[Pure agraphia with topographical disorientation caused by right hemisphere lesion].

A 69-year-old, right-handed, Japanese male patient presented with pure agraphia with topographical disorientation after hemorrhage in the right parietal lobe. Upon developing cerebral hemorrhage, he was referred to our hospital for close examination of agraphia. There was no paresis or clumsiness in his extremities.

Early detection of pancreatic cancer: the Japanese approach.

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Japan. Small pancreatic cancers have some abnormal findings on ultrasonography, and diagnosis with endosonography is useful. Positron emission tomography and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography are expected to serve as new modalities for the early detection of pancreatic cancer.

[Toll-like receptor and acute leukemia complicated with infection - review].

Infection and antibiotic multidrug resistance have become the focal issue in clinical treatment of acute leukemia and will make anti-infection therapy facing to new challenge. Toll-like receptor (TLR) has been found a newly innate immunoreceptor. It is significant in immune response.

Semi-skeletonized internal mammary grafts and phrenic nerve injury: cause-and-effect analysis.

Phrenic nerve injury after cardiac surgery increases postoperative pulmonary complications. The purpose of this study was to analyze the causes and effects of phrenic nerve injury after cardiac surgery. Prospectively collected data on 2084 consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery from Jan.

Impact of lipoprotein lipase gene polymorphisms on ulcerative colitis.

Aim: To examine the influence of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene polymorphism in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients.

Methods: Peripheral blood was obtained from 131 patients with UC and 106 healthy controls for DNA extraction. We determined LPL gene polymorphisms affecting the enzyme at Ser447stop, as well as Hind III and Pvu II polymorphisms using PCR techniques.

Acute motor and sensory neuronopathy associated with small-cell lung cancer: a clinicopathological study.

A 48-year-old Chinese woman developed ascending motor paralysis while visiting Japan, leading to tetraplegia and respiratory failure over 2 weeks. The patient's course was complicated by anoxic encephalopathy. Nerve conduction studies revealed a severely decreased amplitude of compound muscle action potentials and a sural nerve biopsy specimen showed findings consistent with axonal-form Guillain-Barr6 syndrome.

Usefulness of HFA-BDP for adult patients with bronchial asthma: randomized crossover study with fluticasone.

In this randomized crossover study, 22 adult patients with moderate-to-severe persistent bronchial asthma were assigned to one of two groups. Patients in group 1 were administered fluticasone dry powder inhaler (DPI) for 8 weeks followed by a 2-week washout period, then hydrofluoroalkane-beclometasone dipropionate (HFA-BDP) for 8 weeks. After a further 2-week washout, they were again administered fluticasone DPI for 8 weeks.

Nonmyeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in 26 cases of hematological malignancies.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of non-myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-NST) and its related technologies in hematological malignancies. 26 patients with hematological malignancies (acute leukemia 10, chronic myeloid leukemia 14, multiple myeloma 2) received allo-NST following conditioning regimens with fludarabine/cyclophosphamide/ATG in 14 cases or busulfan or melphalan/cyclophosphamide/ATG in 12 cases prior to infusion of 2 or 3 collections of G-CSF (600 microg/d) or G-CSF (300 microg/d) plus GM-CSF (300 microg/d) mobilized blood stem cell on the fifth day. A combination of cyclosporine A (CsA) and methotrexate (MTX) was administered for GVHD prophylaxis.

[Clinical analysis of 38 patients with cephalic and cervical adenoid cystic carcinoma].

Objective: To assess the clinical features and the treatment result of cephalic and cervical adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC).

Method: A retrospective analysis was performed on 38 patients with cephalic and cervical ACC by their clinical manifestation, the therapy and follow-up results.

Result: We had 38 patients of operation.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (inflammatory fibrosarcoma) of the pancreas: a case report.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (inflammatory fibrosarcomas) of the pancreas are extremely rare. We report a 29-year-old woman who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for a 6-cm tumor of the pancreas head causing obstructive jaundice. Tumor involvement was local, without apparent metastasis.

Bilateral minithoractomy repair of aortic coarctation with ventricular septal defect and persistent ductus arteriosus.

A 6-year-old female child with aortic coarctation, a ventricular septal defect, and a persistent ductus arteriosus underwent surgical repair by bilateral minithoracotomies. At 6-month follow-up, the patient had recovered well, with increased exercise tolerance. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed an intact ventricular septum and no significant gradient across the aortic repair.

Quantitative assessment of thinning of the subscapularis tendon in recurrent anterior dislocation of the shoulder by use of magnetic resonance imaging.

It is known that thinning and lengthening of the subscapularis tendon occur in shoulders with recurrent anterior dislocation. However, no studies have been performed to quantify the morphologic changes of the subscapularis tendon under such conditions. We retrospectively measured the thickness and cross-sectional area of the subscapularis tendon by use of magnetic resonance imaging in 22 shoulders in 11 patients with unilateral recurrent anterior dislocation of the shoulder.

Treatment of pancreatic stones with extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy: results of a multicenter survey.

Objectives: A retrospective multicenter survey was performed to evaluate the efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) as a treatment of pancreatic stones.

Methods: A survey was sent to 11 institutions belonging to the Japanese Association of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy in Digestive Diseases, and data were collected on 555 patients who underwent ESWL for pancreatic stones between January 1990 and September 2002. The male:female ratio was 5.

Cholangiocarcinoma and intraductal sonography.

The instruments and processing systems of intraductal ultrasonography (IDUS) and 3D-IDUS are developing. IDUS is a reliable method for the evaluation of cholangiocarcinoma, and accurate staging is the most significant role of IDUS. DPR images produced by 3D-IDUS are useful to assess the tumor extension and the relationship with surrounding organs.

[Three-dimensional medical images for upper gastrointestinal lesions].

Virtual endoscopy (VE), three-dimensional endoscopic ultrasonography(3-DEUS) and three-dimensional ultrasonography(3D-US) have been utilized for three-dimensional medical images of upper gastrointestinal lesions. VE images are similar to endoscopic images. But because the detection rate of early gastric cancers is from 39.