Feasibility, reliability, and validity of the Japanese version of the Postoperative Quality of Recovery Scale: a first pilot study.

The Postoperative Quality of Recovery Scale (PQRS) is a multi-domain tracking scale to assess recovery after surgery. The PQRS is used in seven countries and five languages; however, the Japanese version of the PQRS (PQRSj) has not been established. We therefore translated the PQRS into Japanese, and examined the feasibility, reliability and validity of the PQRSj.

Comparison between two separate injections and a single injection of double-dose contrast medium for contrast-enhanced MR imaging of metastatic brain tumors.

Purpose: As stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) becomes widespread, precise information including number, location, and margin of lesions is required when magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of brain metastasis is performed. We compare methods using 2 separate injections and a single injection for the administration of a double dose of contrast medium for contrastenhanced MR imaging.

Materials And Methods: We divided 40 patients with brain metastasis into 2 groups of 20 patients.

The Efficacy of Bulbar Urethral Mobilization for Anastomotic Anterior Urethroplasty in a Case With Recurrent Anterior Urethral Stricture.

A 2-month-old boy was diagnosed with febrile urinary tract infection. Voiding cystourethrography showed bulbar and anterior urethral strictures, and endoscopic internal urethrotomy was performed. He developed febrile urinary tract infection again and revealed the recurrence of the anterior urethral stricture.

Feasibility of Early and Repeated Low-dose Interscalene Brachial Plexus Block for Residual Pain in Acute Cervical Radiculopathy Treated with NSAIDS.

Background: To improve residual pain management in acute cervical radiculopathy treated with NSAIDs, the feasibility of early and repeated low-dose interscalene brachial plexus block (IS-BPB) needs to be assessed.

Methods: This was a prospective study on patients receiving NSAIDs (loxoprofen) for cervical radiculopathy of ≤ 2-week onset. Pain was assessed using the visual analogue scale (VAS).

Coils versus gelatin particles with or without intraarterial antibiotics for partial splenic embolization: a comparative evaluation.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy, complications, and inflammatory levels in partial splenic embolization (PSE) with coils or gelatin sponge (GS) particles with or without intraarterial antibiotic agents.

Materials And Methods: Forty-four patients with hypersplenism treated by PSE were assessed. GS particles were used in 31 patients, and coils were used in 13 patients.

Simple technique for gasless transumbilical single-incisional laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy.

Purpose: Single-incision laparoscopic surgery has recently received more attention. We developed a novel simple technique of gasless transumbilical single-incisional laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy (TUSILAA) and retrospectively analyzed our initial experience.

Methods: TUSILAA has been attempted in 50 consecutive patients with acute appendicitis.

Carney complex with right ventricular myxoma following second excision of left atrial myxoma.

We report a case of Carney complex with massive right ventricular myxoma after two-time excision of a left atrial myxoma. The patient was a 45-year-old woman with pyrexia. She temporarily lost consciousness during examination, and echocardiography and computed tomography (CT) showed a massive tumor in the right ventricle.

Repression of Factor VIII Inhibitor Development with Apoptotic Factor VIII-expressing Embryonic Stem Cells.

Development of factor VIII (fVIII)-neutralizing antibodies, called inhibitors, is a challenging problem in the management of hemophilia A patients. We explored the possibility of pretreatment with apoptotic fVIII-expressing embryonic stem (ES) cells to prevent the development of fVIII inhibitors. Murine ES cells integrated with the human F8 gene were differentiated into embryoid bodies, dissociated to a single cell suspension, subjected to hypo-osmotic shock to induce apoptosis, and intraperitoneally injected into hemophilia A mice.

Low-dose ropivacaine for supraclavicular brachial plexus block combined with general anesthesia for successful postoperative analgesia: A case series.

Background: Ropivacaine, a long-acting local anesthetic agent, has been used for postoperative analgesia in brachial plexus block (BPB) at high doses. However, use of lower doses would reduce the occurrence of adverse effects.

Methods: We applied BPB with low-dose ropivacaine (10 mL of 0.

Late Lower Extremity Ischemia due to Thrombi in an Occluded Graft after Axillary-Femoral Artery Bypass.

We experienced a rare case of acute ischemia of the lower extremity due to embolism caused by an occluded prosthetic graft late after axillary-femoral artery bypass. A 67-year-old woman developed acute right lower extremity ischemia 7 years after axillary-femoral artery bypass, which had been performed for lower limb ischemia as a complication of acute aortic dissection (Stanford B). The graft was occluded, and the native vessel had re-canalized by the time of the present admission.

Safety and feasibility for single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy in local community hospital: a retrospective comparison with conventional 4-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility for single-incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy (SILC) by retrospective comparison with conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy (CLC) in a local community hospital.

Methods: SILC was introduced and performed in 57 patients for benign gallbladder diseases. Their clinical data were compared with those of 62 patients treated with CLC.

[A case of local relapsed rectal cancer responding to low-dose S-1].

We report a case of local recurrent colorectal cancer that has been treated successfully with low-dose oral chemotherapeutic agent. An 80-year-old man underwent a low anterior resection for rectal cancer. Two years and nine months later, a recurrent tumor was revealed in the vicinity of the anastomotic region by colonoscopy.

[Spinal epidural hematoma after spinal anesthesia using a 27-gauge spinal needle in a patient with normal coagulation profile].

A 76-year-old man underwent transurethral resection of bladder tumor under spinal anesthesia. Preoperative laboratory date showed normal platelet count (188,000 x microl(-1)) and normal coagulation profile (PT 11.4 sec, APTT 35.

Early appearance of high grade glioma on magnetic resonance imaging.

The early appearance of high grade glioma on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was retrospectively reviewed in the clinical records and MR images of 52 patients with intracerebral glioma treated in Osaka General Medical Center between 1997 and 2006. Three patients had no abnormal findings, and four patients had only hyperintense areas on T(2)-weighted imaging at initial MR examination. Five of the seven patients presented with generalized seizures.

[Mitral valve repair in a patient with a porcelain ascending aorta].

A 78-year-old patient with heavily calcified ascending aorta underwent mitral valve repair for mitral valve regurgitation. Chordal replacement with expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) loop technique was done under endo aortic clamp with a balloon catheter. He was discharged from the hospital on the 24th postoperative day without any major complications.

[Effect of patient's choice of type of anesthesia or postoperative pain management].

Background: Recently, informed consent is important for anesthesia. However, type of anesthesia or of postoperative pain management has been rarely selected by the patient in Japan. We performed a questionnaire survey about the choice of each procedure.

Successful surgical repair of delayed chronic type a dissection after previous coronary artery bypass grafting.

This reports a case of a 68-year-old woman who had undergone coronary artery bypass 5 years previously. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) revealed that the ascending aorta was dilated to about 8 cm in diameter, with type A dissection, and with a patent left internal thoracic artery (LITA) graft to the left anterior descending artery (LAD). Angiography at the ascending aorta did not reveal a coronary artery, nor did it show the sequential saphenous vein graft (SVG) to the obtuse marginal and posterolateral branches.

Early results of aortic connector system for proximal anastomosis of the saphenous vein graft.

Purpose: Our objective is to clarify the technical points in using the symmetry aortic connector system (ACS) compared with hand-sewing from clinical and angiographic results of the patients who underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods: Among 84 patients who underwent CABG from January 2002 to August 2003, 36 off-pump CABGs were performed using at least one saphenous vein graft (SVG). Thirty proximal anastomosis of 17 patients were performed by ACS, and 30 proximal anastomosis of 19 patients were performed by hand-sewing under aortic side-clamping.

[Hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal osteoporosis].

An estrogen deficiency had lead to the postmenopausal osteoporosis, therefore the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) had accepted for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in worldwide. But there were some weak points and limits. A half dose HRT is useful for prevent to vaginal bleeding and breast pain, and to be high in the continuation ratio.

[Which is the better choice, estrogen or SERMs in postmenopausal women?].

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases the bone mineral density (BMD) and reduces the risk of vertebral and hip fractures in postmenopausal women. But, long term HRT slightly increases the risk of breast cancer. Raloxifene is a selective estrogen receptor modulator that has estrogen agonist effects in the skeleton and cardiovascular system and estrogen antagonist effects in the uterus and breast.

Sutureless patch repair for small blowout rupture of the left ventricle after myocardial infarction.

Rupture of the left ventricular free wall is one of the most serious complications of myocardial infarction. A 73-year-old man with severe chest pain visited our hospital. Coronary angiography revealed acute myocardial infarction in the territory of the diagonal branch.

Off-pump redo coronary artery bypass grafting from descending aorta to the posterolateral area through a left thoracotomy in patients with a patent internal thoracic artery graft.

The patients were a 73-year-old man (Case 1) and 56-year-old man (Case 2) who developed angina pectoris and heart failure. Case 2 showed chronic renal failure on hemodialysis. These patients showed posterolateral myocardial ischemia with a patent internal thoracic artery graft to the left anterior descending artery.