[A case of Alexander disease with dropped head syndrome].

A 51-year-old woman presented with progressive weakness of the neck extensor muscles and gait disturbances since the past 6 years. In addition, she presented with symptoms such as dysarthria, dysphagia, bladder, and rectal disturbances. Bilateral plantar reflex was positive.

The utility of endoscopic ultrasonography and endoscopy in the endoscopic mucosal resection of early gastric cancer.

Objective: To clarify the usefulness of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and endoscopy in the endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) of early gastric cancer. Patients/Methods-EMR was performed in 61 patients with early gastric cancer over the past five years. The accuracy of the assessment of the depth of cancerous invasion was studied in 49 patients who had EUS before EMR.

Chemotherapy and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the head and neck.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is believed to be useful for shortening the duration of granulocytopenia and for minimizing the decrease in the granulocyte count caused by chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In the present study we investigated the effect of G-CSF on bone marrow suppression caused by chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the head and neck. The leukocyte and neutrophil nadirs were significantly higher, while the duration of leukopenia, the time to recovery, and the time to the nadir were significantly shorter when G-CSF was administered prophylactically from 48 h after the completion of chemotherapy than when it was administered after the leukocyte and neutrophil counts had reached nadir.

Acute aortic dissection, aortic insufficiency, and a single coronary artery in a patient with Turner's syndrome.

A rare case of acute aortic dissection and aortic regurgitation in a patient with Turner's syndrome is reported. A 25-year-old woman with a history of Turner's syndrome presented to our hospital with complaints of chest pain and dyspnea. Emergent surgery was performed after chest roentgenography and two-dimensional echocardiography.

[A case of left atrial free-floating ball thrombus].

A rare case of left atrial free floating ball thrombus with mitral stenosis is reported. A 66-year-old woman was admitted for epigastralgia and acute heart failure without atrial fibrillation and previous embolization. The patient was treated successfully with removal of ball thrombus and mitral valve replacement.

[The utility of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in endoscopic mucosal resection of early gastric cancer].

The utility of EUS was evaluated in 27 patients with early gastric cancer undergoing endoscopic mucosal resection over the past 2 years. Accuracy of the assessment of depth of cancerous invasion was studied in 16 patients undergoing EUS before endoscopic mucosal resection. Patients showing no changes in the submucosal (sm) layer or below on EUS included 15 with mucosal (m) cancer and one with sm cancer showing very slight infiltration.

[Examination of cholangiogram of obstructive jaundice using MRI--compared with PTC and ERCP].

PTC and ERCP are most often used in diagnosis of obstructive jaundice. We studied the possibility of clinical diagnosis using MRI in 33 cases of obstructive jaundice. A clinical diagnosis of malignant tumors could be given in 17 cases out of 20 (85%) using MRI if respiratory standstill was possible.

A cluster-analytically derived subtyping of chronic affective disorders.

This article aims to propose a mathematically legitimate and externally validated subclassification of chronic affective disorders. Three subtypes emerged from the cluster analysis of the symptom data of 40 patients with chronic affective disorder that had been present without remission for more than 2 years; the subtypes were then validated by psychosocial variables. The first cluster, a predominantly male group with young onset, is characterized by past history of psychotic features and is named psychotic subtype.

[A case report of siblings with hemolytic uremic syndrome from whose stool E. coli O157:H7 was isolated].

We experienced siblings of hemolytic uremic syndrome which occurred following diarrhea and bloody stool. They were immediately treated with dipyridamole and aspirin, and recovered from hemolytic uremic syndrome in about two weeks. E.

[Endoscopic ultrasonography in the assessment of invasive cardiac cancer].

The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy and limitation of Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the preoperative evaluation of the cardiac cancer (cancer in the area less than 2 cm from the esophago-gastric junction). EUS was preoperatively performed in 20 patients with cardiac cancer. These cases were visualized by the water immersion method and balloon contact method.

[A case of massive hemorrhagic enteritis due to rotavirus].

We described a 8-month-old boy of massive hemorrhagic enteritis due to rotavirus complicated by shock. As far as we know, this case is the first patient who developed vascular collapse from the gastrointestinal tract bleeding by rotavirus infection. Clinicians should be alerted to the possibility of the occurrence of severe hemorrhagic enteritis as a life threatening complication in rotavirus induced enteritis.

[Usefulness of combining a immunological fecal occult blood test (latex method) with a chemical test (guaiac method)].

A combination tests, using the latex and guaiac methods, has been carried out in 123 patients with a gastrointestinal disease and in 38 controls. The latex method was positive in 8% of the 38 controls, in 84% of 32 colorectal carcinoma patients, in 42% of 24 colonic polyp patients, in 22% of 9 gastric carcinoma patients, and in 22% of gastric ulcer patients in an active phase of their illness, whereas the guaiac method was positive in 39%, 81%, 58%, 78%, and 89% in the same order, respectively. From the above, a combination of both methods was found useful for the screening of hemorrhage in the gastrointestinal tract.

[Acute phase protein (alpha 1 AT) as a tumor marker in patients with ovarian cancer (OC)].

Serum alpha 1 AT was measured in 30 healthy women, 30 pregnant women, in 97 patients with various benign gynecologic diseases, and 38 patients with OC. The positive ratio (cut off level: 317 mg/dl) in OC patients was 78.9% (30/38), 11.

[Changes in CA125 concentration in ovarian cancer patients during the remission state--mean attenuating curve and the effectiveness of surgery and chemotherapy].

We have periodically monitored CA125 in 21 primary ovarian cancer patients who were clinically diagnosed as in the remission state after cytoreductive surgery and a combination chemotherapy 200 days after surgery. In this monitoring, the mean attenuating curve (exponential curve) of CA125 within 75 days after surgery was obtained, Y = 2.4831 exp (-0.

Temporal raphe of the retinal nerve fiber layer revealed by medullated fibers.

Three cases of medullated nerve fibers of the retina were seen. They had medullated nerve fibers in both the upper and lower quadrants of the temporal retina, whereby the temporal raphe of the retinal nerve fiber layer could be visualized. Some nerve fibers from the upper and lower quadrants crossed each other on the horizontal meridian.