Journal of Nippon Medical School最新文献

Ischemic colitis is a common disease with a good prognosis; however, complications can occur in the presence of a serious underlying disease. Herein, we present a case report in which characteristic findings on lower gastrointestinal endoscopy led to a diagnosis of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). An 82-year-old woman visited our hospital for chronic heart and renal failure. She had a history of breast cancer, myocardial infarction, and hemorrhoidal fistula and was initially hospitalized for ischemic colitis. Subsequent lower gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed extensive ulcerative lesions in the ascending, transverse, and descending colon. Histopathologically, small vessels exhibited multiple fibrin thrombus formations. Based on histopathological and endoscopic results, the presence of an underlying disease was suspected. Flow cytometric analysis showed that erythrocytes and granulocytes had 5.5 and 86.4% CD55- and CD59-negative cells, respectively. The patient was ultimately diagnosed with PNH and considered severely ill, given the ischemic colitis-induced abdominal pain and the need for red blood cell transfusions (4-6 units per month). Accordingly, the patient was administered ravulizumab. Ischemic enteritis did not relapse following ravulizumab administration, and transfusion dependence improved. If a patient with ischemic colitis presents atypical lower gastrointestinal endoscopic findings, it is important to explore the presence of an underlying disease.

Perineural spread (PNS) from pelvic carcinoma has been regarded as a pathway to muscle and bone metastasis. However, few cases have been reported, especially in patients with bladder carcinoma. In the present report, we discuss a case of diffuse cancer involvement in the muscle 5 years after radical cystectomy for advanced bladder carcinoma. Careful observation of temporal changes on medical images confirmed PNS as the pathway to muscle metastasis (i.e., primary PNS). Our report presents early and post-treatment CT, MRI and FDG-PET/CT findings of PNS from the bladder carcinoma.

Background: Patients with bone metastases often face physical, mental, and social challenges that require multidisciplinary management. To improve treatment and practice, we conducted a questionnaire survey to assess nurses' opinions of problems related to caring for patients with bone metastases. In addition, we investigated nurses' perceptions of bone metastases after participating in a Bone Metastasis Cancer Board (BMCB).

Methods: An anonymous questionnaire survey on problems in bone metastasis treatment and the BMCB was conducted. The respondents were nurses with more than 1 year of clinical experience working in wards where patients with bone metastases were admitted.

Results: The number of valid responses was 224. Almost all the nurses felt anxiety about the risk of pathological fracture and paralysis while caring for patients with bone metastases. To reduce this anxiety, about 90% of the nurses supported the suggestion that "patients should be referred to an orthopedic surgeon in advance to obtain opinions on load restrictions". Nurses who had participated in the BMCB had higher expectations regarding treatment, multidisciplinary collaboration, and sharing and accumulating knowledge and experience.

Conclusion: To improve treatment and nursing care for patients with bone metastases, it is important to make regular BMCB meetings more functional and to actively consult with specialists.

Background: Endometriosis has several clinical features, including dysmenorrhea, infertility, and endometrioma (EMO). Although oxidative stress status is closely related to endometriosis, it is unclear how the balance between oxidative stress capacity and antioxidant capacity correlates with treatment of or factors that worsen endometriosis. In this study, we used peritoneal fluid from patients with EMO to investigate the role of oxidative stress capacity and antioxidant capacity.

Materials and methods: Participants with EMO (n = 30) and without EMO (uterine myoma, n = 13) were enrolled. All peritoneal fluid samples were collected at the beginning of surgery. We evaluated oxidative stress capacity and antioxidant capacity in peritoneal fluid samples by using the diacron-reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROM) and biological antioxidant potential (BAP) tests, respectively. The d-ROM and BAP values and the d-ROM/BAP ratio were measured, and their correlations with the CA125 level, revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine (r-ASRM) score, and tumor size were analyzed.

Results: The d-ROM/BAP ratio was significantly higher in patients with EMO than in those without EMO. In addition, the d-ROM/BAP ratio was positively correlated with CA125 level and r-ASRM scores in patients with EMO.

Conclusions: Oxidative stress is correlated with factors that worsen EMO. The d-ROM/BAP test may be useful for assessing disease status in patients with EMO.

Background: Drug resistance remains a significant impediment in leukemia treatment. While Bendamustine hydrochloride (BH) stands out as a promising therapeutic agent for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma, the mechanisms of resistance to BH are not yet fully understood. Our study focuses on elucidating the mechanisms behind bendamustine resistance in leukemia cells, with a specific emphasis on epigenetics.

Methods: Bendamustine-resistant cells were cultivated from human B cell lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines through systematic and sustained exposure to bendamustine, using the limiting dilution method. Gene expression was assessed via real-time polymerase chain reaction, while the expression of the multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1) was evaluated using flow cytometry.

Results: Bendamustine-resistant leukemia cells exhibited a decreased RNA expression level for Polo-like kinase-1 (PLK-1). Notably, after treatment with the demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, PLK-1 gene expression surged significantly, enhancing bendamustine's cytotoxicity in the resistant leukemia cells. However, MDR1 expression, as determined by flow cytometry, remained consistent between parental and bendamustine-resistant leukemia cells.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the methylation of the PLK-1 gene plays a pivotal role in modulating PLK-1 expression and is central to the development of bendamustine resistance in leukemia cells.

Background: Everolimus, a mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor used as an antineoplastic drug, is associated with a remarkably high incidence of interstitial lung disease (ILD). The clinical and pathological characteristics of ILD caused by everolimus have not been thoroughly investigated; therefore, we aimed to elucidate the features of everolimus-associated ILD.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients who received everolimus for cancer treatment at our hospital. Patient backgrounds were compared between the ILD and non-ILD groups. Chest computed tomography (CT), changes in biomarkers, and lung histopathological features were analyzed for ILD cases.

Results: Sixty-six patients were reviewed, and ILD developed in 19. There were no differences in patient demographics between the ILD and non-ILD groups. The severity of ILD was grade 1 (G1) in 9 and grade 2 (G2) in 10 cases. Chest CT showed organizing pneumonia (OP) or a hypersensitive pneumonia pattern. The levels of lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, Krebs von den lungen-6, and surfactant protein-D (SP-D) at the onset of ILD were significantly higher than those at baseline. Analysis of G1 and G2 ILD subgroups showed a higher SP-D levels in the G2 subgroup. Five patients underwent lung biopsies; all specimens demonstrated alveolitis with lymphocytic infiltration and granulomatous lesions, and some had OP findings.

Conclusions: Everolimus-associated ILD is mild and has a favorable prognosis. Patients with symptomatic ILD were more likely to have higher SP-D levels than those with asymptomatic ILD. Granulomatous lesions are an important pathological feature of everolimus-associated ILD.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on hemodialysis patients. This study investigated changes in hemodialysis treatment at our hospital after the start of the pandemic.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) system. Data for inpatients receiving dialysis during collection periods A (before the COVID-19 pandemic) and B (after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic) were extracted and compared. The numbers of inpatients and new patients, the number of patients admitted (by department), duration of stay, mortality, place of residence, surgical procedures, and DPC classification were compared.

Results: There were no significant differences between periods in patient age, duration of hospital stay, number of new patients, number of ambulance transports, number of deaths, body mass index, comorbidities, laboratory variables before the first dialysis after hospitalization, or patient area of residence. Although differences were observed among the departments, the numbers of emergency dialysis inpatients and maintenance dialysis inpatients increased. The number of surgeries also increased overall, particularly for maintenance dialysis patients (p = 0.0273). The percentage of DPC III patients was significantly higher in period B (p = 0.0368).

Conclusions: The number of surgeries performed on maintenance dialysis patients and the overall DPC III rate significantly increased after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic at our hospital, suggesting that COVID-19 worsened the condition of maintenance dialysis patients and prolonged hospital stays.

Background: Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are used for the treatment of various diseases because of their rapid proliferation and high anti-inflammatory and tissue repair properties. Kawasaki disease is a systemic vasculitis with coronary arteritis and aneurysms occurring in pediatric patients. In this study, we examined serologically and pathologically whether the administration of human ADSCs (hADSCs) to a mouse model of Kawasaki disease could suppress vasculitis.

Methods: Candida albicans water-soluble fractions were intraperitoneally injected into DBA/2 mice for 5 consecutive days to generate a mouse model of Kawasaki disease. The model mice were intravenously administered hADSCs or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Serum samples collected on days 15 and 29 were used to compare cytokine levels. Mouse hearts dissected on day 29 were subjected to hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistological staining using Galectin-1 (Gal-1), a protein involved in cardiovascular homeostasis, and CD44, a cell-surface marker of hADSCs.

Results: Comparison of inflammation-related cytokines showed a significant decrease in IL-1α expression at day 15 (P<0.05) and IL-6 expression at day 29 (P<0.01) in the hADSCs-treated group compared to the PBS group. Evaluation by hematoxylin and eosin staining showed decreased inflammatory cell infiltration and a tendency towards increased Gal-1 expression in the hADSCs group. CD44 expression was not observed in both the groups. The survival curve showed that the hADSCs group had a significantly longer survival time (P<0.05).

Conclusions: The present experimental results indicate that hADSCs have an early anti-inflammatory effect, and that Gal-1 may be involved in preventing inflammation and reducing tissue damage.

Background: Emergency physicians need a broad range of knowledge and skills to address critical medical, traumatic, and environmental conditions. Artificial intelligence (AI), including large language models (LLMs), has potential applications in healthcare settings; however, the performance of LLMs in emergency medicine remains unclear.

Methods: To evaluate the reliability of information provided by ChatGPT, an LLM was given the questions set by the Japanese Association of Acute Medicine in its board certification examinations over a period of 5 years (2018-2022) and programmed to answer them twice. Statistical analysis was used to assess agreement of the two responses.

Results: The LLM successfully answered 465 of the 475 text-based questions, achieving an overall correct response rate of 62.3%. For questions without images, the rate of correct answers was 65.9%. For questions with images that were not explained to the LLM, the rate of correct answers was only 52.0%. The annual rates of correct answers to questions without images ranged from 56.3% to 78.8%. Accuracy was better for scenario-based questions (69.1%) than for stand-alone questions (62.1%). Agreement between the two responses was substantial (kappa = 0.70). Factual error accounted for 82% of the incorrectly answered questions.

Conclusion: An LLM performed satisfactorily on an emergency medicine board certification examination in Japanese and without images. However, factual errors in the responses highlight the need for physician oversight when using LLMs.

Background: Various energy devices are available for resection of the liver parenchyma during laparoscopic liver resection (LLR). We have historically performed liver resections using the Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator (CUSA). More recently, we have used new bipolar forceps (BiSect; Erbe Elektromedizin GmbH, Tübingen, Germany) to perform clamp-crush dissection with good results. The BiSect is a reusable bipolar forceps with a laparoscopic dissecting forceps tip and both an incision mode and coagulation mode. We evaluated the perioperative clinical course of patients who underwent LLR using the clamp-crush method with the BiSect compared with the CUSA.

Methods: This single-center case control study involved patients with liver metastasis from colorectal cancer who underwent LLR using either the BiSect or CUSA at our hospital from January 2019 to December 2022. We performed the LLR using CUSA from January 2019 to early October 2020. After introduction of the BiSect in late October 2020, we used BiSect for the LLR. Before surgery, the three-dimensional liver was constructed based on computed tomography images, and a preoperative simulation was performed. We evaluated the results of LLR using the BiSect versus the CUSA and assessed the short-term results of LLR.

Results: During the study period, we performed partial liver resection using the BiSect in 26 patients and the CUSA in 16 patients. In the BiSect group, the median bleeding volume was 55 mL, the median operation time was 227 minutes, and the median postoperative length of hospital stay was 9 days. In the CUSA group, the median bleeding volume was 87 mL, the median operation time was 305 minutes, and the median postoperative length of hospital stay was 10 days. There were no statistically significant differences in the clinical course including bile leakage, bile duct stenosis, and post operative hospital stay between the two groups.

Conclusions: Compared with LLR using the CUSA, the clamp-crush method using the BiSect in LLR is a safe and useful liver transection technique. Further study should be conducted to clarify whether BiSect is safe and useful in LLR for patients with other tumor types and patients who undergo other procedures.