Japanese encephalitis (JE) is an acute encephalomyelitis which is a primary viral encephalitis accompanying a viral infection. Clinically, the patient who either resides in an endemic region or who has been exposed to the viral vector (mosquito) may have symptoms including high fever, headache, and impaired consciousness. JE involves many portions of the supratentorial and infratentorial compartments including the brain stem, hippocampus, thalamus, basal ganglia, and white matter. Classically MR imaging demonstrates the lesions of JE as hyperintense on T2-weighted images and hypointense on T1-weighted images. Hemorrhagic transformations have also been described in JE lesions, with corresponding expected T1 and T2 changes. Differential considerations based on the MRI appearance are somewhat broad, including but not limited to primary viral encephalitis, acute encephalopathy, limbic encephalitis, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. The therapy for JE is primarily conservative and supportive since there is no specific treatment for JE, and the disease has a high fatality rate. The prognosis depends on the extent of involvement at primary presentation, and on the autoimmune mechanisms of this disease.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of preoperative transcatheter arterial embolization in the treatment of resectable primary liver cancer.

The effects of preoperative transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) and intra-arterial injection of Lipiodol were retrospectively evaluated in patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma experienced during two different periods of time. In the TAE study, there were 31 patients with TAE and 107 patients without TAE. In the Lipiodol study, 60 patients had received Lipiodol injection and 68 patients served as controls. Curative hepatic resection was performed in all cases. As such preceding treatments had been performed at other hospitals, two comparing groups were fairly randomized in both the TAE and the Lipiodol study. Preoperative TAE did not influence the postoperative morbidity and mortality rates, cause of late death, and long-term survival rate in overall patients, but seemed to produce a better survival in noncirrhotic patients. Antitumor effect by Lipiodol injection was found in that the cancer free survival rate was significantly better in the group with Lipiodol injection. However, the overall 5-year survival rate was significantly better in the group without Lipiodol (67%) than in the group with Lipiodol (26%). The present study may indicate that preoperative TAE or Lipiodol injection should not be routinely performed. Such treatments may produce a substantial benefit only in selected patients with good hepatic functional reserve.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Role of preoperative transcatheter arterial oily chemoembolization for resectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

To clarify the effect of preoperative transcatheter arterial oily chemoembolization (TAOE) for resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on long-term survival after curative resection, we retrospectively evaluated 60 patients with and 68 patients without preoperative TAOE. Although there was no substantial difference in the clinical backgrounds between the two groups, the 5-year survival rate was lower for the patients with preoperative TAOE than for those without TAOE: 24% versus 63%, respectively (p < 0.05). A worse survival rate was particularly observed for the cirrhotic patients with TAOE than for those without TAOE: 35% and 72% at 4 years, respectively (p < 0.01). As the cause of death, liver failure and gastrointestinal bleeding were more frequent in the patients with TAOE (13.3% versus 1.5%;p < 0.05). Although the TAOE seemed to retard intrahepatic recurrence during the first 1.5 years after operation (1.7% versus 10.3%;p < 0.05), the overall cancer death rate was similar between the two groups (18.3% versus 11.8%). Therefore we suggest that preoperative TAOE must not be performed for resectable HCC as a routine procedure, particularly in patients with cirrhosis. A prospective randomized trial is warranted to elucidate the merits and demerits of preoperative TAOE for surgically resectable HCC.

Adult↗