Computed tomography Hounsfield unit values as a treatment response indicator for spinal metastatic lesions in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer: a retrospective study in Japan.

Study Design: A retrospective study.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the impact of increased Hounsfield unit (HU) values for metastatic spinal lesions measured via computed tomography on the overall survival of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and identify factors associated with increased HU values in metastatic spinal lesions.

Overview Of Literature: Previous studies have underscored the utility of the HU as a marker of treatment response in metastatic bone lesions.

Modified Centralization Technique of Tibial Side Capsulodesis for Radial Tear of Incomplete Discoid Lateral Meniscus.

An incomplete discoid lateral meniscus is often associated with radial tears, which cause meniscal extrusion and result in poor healing outcomes. Centralization has recently been used as a surgical method to reduce extrusion. However, various repair techniques use single point of fixation sutures exclusively on the femoral side, potentially hindering healing.

Relationship Between Coronary Artery Calcium Score and Vulnerability of Culprit Plaque Assessed by OCT in Patients With Established Coronary Artery Disease.

Background: Coronary artery calcium score (CACS) is widely used for risk stratification. However, in patients with established coronary artery disease, its clinical implication and relationship with plaque vulnerability are unclear. We sought to correlate the CACS and plaque vulnerability assessed by optical coherence tomography.

Analysis of factors related to patient satisfaction in adult spinal deformity with a minimum follow-up of 5 years.

Objective: Numerous studies have reported that corrective surgery improves postoperative health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with adult spinal deformity (ASD), and postoperative HRQOL is maintained over 5-year follow-up. However, few studies have investigated factors associated with mid-term patient satisfaction. This study aimed to examine the factors contributing to 5-year patient satisfaction in patients with ASD following corrective surgery.

Axillary Lymph Node Malignant Melanoma of Unknown Primary Origin: A Case Report From Japan.

Malignant melanoma of unknown primary origin (MUP) is a rare disease predominantly reported in Caucasian individuals. In this paper, we report a rare case of MUP. We treated a 75-year-old Japanese man with an MUP localized to the axillary lymph nodes.

Three-dimensional optical coherence tomography for guidance of percutaneous coronary intervention for coronary bifurcation disease: a review of current clinical applications.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for coronary bifurcation disease remains one of the most challenging situations in interventional cardiology in terms of procedural success rates and long-term cardiac events. Optical coherence tomography (OCT), with a higher signal-to-noise ratio and the ability to distinguish plaque components, can display the true condition of bifurcation lesions without overlapping or shortening and achieve detailed visualization of vascular structures, which is superior to those of other imaging modalities. Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of OCT images (3D-OCT) helps to gain a more informed understanding of the geometry and morphology of bifurcation lesions and provide additive information on plaque distribution.

Comparison of creatine kinase elevation caused by Janus kinase inhibitors and interleukin-6 inhibitors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A propensity score-matched study.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine whether creatine kinase (CK) elevation occurs with interleukin (IL)-6 inhibitors, as in Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, which are reported to increase CK levels in rheumatoid arthritis.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter database of JAK inhibitor and IL-6 inhibitor treatment was retrospectively searched between January 2016 to December 2022; 142 cases (117 females, 25 males, mean age: 63.8±13.

Assessment of fractal ratio of vessel diameters in coronary bifurcation lesions by angiography and intravascular ultrasound.

Physiological coronary branching at the bifurcation has a constant fractal ratio (FR) of the diameter of the mother vessel to the sum of daughter vessels on quantitative coronary angiography (QCA). We sought to investigate the FR of diseased coronary bifurcations using QCA and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and its impact on late lumen loss after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In multicentre prospective studies of the J-REVERSE and 3D OCT Bifurcation Registry, 402 and 109 bifurcations treated with stenting that completed QCAs and IVUS examinations, respectively were analysed.

Novel diagnostic method for B cell vitreoretinal lymphoma by identification of regulatory T cells and PD-1 cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the vitreous via flow cytometry.

Aims: To investigate the significance of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in the vitreous of patients with vitreoretinal lymphoma (VRL) and uveitis.

Methods: This study involved 51 patients with VRL and uveitis, 15 males and 36 females (mean age: 72 years, range: 51-86 years), who underwent vitrectomy at the Department of Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan, from December 2019 to February 2024. All patients underwent lymphocyte surface antigen analysis via flow cytometry, and the proportion of Tregs in CD4 T lymphocytes and PD-1 CTLs in CD8 T lymphocytes was measured.

Knee joint dysfunction in the patients immediately before arthroplasty was well reflected by locomotive syndrome, not physical frailty.

Objectives: We assessed physical function by three different methods in patients with knee osteoarthritis just before total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and investigated the relationship between impairment of mobility and preoperative factors.

Methods: All patients scheduled to undergo TKA at our hospital were assessed for basic attributes, clinical assessment, radiography, whole-body mode DXA, knee muscle strength. And frailty, sarcopenia, and locomotive syndrome (LS) were evaluated.

CVIT expert consensus document on primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in 2024.

Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) has significantly contributed to reducing the mortality of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) even in cardiogenic shock and is now the standard of care in most of Japanese institutions. The Task Force on Primary PCI of the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics (CVIT) proposed an expert consensus document for the management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) focusing on procedural aspects of primary PCI in 2018 and updated in 2022. Recently, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published the guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndrome in 2023.

Enhancing origin prediction: deep learning model for diagnosing premature ventricular contractions with dual-rhythm analysis focused on cardiac rotation.

Aims: Several algorithms can differentiate inferior axis premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) originating from the right side and left side on 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs). However, it is unclear whether distinguishing the origin should rely solely on PVC or incorporate sinus rhythm (SR). We compared the dual-rhythm model (incorporating both SR and PVC) to the PVC model (using PVC alone) and quantified the contribution of each ECG lead in predicting the PVC origin for each cardiac rotation.

Relationship Between Calcified Plaque Burden, Vascular Inflammation, and Plaque Vulnerability in Patients With Coronary Atherosclerosis.

Background: Coronary artery calcification is an integral part of atherosclerosis. It has been suggested that early coronary artery calcification is associated with active inflammation, and advanced calcification forms as inflammation subsides. Inflammation is also an important factor in plaque vulnerability.

Efficacy and safety of Janus kinase inhibitors in patients with difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi) in patients with difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (D2T RA).

Methods: This study included 220 patients with RA who were treated with JAKi. Sixty-two patients were naïve to biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs)/JAKi (1st group), 57 patients were failure to one bDMARDs/JAKi (2nd group), and 101 patients were failure to ≥ 2 bDMARDs/JAKi.

Clinical Outcomes of Transradial vs Nontransradial Aortoiliac Endovascular Therapy.

Background: The introduction of radial-specific equipment has made transradial (TR) aortoiliac (AI) endovascular therapy (EVT) more convenient.

Objectives: The authors aimed to investigate the perioperative outcomes of the TR approach in patients undergoing AI EVT for symptomatic peripheral artery disease.

Methods: The COMFORT (Contemporary Strategy for Aortoiliac Intervention) registry was a prospective, multicenter, observational study enrolling patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease undergoing AI EVT between January 2021 and June 2023.

Efficacy and safety of elobixibat in combination with or switched from conventional treatments of chronic constipation: A retrospective observational study.

Background And Aim: Elobixibat is a triple mode of action laxative that increases water secretion into the colon, promotes colonic motility, and reestablishes the defecation desire. This study aims to evaluate the effectivity and safety of elobixibat in chronic constipation (CC) patients refractory to conventional laxatives.

Methods: A single-center retrospective observational study was conducted in refractory CC patients diagnosed according to the Rome IV criteria and received elobixibat between April 2018 and June 2022 at Osaka Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital.

Usefulness of pre- and post-treatment volumetric PET/CT parameters in predicting prognosis and evaluating recurrence for chemoradiotherapy-treated hypopharyngeal cancer.

Objective: To investigate the usefulness of pre- and post-treatment metabolic tumor volume (MTV) obtained from positron emission tomography (PET) in predicting prognosis and evaluating recurrence in patients with hypopharyngeal cancer (HPC).

Materials And Methods: Forty-three consecutive HPC patients treated with chemoradiotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) and MTV of tumor (T) and lymph node (N) were analyzed.

Impact of morphofunctional assessment with quantitative flow ratio and optical coherence tomography in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Background: Combining morphological and physiological evaluations might improve the risk stratification of patients who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) culprit lesions.

Aims: We aimed to investigate the clinical utility of morphofunctional evaluation after PCI for identifying ACS patients with increased risk of subsequent clinical events.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 298 consecutive ACS patients who had undergone optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided PCI.

Longitudinal measurement of serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein can detect the progression of cartilage degeneration in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction patients.

Background/objective: Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) has utility as a diagnostic marker for osteoarthritis (OA). Our previous study revealed that the serum COMP level can be used to detect early cartilage change in non-OA patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-deficiency. However, there are still no studies on detecting the progression of cartilage degeneration in early OA.