Novel Pacemaker Relocation Method for Radiotherapy Against Overlapping Lung Cancer.

We experienced a case of a patient with a history of pacemaker implantation who was found to have lung cancer just behind the pacemaker. She was an 80-year-old woman with a history of valve replacement, pacemaker implantation, and sarcoidosis. Computed tomography showed a ground-glass opacity of 1.

New criteria for preoperative liver function assessment with safety margins to avoid postoperative mortality during liver resection for hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Background: Despite recent medical advancements, surgery for hilar cholangiocarcinoma is associated with high complication and mortality rates. This may be partly attributed to the absence of established preoperative liver evaluation criteria for safe surgery. This study aimed to propose a reliable indicator for safe and well-planned management of major hepatectomy with extrahepatic bile duct resection.

The assessment of adjuvant chemotherapy benefits after D3 lymphadenectomy in patients with colon cancer: a propensity score matching study.

Purpose: Adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) for stage III disease is recognized as a standard treatment and is routinely performed in patients with colon cancer (CC). However, the recommendation for AC is mainly based on studies performed in past environments, where D3 lymphadenectomy was not routinely performed.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed CC patients who underwent curative resection with D3 lymphadenectomy in Keio Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (K-SEER) database.

Effectiveness of Initial and Repeat Drug-Coated Balloon Angioplasty of Restenotic Arteriovenous Fistulae Compared with That of Plain Angioplasty.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of drug-coated balloon (DCB) with high-dose paclitaxel for the treatment of restenotic dysfunctional arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs).

Materials And Methods: In this single-arm, multicenter, prospective, observational study, 334 patients who underwent DCB angioplasty using IN.PACT AV (Medtronic, Plymouth, Minnesota) for the first time for restenotic lesions of dysfunctional AVFs between April 2021 and March 2022 were registered.

Effectiveness of inactivated influenza vaccine in children during the 2023/24 season: The first season after relaxation of intensive COVID-19 measures.

Background: The annual administration of the influenza vaccine is the most effective method for preventing influenza. We have evaluated the effectiveness of the inactivated influenza vaccine in children aged 6 months to 15 years across the seasons from 2013/2014 to 2022/2023. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the inactivated influenza vaccine in the 2023/2024 season, the first year following the easing of strict COVID-19 measures, and possibly the last season when only the inactivated vaccine is available on the market.

Characteristics of Helicobacter pylori Eradication Therapy in Patients 80 Years or Older Living in a Metropolitan Area: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Background: The situation of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy has been changing over time, owing to increases in antimicrobial-resistant strains, lifestyle improvements, and changes in indications for eradication. In Japan, eradication therapy is now available to all H. pylori-positive patients under the medical insurance system, and the potassium-competitive acid blocker vonoprazan has been used for eradication from 2015.

Adjuvant 5-fluorouracil and portal vein infusion chemotherapy followed by gemcitabine for pancreatic cancer.

Background: Although adjuvant gemcitabine (GEM) monotherapy improves the overall survival (OS) of patients with resected pancreatic cancer, its efficacy requires further improvement. This multicenter, phase II study investigated the efficacy of adjuvant portal vein infusion (PVI) chemotherapy followed by GEM therapy in patients with resected pancreatic cancer.

Methods: 5-fluorouracil (250 mg/day) and heparin (2000 IU/day) PVI chemotherapy were combined with systemic administration of mitomycin C (4 mg; days 6, 13, 20, and 27) and cisplatin (10 mg; days 7, 14, 21, and 28) for 4 weeks (PI4W), followed by GEM (1000 mg/m2; days 1, 8, and 15 every 4 weeks for 6 months).

Exploring early discontinuation of mental health outpatient treatment: language, demographics and clinical characteristics among migrant populations in Japan.

Background: The fast-growing migrant population in Japan and globally poses challenges in mental healthcare, yet research addressing migrants' mental health treatment engagement remains limited.

Objective: This study examined language proficiency, demographic and clinical characteristics as predictors of early treatment discontinuation among migrants.

Methods: Electronic health record data from 196 adult migrants, identified from 14 511 patients who received mental health outpatient treatment during 2016 and 2019 at three central hospitals in the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan region of Japan, were used.

Combined Comprehensive Risk Score of the Estimation of Physiologic Ability and Surgical Stress and C-Reactive Protein-to-Albumin Ratio Is a Strong Prognostic Indicator of Long-term Outcomes in Colorectal Cancer.

Background: In patients with colorectal cancer, both the C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio and comprehensive risk score of the estimation of physiologic ability and surgical stress have demonstrated prognostic significance.

Objective: To assess the clinical value of the combined use of C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio and comprehensive risk score for predicting prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer.

Design: Multicenter retrospective study.

Caution to psychiatry ward: COVID-19 pneumonia can manifest weeks or months after testing positive with a PCR test in individuals on preexisting immune-suppressing medication.

Background: Some patients are reported to develop depression immediately after COVID-19 infection. Typically, hospitalization is arranged a week to 10 days after symptom onset to avoid outbreak in the psychiatric ward when infectivity is almost eliminated. However, in patients on immunosuppressive drugs, infection is known to persist beyond the 10th day after testing positive with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

Venous Malformation in the Anterior Mediastinum.

Venous malformations (VMs) located in the anterior mediastinum are rare. Thus, diagnosis using imaging is often challenging, and they are typically diagnosed only after total tumor resection. Herein, we report a case of VM located in the anterior mediastinum diagnosed using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Long-Term Outcomes of a Japanese Prospective Multicenter Registry Using a Heparin-Bonded Expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene Graft for Above-the-Knee Femoropopliteal Bypasses.

Background: Despite the widespread use of PROPATEN, a bioactive heparin-bonded expanded polytetrafluoroethylene graft, in bypass surgery, there are only a few reports of long-term results. We evaluated the long-term results of PROPATENuse for above-knee femoropopliteal bypass (AKFPB).

Methods And Results: After PROPATEN-based AKFPB, patients were prospectively registered at 20 Japanese institutions between July 2014 and October 2017 to evaluate long-term results.

Vasohibin-1 Expression Can Predict Pathological Complete Remission of Advanced Bladder Cancer with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy.

Background And Purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is a well-established standard practice in invasive bladder cancer (BCa), however patient selection remains challenging. High expression of vasohibin-1 (VASH1), an endogenous regulator of angiogenesis, has been reported in high-grade and advanced BCa; however, its prognostic value for chemotherapy outcomes remains unexplored. In this study, we sought to identify biomarkers of chemotherapy response focusing on the relationship between angiogenesis and tissue hypoxia.

New risk stratification for adjuvant nivolumab for high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma.

Objectives: We aim to evaluate the risk of recurrence after neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy, particularly in ypT2 disease in patients with urothelial carcinoma, because it is not clear if all eligible patients with high-risk muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma should be treated with adjuvant nivolumab.

Materials And Methods: We analysed the radiological and clinicopathological features, including cT and ypT stages, of 197 patients who had undergone two to four cycles of cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radical cystectomy without adjuvant chemotherapy. We stratified the risk of postoperative recurrence by these factors.

Profiling Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 Expression Based on the Immune Microenvironment in Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma.

Background: Although several studies have shown favorable outcomes in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) with fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) mutations and/or expression, the relationship between immune cell markers and FGFR3 expression remains unknown.

Objective: To clarify the FGFR3-based immune microenvironment and investigate biomarkers to predict the treatment response to pembrolizumab (Pem) in patients with UTUC.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We conducted immunohistochemical staining in 214 patients with UTUC.

Pacemaker Relocation for Radiation Against Overlapping Lung Cancer.

We experienced a patient after pacemaker (PM) implantation who had lung cancer of the left upper lobe that developed just behind the PM. The patient was an 81-year-old man with many complications. Radiation was the only treatment option.