Monitoring serum proangiogenic cytokines from hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with sorafenib.

Background And Aim: Several factors, including proangiogenic cytokines, have been reported as predictive markers for the treatment effect of sorafenib in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, most of them were determined based on one-time measurements before treatment.

Methods: We consecutively recruited 80 advanced HCC patients who were treated with sorafenib prospectively. Serum levels of eight proangiogenic cytokines and the appearance of adverse events were monitored periodically, and their correlations with the prognoses of the patients were evaluated.

Hemodynamic features of offending vessels at neurovascular contact in patients with trigeminal neuralgia and hemifacial spasm.

Objective: Offending vessels at the site of neurovascular contact (NVC) in patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and hemifacial spasm (HFS) may have specific hemodynamic features. The purpose of this study was to investigate the wall shear stress (WSS) of offending vessels at NVCs by conducting a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis.

Methods: The authors retrospectively analyzed the cases of 20 patients (10 with TN and 10 with HFS) evaluated by 3D CT angiography and used the imaging findings for analysis of the hemodynamic parameters.

Restrictive ventilatory impairment is associated with poor outcome in patients with cT1aN0M0 peripheral squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

Background: Patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) of the lung sometimes have a comorbid pulmonary disease such as pulmonary emphysema or an interstitial lung disease (ILD), both of which negatively affect patient outcome. The aim of this study was to determine the outcome of patients in a multicenter database who underwent surgery for cT1aN0M0 peripheral SqCC lung cancer.

Methods: The medical records of a total of 228 eligible patients from seven institutions were reviewed to evaluate the impact of concomitant impaired pulmonary function and other clinicopathological factors on overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS).

Therapeutic Efficacy and Safety of GH in Japanese Children with Down Syndrome Short Stature Accompanied by GH Deficiency.

In this study, we investigated the effects of GH treatment in children with Down syndrome who had been diagnosed with GH deficiency (GHD). A total of 20 subjects were investigated in this study. Fourteen Down syndrome children (5 boys and 9 girls) with short stature due to GHD were treated with GH at Okayama Red Cross General Hospital, and 6 Down syndrome children (4 boys and 2 girls) with short stature due to GHD were registered in the Pfizer International Growth Database (KIGS).

[A case of delayed awakening from general anesthesia caused by psychological unresponsiveness].

We report a case of an 85-year-old woman with delayed awakening from general anesthesia caused by psychological unresponsiveness. She underwent an open reduction of the right femoral bone fracture. Induction of general anesthesia was done with fentanyl, propofol, sevoflurane, and rocuronium.

[ A case of general anesthesia for the removal of extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma in a patient complicated with severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy].

We report a case of general anesthesia for the removal of pheochromocytoma in a patient complicated with severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy. A 65-year-old woman complained of fatigability with hypertension and diabetes mellitus. She was diagnosed as an extra-adrenal peri-aortic pheochromocytoma with severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

[Two cases of airway stent placement to treat tracheal and bronchial fistula using general anesthesia under spontaneous respiration].

Anesthesia for the tracheobronchial stent placement involves the risk of airway narrowing and obstruction. Controlled ventilation with relatively high airway pressure is usually used to maintain oxygenation and ventilation during anesthesia. However, controlled ventilation does not always provide tidal volume and oxygenation due to gas leakage from tracheobronchial fistula.

[Cognitive factors relating to mammographic breast cancer screening].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify cognitive factors relating to participation in mammographic breast cancer screening (MBCS).

Methods: A total of 2,345 women aged 40-69 years in two cities in A Prefecture were asked to participate in this self-administered questionnaire survey. Data were analyzed using logistic regression analysis.

Optimal cut-off point of waist circumference for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in Japanese subjects.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been redefined by a new criterion in Japan, in which waist circumference cut-off points, that is 85 cm for men and 90 cm for women, are used; however, objections are rising against this criterion. The present study examined the criterion for waist circumference to predict the accumulation of the components of MetS. In the present study, we used data for 5972 Japanese people who received annual health examinations, and 621 men (16.

Breast cancer with cartilaginous and/or osseous metaplasia diagnosed by lymph nodal metastasis: a case report.

Breast cancer with cartilaginous and/or osseous metaplasia is a type of metaplastic carcinomas and is a rare disease. We report the case of a 49 year-old female who underwent right mastectomy for a large breast tumor. Histological examinations revealed a mixed tumor with both stromal and epithelial elements;the stroma showed poor differentiated spindle-shape and multiform cells with a massive osseous matrix, and atypical epithelial cells, which mainly existed on the surface of the cysts, showed nucleic atypia.

Bone marrow large B cell lymphoma bearing cyclin D3 expression: clinical, morphologic, immunophenotypic, and genotypic analyses of seven patients.

We report seven large B cell lymphoma patients showing the involvement of tumor cells with cyclin D3 (CCND3) expression in bone marrow (BM) at the initial diagnosis. All patients presented with B symptoms, splenomegaly, and anemia/thrombocytopenia lacking hemophagocytosis in the BM. Five of the seven patients had suffered from immunological diseases or cancers.

Prognostic impact of intratumoral vessel invasion in completely resected pathologic stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

Objective: Intratumoral vessel invasion of non-small cell lung cancer is a readily available tumor-related factor that provides direct evidence of microscopic tumor invasion. We assessed the prognostic influence of intratumoral vessel invasion and its ability to provide a differential prediction of prognosis for completely resected pathologic stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

Methods: We analyzed 258 patients with non-small cell lung cancer who underwent complete resection between January of 1996 and December of 2005 and were diagnosed with pathologic stage I disease.

Antipsychotics possessing antidepressive efficacy increase Golf protein in rat striatum.

Introduction: Recently, second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) have been widely used in the treatment of mood disorders. However, the mechanisms of the antidepressant effect of SGAs remain unclear. We proposed that Golf protein, a stimulant alpha-subunit of G protein coupled with the dopamine D1 receptor, might a play the key role in the antidepressive effect of antidepressants.

The outcome of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) after a surgical resection in our institute.

Purpose: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract arising from Cajal's cells and expressing c-kit. In a consensus report, the clinical behavior of GISTs was categorized into risk classes according to the tumor size and mitotic count. We analyzed the risk categories based on GIST patients who underwent a surgical resection at our institute during a period of 15 years.

Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors in neurofibromatosis type 1 treated with laparoscopic surgery.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) have been reported to occasionally occur in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1), and many cases have had multiple lesions predominantly involving the small intestine. We report herein a case of multiple GISTs associated with NF-1 from whom laparoscopic surgery was beneficial. In a 79-year-old female admitted with anemia and melena, the abdominal computed tomography revealed a tumor arising from the small intestine.

[Successful anesthetic management of a patient with thyroid storm using landiolol].

We report successful anesthetic management of a 38-year-old man with thyroid storm using an ultra-short acting beta blocker, landiolol. The patient was admitted to the hospital for severe abdominal pain. An emergency laparotomy was scheduled for perforated gastric ulcer under a condition of uncontrolled thyrotoxicosis.

Impaired endothelial vasomotor function after sirolimus-eluting stent implantation.

Background: Sirolimus inhibits endothelial cell proliferation in vitro, but although the sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) is widely used because of the very low rates of in-stent restenosis, the influence of SES on coronary endothelial vasomotor function in humans is not well known.

Methods And Results: The present study included 21 patients treated with SES, and 12 patients treated with conventional bare metal stent (BMS). Endothelium-dependent vasomotor function was evaluated 6 months after stent implantation, using intracoronary acetylcholine infusion.

An 84-year-old patient with an atrial septal defect rescued using the Amplatzer septal occluder device.

We report the case of a rescued 84-year-old patient with atrial septal defect (ASD) who was emergently admitted to our intensive care unit with progressive dyspnea requiring mechanical ventilation for severe anoxia and respiratory arrest. She had no history of congenital heart diseases. ECG and chest X-ray revealed overload of the right atrium and ventricle, and severe increase in pulmonary vascular markings.

[Perioperative management of abdominal operation in three patients with pulmonary emphysema associated with pulmonary hypertension].

Anesthesia for abdominal operation in patients with emphysema is accompanied with a high risk of respiratory insufficiency requiring postoperative artificial ventilation. Furthermore, in patients whose pulmonary emphysema progresses and leads to pulmonary hypertension, there is the risk of developing right heart failure with postoperative respiratory insufficiency. Because perioperative circulatory drifting is massive in abdominal operation, they develop right heart failure easily during the postoperative refilling phase.