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T Okamura

Publications and source records attributed to T Okamura.

845 records · Page 47Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Immunohistochemical evaluation of p53 and retinoblastoma proteins in relation to hyperthermia treatment: results in human urothelial carcinomas.

Immunohistochemical staining of urothelial tumours using paraffin-embedded tissue blocks was performed for p53 and Retinoblastoma (RB) proteins, to characterize any correlation with sensitivity to hyperthermia treatment. Seventeen patients with primary urothelial tumours (16 of the bladder and one of the ureter) treated at our institute between July, 1987 and March, 1993 were included in this study; tissues investigated consisted of 16 transitional cell carcinomas (TCC) (6 Grade2 (G2), 6 G3, 2 G2 > G3, 1 G3 > squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 1 undifferentiated carcinoma > G3), and 1 SCC. One case was Tis, 4, 3, 1, and 4, were T1 to T4, respectively, and 4 were post-cystectomy. Clinically, in terms of response to treatment, there were four complete response (CR) cases, four partial response (PR) cases, six no change (NC) cases, and three progressive disease (PD) cases, the total in which treatment was effective thus accounting for approximately half of those examined (CR + PR, 47%). Immunohistochemically, six of eight pre-hyperthermia lesions which demonstrated positive staining for RB were CRs or PRs, 75% of which were high-grade lesions, and 50% exhibited invasion and lymph node metastasis. Only three in total were positive for p53 staining, two of which were T4 and these both responded to treatment. The results suggested that RB gene expression may be related to heat sensitivity to some degree.

Humans↗
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Early diagnosis and evaluation of therapy in postoperative recurrent cervical cancers by positron emission tomography.

Positron emission tomography (PET) using 2-[18F]fluoro-2 deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) was performed on two uterine cervical cancer patients in whom recurrent tumors, one pelvic and the other at the vaginal wall had not been precisely diagnosed using the usual imaging examinations. One recurrence was confirmed by the acccumulation of FDG to the pelvic mass as detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During chemotherapy, changes in FDG-PET findings were detected earlier than those in MRI. In the other, PET detected a recurrent tumor that could not be found by MRI, and was also useful for evaluating chemotherapeutic effects. These cases suggest that PET with FDG can be a useful examination not only for diagnosing recurrent cervical cancer after radical hysterectomy, especially pelvic recurrence, but also for evaluating chemotherapeutic effects on recurrent cancers.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The role of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET) in the diagnosis of recurrence and lymph node metastasis of cervical cancer.

The usefulness of positron emission tomography with 2-[18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG-PET) in diagnosing recurrence and lymph node metastasis of uterine cervical cancer was evaluated as a preliminary study. The FDG uptake of 13 cervical cancer patients, including 4 patients with recurrence, was evaluated. The FDG uptake of the cervices of 5 patients who underwent PET studies for non-cervical tumors were used as control. In 2 patients who had undergone radical hysterectomy, we compared the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis based on FDG-PET and magnetic resonance imaging. The FDG uptake in the 9 primary cervical cancers was greater than that in normal cervices (p=0.025). Examination of the 4 recurrent tumors revealed a higher FDG uptake than that in normal cervices (p=0.0022). Metastatic lesions in lymph nodes showed an accumulation of FDG on the PET scan. In conclusion, FDG-PET may be an effective diagnostic tool for detecting recurrence and lymph node metastasis of uterine cervical cancers.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Combined diagnostic imaging for retroperitoneal schwannoma.

Retroperitoneal tumors are occasionally encountered by gynecologists, and differential diagnosis from adnexal tumors is important, however, it is difficult in many cases. We report a case in which we preoperatively diagnosed a benign solid tumor in the retroperitoneum of the pelvic cavity on the basis of a variety of diagnostic images, including FDG-PET. Postoperative histological examination showed a benign schwannoma in the pelvis. We discuss the usefulness of FDG-PET combined with MRI and other diagnostic images as a means of differentiating between the characteristics of retroperitoneal tumors.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
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Heparanase gene expression and metastatic potential in human gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Heparanase has been reported to play an important role in tumor progression and metastasis. We examined the relationship between heparanase mRNA expression and biological factors regarding invasion and metastasis of human gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 63 human gastric carcinomas, 42 adjacent normal gastric tissues and four gastric cancer cell lines, heparanase mRNA expression was evaluated using reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). Total RNA obtained from human peripheral blood (PB) leucocyte and placenta were used as positive controls. The relationship between heparanase mRNA expression and various clinicopathological factors were analyzed. RESULTS: The heparanase mRNA expression evaluated with RT-PCR revealed that 31 out of 63 gastric cancer tissues (49%), 11 out of 42 normal gastric tissues (26%) and 4 gastric cancer cell lines were positive. The positive rate in cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues (p<0.05). In the heparanase mRNA-positive cancer tissues, venous invasion was frequent (p<0.05) and the histological differential grade was significantly poorer than in negative cases (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: We propose that heparanase mRNA expression is involved in invasion and development of human gastric cancer and detection of this expression may be a factor related to metastasis and prognosis of such patients.

Female↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Influence of methylene blue and oxyhemoglobin on mammalian vascular responses to sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin.

Vasodilatory responses to sodium nitroprusside were compared with those to nitroglycerin in helical strips of blood vessels isolated from dogs, humans, monkeys, rats and guinea-pigs. Sodium nitroprusside relaxed arterial and venous strips contracted with prostaglandin F2 alpha in a dose-related manner, as did nitroglycerin. Relaxant responses to sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin were significantly greater in dog coronary arteries than in the mesenteric arteries. Tachyphylaxis developed upon repeated applications of nitroglycerin but not of sodium nitroprusside. In rat and guinea-pig aortae, relaxant responses to sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin were markedly suppressed by treatment with methylene blue or oxyhemoglobin. In dog arteries and veins, treatment with oxyhemoglobin significantly inhibited relaxant responses to sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin. On the other hand, treatment with methylene blue did not inhibit responses to sodium nitroprusside but markedly suppressed those to nitroglycerin in dog blood vessels as well as in human gastroepiploic and monkey mesenteric arteries. It is concluded that dog and primate blood vessels do not develop tolerance to repeated applications of sodium nitroprusside and that sensitivity of soluble guanylate cyclase to methylene blue may differ in blood vessels from different mammals (dog and primate vs rat and guinea-pig).

Animals↗
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Age-dependent change in the response of isolated beagle cerebral arteries to vasoactive agents.

Responses to vasoactive agents were compared in helical strips of cerebral arteries from beagles of different ages (30 days, 3 months, 1 year, and 3 years old). Contractile responses to norepinephrine, serotonin, and histamine, relative to those induced by 30 mM K+, were greater in the infant (30-day-old) beagle arteries than in those from the older beagles. Angiotensin II-induced contractions did not differ in these arteries, whereas relaxations induced by the peptide, converted to contractions by indomethacin, were greater in the arteries from adult beagles than in the immature beagle arteries. Relaxations induced by nicotine, due to stimulation of vasodilator nerves, and those induced by a small amount of K+, mediated by activation of the electrogenic Na+ pump, were not dependent on age. Infant beagle cerebral arteries responded to prostacyclin (PGI2) with a greater relaxation, whereas isoproterenol produced greater relaxations in the adult beagle arteries. It may be concluded that the sensitivity or the quantity of alpha 2-adrenergic and H1-histaminergic receptors is high in the cerebral arteries of infant beagles and declines with age; the affinity of serotonergic receptors decreases with age. Biosynthesis of PGI2 in the vascular wall appears to increase with age. Functions of the vasodilator nerve innervating large cerebral arteries and of the electrogenic Na+ pump in muscle cell membranes may mature during the fetal or early postpartum period and, thereafter, are maintained unaltered.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Responses to dopamine of isolated human gastroepiploic arteries.

Responses to dopamine were compared in helical strips of human gastroepiploic arteries (proximal portion) and their epiploic branches (distal portion), partially contracted with prostaglandin F2 alpha. Dopamine produced a dose-related contraction in the proximal arteries, which was reversed to a relaxation by treatment with phentolamine. On the other hand, the distal arteries responded to low concentrations of dopamine with relaxations and to high concentrations with contractions. The relaxant response was selectively suppressed by treatment with droperidol and reversed to a contraction by SCH23390, but was not influenced by domperidone and propranolol. The amine-induced relaxation was not reduced by removal of the endothelium. The distal arteries, in which dopamine elicited a relaxation, responded to norepinephrine with dose-related contractions, which were suppressed by phentolamine but were not reversed to relaxations. It may be concluded that dopamine contracts human gastroepiploic arteries of the proximal portion, due to a predominant activation of alpha-adrenoceptors, and dilates the distal arteries by acting preferentially on dopaminergic DA1-receptors, possibly residing in smooth muscle. In the distal arteries, the ability of norepinephrine to activate alpha-adrenoceptors appears to be evidently higher than that of dopamine.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Surgical treatment of variant angina with positive cold pressor test.

Coronary artery spasm is provoked by exercise, cold pressor test and pharmacological agents during cardiac catheterization. We describe a patient in whom the coronary artery was excessively sensitive to cold pressor test, and who was treated by coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) combined with cardiac denervation. Postoperative coronary arteriogram showed decreased sensitivity to cold pressor test with patent graft. These observations suggest that combined CABG with cardiac denervation is indicated for patients with fixed organic coronary artery narrowing and positive provocative test, and that postoperative cold pressor test during coronary arteriography is a useful, low risk method for the evaluation of the efficacy of cardiac plexectomy.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Left ventricular aneurysm: preoperative factors and postoperative results.

Among twenty-three patients who underwent surgery for left ventricular aneurysm, the operative mortality, hospital death and late mortality were 0, 1 (4%) and 1 (4%), respectively. Preoperative hemodynamic and radiographic factors were compared between those cases treated with intraaortic balloon pumping (IABP) because of postoperative low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) and those cases without IABP. Employment of concomitant coronary revascularization and the factors related to myocardial protection showed no significant difference between the two groups. Moreover, there were no differences in preoperative hemodynamic parameters such as cardiac index, stroke volume index and overall left ventricular ejection fraction (EF). However, the EF of the contractile segment (CSEF) and functional parameters calculated by geometric method were well preserved in the non-IABP group. From these data, we concluded that patients who showed a CSEF of less than 45%, a left ventricular aneurysm volume index of more than 55 ml/M2 and a percent change of short axis diameter in contractile segment of less than 20 percent were more susceptible to LCOS after resection of left ventricular aneurysm.

Heart Aneurysm↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Disseminated intravascular coagulation in transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease. Report of two cases.

In two cases of transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD), severe bleeding tendencies were observed besides the characteristic features of the disease. An elevation of fibrin degradation products (FDP), D-dimer, thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) and plasmin-alpha 2 plasmin inhibitor complex (PIC), was revealed. These findings were compatible with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). To our knowledge, the association of TA-GVHD and DIC has not been described, and it is our speculation that allogeneic immune reactions may play some pathogenic role in developing DIC in TA-GVHD. The DIC may be responsible for the rapid progression of multiple organ failure (MOF) in TA-GVHD.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

In vitro reactivity to a protein-bound polysaccharide PSK of peripheral blood lymphocytes from patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

The effect of PSK, a protein-bound polysaccharide and an immunomodulator, on lymphocytes was examined in vitro for 36 patients with gastric cancer and 26 with colorectal cancer. Cultured lymphocytes with PSK at 100 micrograms/ml increased the level of DNA synthesis, as determined by the 3H-thymidine uptake, from 0.9 to 3.0 fold, compared to the PSK non-treated cells. The increase was 1.36 +/- 0.46 fold for the gastric cancer cases and 1.37 + 0.45 fold for the colorectal cancer cases, and these levels were significantly the finding of 1.93 + 0.55 fold for a control group consisting of 15 healthy volunteers (P < 0.01). When the 1.3 fold increase of 3H-thymidine uptake was defined as the PSK-reactive group, 52.8% (19/36) of the patients with gastric cancer and 50.0% (13/26) for colorectal cancer were found in the PSK-reactive group. The PSK-reactive group demonstrated no relation to the age and sex of the patients, tissue differentiation type or tumor advancement. Our findings thus show that the in vitro activation of lymphocytes by PSK can help identify the candidates with either gastric or colorectal cancer who are the best suited to undergo immunochemotherapy including treatment with PSK.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
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Hepatic inflow vessels caliber as an index for liver function.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Little is known about the serial change of the hepatic inflow vessels' caliber in the chronically diseased liver. We have analyzed the caliber change in patients with esophageal varices and examined relationship between hepatic inflow vessels diameter and age of patients who had no liver disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: (i) Diameters of the hepatic inflow vessels was measured on angiogram in five patients with chronic liver disease. They underwent liver angiography twice with an interval of more than 10 months. The caliber change was analyzed. (ii) Thirty-nine patients without chronic liver disease were analyzed to examine vessel diameter change with aging. RESULTS: (i) The left hepatic artery diameter increased in size during the follow-up periods. On the other hand, the portal vein caliber increased in three cases excluding two cases whose Child grade did not change from A. (ii) The hepatic artery and the portal vein diameter had a tendency to become smaller with aging in thirty-nine patients who underwent hepatic angiography and had no liver disease. CONCLUSIONS: Hepatic inflow vessels' caliber change, particularly increase in hepatic artery diameter, has a potential of suggesting the liver function to some extent.

Chronic Disease↗
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A safe technique for laparoscopic cholecystectomy for incarcerated gallbladder stone.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We present our new laparoscopic technique for treating incarcerated stones in either the cystic duct or the neck of the gallbladder. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred sixteen patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy were studied. RESULTS: In all, 18 patients (16%) were found to have incarcerated stones in gallbladder or cystic duct. Eleven patients were drip infusion cholangiography (DIC) negative. The length of the operative time for these patients was significantly longer than that in non-incarcerated stone cases. We present our new laparoscopic technique for treating incarcerated stones in either the cystic duct or neck of the gallbladder and this procedure includes a needle aspiration of the bile juice, the transsection and removal of the incarcerated stone and an extracorporeal ligation. CONCLUSIONS: This above procedure was successfully performed on a series of 4 patients. Our procedure is therefore considered to allow us to complete a laparoscopic cholecystectomy even in extremely hypertrophic cases with incarcerated stones either in the cystic duct or Hartmann's pouch.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Hepatic venous injury; a case report of atriocaval shunt by a centrifugal pump.

Injury of hepatic vein confluence and retrohepatic vena cava is serious and often fatal. We report one such case that was successfully treated by the Biopump (Medtronic Bio-Medicus, Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn). A 21-year-old man was admitted due to a steering-wheel injury in a motor vehicle accident. CT scan showed extravasated contrast material around the right hepatic lobe, and a large low density area in the right hepatic lobe adjacent to the inferior vena cava, suggesting injury of the hepatic vein confluence or the retrohepatic vena cava. The patient underwent surgical treatment. Laceration of the liver was extended to the hepatic vein confluence. Right hepatic lobectomy and repair of the middle hepatic vein was successfully performed under atriocaval shunting by the Biopump.

Abdominal Injuries↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Mesenteric neurofibroma with von Recklinghausen's disease: a case report.

Mesenteric neurofibroma associated with von Recklinghausen's disease is rare. Herein, we present one such case. A 15-year-old mentally retarded Japanese boy presented with destruction of the right 2nd and 3rd ribs on a routine chest roentgenogram. Physical examination revealed a funnel chest and multiple cafe-au-lait spots, but no cutaneous nodules. Although the patient had no symptoms, a computed tomography (CT) and angiogram were performed. There were no definitive findings of malignancy in the tumors. However, since there were two risk factors for malignancy, specifically, a young age at the time of diagnosis and multiple tumors, and coupled with the size of the abdominal tumor which was large, the abdominal mesenteric tumor was removed. Pathological examination showed a neurofibroma with no evidence of malignancy.

Adolescent↗