BACKGROUND: Features of enhanced color flow images in small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not fully elucidated. The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristic vascular images in small HCC observed by enhanced color Doppler. METHODS: Enhanced color Doppler using the contrast agent Levovist was performed on 13 patients with HCC smaller than 30 mm. Enhanced color flow appearance was compared with angiographic findings. Time-intensity changes after injection of the contrast agent were analyzed in HCC nodules. RESULTS: Significant improvement in the detection of color flow signals was obtained in small HCC using Levovist, from 33% in precontrast to 92% in postcontrast (p < 0.005). Three patterns of enhanced color flow images, which were related to the angiographic findings, were observed. The time-intensity curve was classified into two types by "time to peak" and "time on plateau" and was associated with the patterns of enhanced images. CONCLUSION: Enhanced color flow imaging promises to be a useful method for evaluating tumor vascularity noninvasively and to contribute to the elucidation of the hemodynamics in small HCC.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Fatal erythroderma (suspected graft-versus-host disease) after cholecystectomy. Retrospective analysis.

Fatal postoperative erythroderma (POE) developed in a 52-year-old woman with gallstones who underwent elective cholecystectomy. During surgery, she was transfused with 3 units of unirradiated packed red cells stored in the liquid state for at least 4 days after collection. The POE is believed to have been the result of transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD). The diagnosis of GVHD was based upon the characteristic clinical picture and retrospective HLA typing. The implicated donor was homozygous for an HLA haplotype that appeared to be shared with the recipient: A24-CBL-Bw52-DR2-DRw52-DQw1, the most common haplotype in the Japanese population. This case raises the possibility that a transfusion of relatively fresh blood from a donor who has no HLA antigens incompatible with the recipient may result in GVHD in patients with no apparent immunoincompetence who are undergoing relatively minor surgery with no chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Blood Transfusion↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Device for detail reproducibility tests of dental impressions.

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Dental Impression Technique↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Human prostatic tumors in conditioned animals and culture.

A nude mouse colony has been established with a capacity of over 1000 mice. These mice have been injected with human prostatic tumors. A spleen injection method has been developed which enables us to follow the growth of tumor cells in the animal for short periods of time and to assess the effects of hormones on this growth. We have also studied the behavior of several animal cell lines in culture and in nude mice as possible models for a hormone-dependent human prostatic tumor. By using nude mice, we have been able to show that apparent "normal" revertants of cancer cells are actually antigenic variants which can be used to immunize animals against the original tumor cells. A melanoma cell line has been developed whose growth appears to be markedly enhanced by androgens. Rat ovarian cell lines have been developed whose growth and viability are hormone dependent in vivo and in vitro.

Animals↗