Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Junji Kato.
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We treated two chronic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia patients with imatinib mesylate. Hematological complete remission and significant regression of bone marrow fibrosis were observed in both patients. The large amount of TGF-beta produced by increased bone marrow megakaryocytes might have caused the myelofibrosis, and it was revealed that imatinib mesylate brought about regression of the myelofibrosis by reducing the number of megakaryocytes in both patients.
A 63-year-old woman had previously been admitted to another hospital due to fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea. She was treated with fasting, antibiotics and G-CSF administration because of the coexistence of neutropenia, and the symptoms improved. However, discontinuation of G-CSF administration resulted in a recurrence of the neutropenia accompanied with enterocolitis. After admission to our hospital, a diagnosis for idiopathic AIN was performed as she tested positive in both granulocyte immunofluorescence and granulocyte agglutination tests. Administration of corticosteroid following G-CSF resulted in a continuous increase in the neutrophil count and the disappearance of anti-neutrophil autoantibodies.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Survival of patients with gastrointestinal cancer has improved recently with various multidisciplinary treatments. However, complications associated with the latter also increased, leading to impairment of quality of life and functional disability in patients. Short bowel syndrome, characterized by severe watery diarrhea and electrolyte losses, is one of the major problems caused by gastrointestinal cancer and subsequent treatments. We investigated whether cimetidine, a gastric antisecretory agent, would ameliorate short bowel syndrome in patients after massive small bowel resection. METHODOLOGY: The study design was such that the evaluation of cimetidine effects was an intra-patient comparison. The randomized block method was used for statistical analyses of frequency and amount of daily watery fluid excretion and urine output, electrolyte levels in fluid secretions, as well as blood biochemistry, body weight and performance status. RESULTS: Cimetidine administered at an early stage after bowel surgery, especially while patients are receiving parenteral nutrition, significantly decreased stool fluid excretion (p=0.0001), urine output (p=0.0010) and electrolyte loss, which was no longer apparent a week after initiation of oral intake. CONCLUSIONS: Cimetidine appears to be beneficial for cancer patients who have had extensive small bowel resection.