruction of small bile ducts using a parachute technique.

Benign or malignant stricture of extrahepatic bile ducts may result when small intrahepatic bile ducts are anastomosed to the jejunal loop after resection of extrahepatic bile ducts, hepatic parenchyma, and intrahepatic bile ducts. We applied a parachute technique, which has been used for fine vascular anastomosis, to hepaticojejunostomy in eight patients with either extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma or intrahepatic cholangiocellular carcinoma. One to four small bile ducts were anastomosed to the jejunal loop.

Pulmonary artery stenting for recurrent lung cancer after left pneumonectomy.

We present a case of a patient with stenosis of the pulmonary artery which was successfully treated by implantation of a vascular endoprosthesis. A 50-year-old man underwent left pneumonectomy for lung cancer. Eleven months later, a computed tomographic scan revealed a soft tissue mass in the mediastinum and there was severe stenosis of the remaining right main pulmonary artery.

Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma in a Japanese man: report of a case.

Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma (FHCC), a rare variant of hepatocellular carcinoma, is becoming more prevalent; however, up until 1999, only 18 cases had been reported in Japan. We recently diagnosed a case of FHCC in a 46-year-old Japanese man who had visited four hospitals before being finally admitted to our department. On admission, he was diagnosed as having multiple liver tumors, with lymph node metastasis and peritoneal dissemination.

Right aortic arch with left lung cancer: focusing on left recurrent laryngeal nerve.

We report a case of a 64-year-old Japanese man with an anomalous right aortic arch who had left lung cancer. We performed lobectomy and mediastinal lymphadenectomy, paying attention to the pathway of left recurrent laryngeal nerve. The left recurrent laryngeal nerve hooked around from the left dorsal to the right ventral part of the left ductus arteriosus, which connected the left pulmonary artery with the aortic diverticulum.