Endoscopic direct clipping versus indirect clipping for colonic diverticular bleeding: A large multicenter cohort study.

Background: Direct and indirect clipping treatments are used worldwide to treat colonic diverticular bleeding (CDB), but their effectiveness has not been examined in multicenter studies with more than 100 cases.

Objective: We sought to determine the short- and long-term effectiveness of direct versus indirect clipping for CDB in a nationwide cohort.

Methods: We studied 1041 patients with CDB who underwent direct clipping (n = 360) or indirect clipping (n = 681) at 49 hospitals across Japan (CODE BLUE-J Study).

Rehabilitation in Acute COVID-19 Patients: A Japanese Retrospective, Observational, Multi-Institutional Survey.

Objective: To investigate the changes in activities of daily living (ADLs) and the conditions of rehabilitation for acute COVID-19 patients in Japan.

Design: Retrospective, observational survey.

Setting: Four tertiary hospitals with intensive care units and one secondary hospital in Japan.

Multisystem Imaging Manifestations of Kawasaki Disease.

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a common pediatric vasculitis syndrome involving medium- and small-sized arteries that is especially prevalent in early childhood (ie, age 6 months to 5 years). The diagnosis of KD is made on the basis of clinical features, such as fever, characteristic mucocutaneous changes, and nonsuppurative cervical lymphadenopathy. However, early diagnosis is often challenging because many children with KD present with atypical symptoms.

Intraoperative real-time near-infrared optical imaging for the identification of metastatic brain tumors via microscope and exoscope.

Objective: As chemotherapy and radiotherapy have developed, the role of a neurosurgeon in the treatment of metastatic brain tumors is gradually changing. Real-time intraoperative visualization of brain tumors by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is feasible. The authors aimed to perform real-time intraoperative visualization of the metastatic tumor in brain surgery using second-window indocyanine green (SWIG) with microscope and exoscope systems.

Limb-Based Patency After Surgical vs Endovascular Revascularization in Patients with Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia.

Purpose: To determine whether limb-based patency (LBP) after infrainguinal revascularization for chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) is similar between bypass surgery and endovascular therapy (EVT).

Materials And Methods: The database for the urgical Reconstruction vs eripheral tervention in Ptients With Critical Limb Isemia (SPINACH) study was interrogated to identify 130 patients (mean age 73±8 years; 94 men) who underwent bypass surgery and 271 patients (mean age 74±10 years; 178 men) who underwent EVT alone. Skin perfusion pressure (SPP) and the ankle-brachial index (ABI) were measured before the procedure and at 0, 1, and 3 months after revascularization.

ADAM10 is indispensable for longitudinal bone growth in mice.

Skeletal development is a highly sophisticated process in which the expression of a variety of growth factors, signaling molecules, and extracellular matrix proteins is spatially and temporally orchestrated. In the present study, we show that ADAM10, a transmembrane protease that is critically involved in the functional regulation of various membrane-bound molecules, plays an essential role in the longitudinal growth of long bones and in skeletal development. We found that mutant mice lacking ADAM10 in osteochondroprogenitors exhibited marked growth retardation and had shorter long bones than the control mice.

Construction of a Heart Failure Database Collating Administrative Claims Data and Electronic Medical Record Data to Evaluate Risk Factors for In-Hospital Death and Prolonged Hospitalization.

Clinical studies on heart failure (HF) using diagnosis procedure combination (DPC) databases have attracted attention recently, but data obtained from such databases may lack important information essential for determining the severity of HF. Using a HF database that collates DPC data and electronic medical records from 3 hospitals in Japan, we investigated factors contributing to prolonged hospitalization and in-hospital death, based on clinical characteristics and data obtained early during hospitalization in 2,750 Japanese patients with HF hospitalized between 2011 and 2015. Mean age was 77.

Sex Difference in the Association Between Subtype Distribution and Age at Diagnosis in Patients With Primary Aldosteronism.

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most frequent cause of secondary hypertension. Adrenal vein sampling (AVS) is an established method for finding patients with the unilateral subtype of PA, for which adrenalectomy is an applicable treatment. In this study, we analyzed a large database of patients with PA who underwent adrenal vein sampling, to investigate the sex differences in the impact of age at diagnosis on the subtype and cause of PA.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in patients with autoimmune hepatitis.

Background And Aim: The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing all over the world. NAFLD develops in patients with liver disease, including patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). NAFLD and AIH have some similar laboratory and histological findings.

Health-related quality of life in patients with autoimmune hepatitis: A questionnaire survey.

Aim: Health-related quality of life is impaired in patients with autoimmune hepatitis, but the association between health-related quality of life and patients' backgrounds remains unknown. We assessed health-related quality of life in patients with autoimmune hepatitis and identified factors associated with its impairment.

Methods: We assessed health-related quality of life in patients with autoimmune hepatitis, patients with chronic hepatitis C, and healthy subjects using the Japanese version of the Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire and the 36-Item Short Form Survey.

The Occurrence of Apparent Bilateral Aldosterone Suppression in Adrenal Vein Sampling for Primary Aldosteronism.

Context: In adrenal venous sampling (AVS) for patients with primary aldosteronism (PA), apparent bilateral aldosterone suppression (ABAS), defined as lower aldosterone/cortisol ratios in the bilateral adrenal veins than that in the inferior vena cava, is occasionally experienced. ABAS is uninterpretable with respect to lateralization of excess aldosterone production. We previously reported that ABAS was not a rare phenomenon and was significantly reduced after adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) administration.

Hyperkalemia in both surgically and medically treated patients with primary aldosteronism.

Hyperkalemia is an important complication of adrenalectomy for patients with primary aldosteronism (PA). The frequency of hyperkalemia after medication using mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) for PA is unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the frequency and the risk factors of hyperkalemia after surgery and medication for PA.

Autoimmune hepatitis in Japan: trends in a nationwide survey.

Background: A nationwide survey of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) patients was performed in Japan in 2015. The aims of this study were to elucidate the trends and characteristics of AIH in Japan, in addition to identifying differences in AIH between acute hepatitis and chronic hepatitis.

Methods: Questionnaires about patients with AIH diagnosed from 2009 to 2013 were sent to 437 hospitals or clinics with hepatology specialists.

Bilateral aldosterone suppression and its resolution in adrenal vein sampling of patients with primary aldosteronism: analysis of data from the WAVES-J study.

Context: In adrenal vein sampling (AVS) for patients with primary aldosteronism, the contralateral ratio of aldosterone/cortisol (A/C) between the nondominant adrenal vein and the inferior vena cava is one of the best criteria for determining lateralized aldosterone secretion. Despite successful cannulation in some patients, the A/C ratios in the adrenal veins are bilaterally lower than that in the inferior vena cava (bilateral aldosterone suppression; BAS).

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of BAS in AVS and how to resolve this condition.

Clinical Outcomes and Prognostic Factors for Salivary Duct Carcinoma: A Multi-Institutional Analysis of 141 Patients.

Background: Among salivary gland malignancies, the prognosis of salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) is assumed to be the poorest. However, because of its low incidence, reliable survival estimates and prognostic factors based on a large number of patients remain to be elucidated, thereby making it impossible to standardize the optimal treatment for SDC.

Methods: We performed this multi-institutional, retrospective analysis by collecting the clinical information of 141 patients with SDC without distant metastasis who underwent curative surgery as the initial treatment to elucidate overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) along with their prognostic factors.

Pediatric Patient and Parental Anxiety and Impressions Related to Initial Gastrointestinal Endoscopy: A Japanese Multicenter Questionnaire Study.

Objective. To assess anxiety among pediatric patients and their parents related to initial gastrointestinal endoscopy. Methods.

A randomized trial evaluating everolimus-eluting Absorb bioresorbable scaffolds vs. everolimus-eluting metallic stents in patients with coronary artery disease: ABSORB Japan.

Aims: Theoretically, bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVSs) may provide superior long-term results compared with permanent metallic drug-eluting stents (DESs). However, whether BVSs are as safe and effective as metallic DESs prior to complete bioresorption is unknown.

Methods And Results: ABSORB Japan was a single-blind, multicentre, active-controlled, randomized trial designed to support regulatory approval of the Absorb BVS in Japan.

Endovascular revascularization of external carotid artery occlusion causing tongue infarction: case report.

A 62-year-old man with diabetes and a history of ischemic coronary disease visited the emergency department complaining of acute pain and swelling of the tongue. Physical examination found subtle swelling and pallor of the right side of the tongue, and he was initially diagnosed with glossitis. However, his symptoms were progressive, and the tongue had sustained serious tissue damage before the correct diagnosis was established.

[Efficacy and safety of biweekly nedaplatin in combination with docetaxel as second-line chemotherapy in patients with unresectable or recurrent esophageal cancer].

There is no standard approach for second-line chemotherapy after a failure of the first-line regimen, fluorouracil and cisplatin -based chemotherapy in patients with unresectable or recurrent esophageal cancer. We have treated with biweekly nedaplatin (CDGP 40 mg/m²) in combination with docetaxe (l DOC 30 mg/m²) as second-line chemotherapy and investigated its efficacy and safety. Fifteen patients were retrospectively assessed in this study.