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Biomedical subjects

I Endo

Publications and source records attributed to I Endo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Remnant liver regeneration after two-stage hepatectomy for multiple bilobar colorectal metastases.

AIMS: Two-stage hepatectomy for multiple, bilobar liver metastases from colorectal cancer aimed to minimize liver failure risk by performing the second resection after regeneration, but impact of this strategy on volume of the future liver remnant (FLR) remained to be demonstrated. We compared two-stage hepatectomy with one stage following portal vein embolization (PVE) for multiple, bilobar liver metastases from colorectal cancer as to effects on volume of the FLR. METHODS: Forty-three patients undergoing major hepatectomy for multiple colorectal cancer metastases were divided retrospectively into patients undergoing hepatectomy following PVE (n=21) and those undergoing two-stage hepatectomy (n=22). Increases in FLR volume were compared. RESULTS: While the increase in the volume FLR averaged approximately 70 mL (302.6 mL before PVE vs. 370.9 mL after PVE) and the increase in the ratio of FLR to total liver volume averaged approximately 7.5% (30.2% to 37.5%) following PVE, first-stage hepatectomy increased FLR volume by approximately 100mL (from 259.4 to 361.4), and the ratio, by 15% (26.9% to 41.6%). The FLR hypertrophy ratio relative to pre-procedure volume estimates in the two-stage group (50.2%) was twice that in the PVE group (25.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Superiority of two-stage hepatectomy in hypertrophy of the FLR was confirmed.

Adult↗

Remaining caudate lobe in the right lobe graft in living donor liver transplantation: a blind spot?

The right margin of the caudate lobe is obscure. Therefore, a part of the caudate lobe (a part of the right side of the paracaval portion) seems almost always to remain with the right lobe graft during the standard harvesting procedure. We reviewed the intraoperative findings and the postoperative courses of donors and recipients of 11 consecutive living donor liver transplantations using right lobe grafts. Further, we used computed tomography during the postoperative course to investigate whether the remaining caudate lobe was present in the right lobe graft and whether it produced serious complications. Four recipients displayed an intraoperative bile leak from a remaining part of the caudate lobe after the completion of biliary reconstruction. With the exception of one case who developed repeated bile leakage from the same origin which eventually healed during a long-term postoperative course, Most recipients showed no postoperative biliary complications. Although a remaining caudate lobe was detected on postoperative computed tomography in all recipients, it produced no serious complications. In conclusion, a part of the right side of the paracaval portion of the caudate lobe almost always remains with a right lobe graft during the standard harvesting procedure. However, the implications of this phenomenon seem to be benign.

Adult↗

Indications for hepatic vein reconstruction in living donor liver transplantation of right liver grafts.

BACKGROUND: To overcome problems arising from a graft of insufficient size, right liver grafts have been used extensively for adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). However, there are reports of severe congestion in the anterior segment of the graft after transplantation. CASE REPORTS: Right liver transplantation without the middle hepatic vein was performed in six cases. In the second and third cases, the inferior right hepatic vein was reconstructed because it was thick (whereas the middle hepatic vein was not). Abdominal CT revealed congestive infarction of the anterior segment in the second case and of the posterior segment in the third. It was suspected that the former resulted from the lack of an middle hepatic vein, and the latter from obstruction of the reconstructed inferior right hepatic vein. Both patients died without improvement in liver function. Accordingly, in the fifth case, the middle hepatic vein was reconstructed. The postoperative course of this case was uneventful. Doppler ultrasonography showed profuse blood flow in the interposition graft. In the sixth case, the middle hepatic vein was not reconstructed because of technical difficulties. Although abdominal CT showed a congestive area in the anterior segment, the patient recovered uneventfully, probably because the volume of functional graft was sufficient even without the congestive area. CONCLUSION: When the color becomes dark in more than half of the surface of the anterior segment following clamping of middle hepatic vein tributaries and the hepatic artery, the middle hepatic vein should be reconstructed. When the diameter of the inferior right hepatic vein is more than 5 mm, its reconstruction is also recommended.

Adult↗

Usefulness of artificial liver support for pretransplant patients with fulminant hepatic failure.

This study assessed the usefulness of artificial liver support (ALS) for pretransplant patients with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF). Five patients (age 14 to 52 years, 3 men and 2 women) with FHF who were being prepared for living donor liver transplantation (LDLTx) were enrolled in this study. ALS included plasma exchange, using 40 to 50 units of fresh frozen plasma per session, and high-flow hemodiafiltration, using a high-performance polysulfone membrane. Variables such as circulatory and respiratory function, coma grade, and neurologic disorders were evaluated. Although systolic and diastolic blood pressures showed no statistical differences between pre-ALS and post-ALS, the difference in heart rates was statistically significant. After ALS initiation in the pre-LDLTx period, one of the three patients who needed mechanical ventilation was weaned from it. After LDLTx, all patients recovered neurologically; no neurologic disorder was observed. These results suggested that ALS could predict neurologic status after LDLTx. The difference in coma grades also achieved statistical significance. Our study indicates that short-term ALS is useful for improving circulatory and respiratory function prior to liver transplantation, as well as for predicting posttransplantation neurologic status. Although some patients recover by ALS alone, the survival rate of ALS-only patients is less than 50%. ALS prolongs intensive treatment, thus increasing both the risk of infection and the medical costs. Further investigation to determine a precise marker for liver regeneration will be needed to establish a consensus on the indications for long-term ALS. We conclude that ALS is useful to improve circulatory and respiratory functions among pretransplant patients, and to predict neurologic status after LDLTx.

Adolescent↗

Usefulness of the prognostic score for donor safety in living donor liver transplantation.

This study sought to determine whether a prognostic score is a useful indicator of donor safety using 13 consecutive donors enrolled for liver transplantation. The donor operations were right hepatic lobectomies (n = 10) and left hepatic lobectomies (n = 3). The postoperative maximal level of serum total bilirubin was used to assess the magnitude of surgical stress. Variables such as donor age, percentage of liver resection (PLR), indocyanine green 15-minute retention rate (ICGR15), operative blood loss, operation time, prognostic score and graft weight were evaluated as predictors of the magnitude of surgical stress. The PLR and prognostic score (PS) were calculated according to the following formulae: PLR (%) = 100*Graft weight (g)/standard liver volume of the donor (mL); PS = -84.6 + 0.933*PLR (%) +1.11*ICGR15 (%) +0.999*age (years); Standard liver volume (mL) = 706.2*body surface area (m2) + 2.39. No serious complications occurred after the donor operations. Maximal bilirubin ranged from 1.9 to 10.9 mg/dL. There were no mortalities, although there were two morbidities, bile leakage and prolonged liver dysfunction. Postoperative hyperbilirubinemia was observed in two donors and in one Gilbert's syndrome donor. Linear regression analysis of each variable indicated poor correlations between those variables and maximal bilirubin. However, close correlations were seen between maximal bilirubin and both donor age and PS except for the three patients who showed postoperative hyperbilirubinemia. In these uneventful donors, statistical formulae were obtained as follows: maximal bilirubin (PMB) = 0.271 + 0.056*donor age (correlation coefficient 0.612, P < .008), PMB = 1.541 + 0.059*PS (correlation coefficient 0.597, P < .009). In conclusion, PS is useful to predict maximal bilirubin and to ensure donor safety.

Age Factors↗

Surveillance of perioperative infections after adult living donor liver transplantation.

AIM: This study was conducted to clarify the management of perioperative infectious complications after adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fourteen adult LDLT patients were enrolled in this study. We examined the occurrence of infectious complications in these cases and the relationships of infectious complications to UNOS status and MELD score. Surveillance culture and immunoserologic analyses were performed. From the results of these analyses, we made a diagram of infection surveillance using a matrix of time and sampling site. Using the diagram, we chose sensitive antibiotics as soon as possible. RESULTS: The infection site and its pathogen were able to be detected in four (28.5%) patients, all of whom had MRSA infections, together with lung aspergillosis in one case, pseudomonas pneumonia in another, and both in another. Two patients died of lung aspergillosis. Bacteria detected in the airway tended to spread to other sites during the postoperative period. In all four patients in whom infectious diseases were detected, and in a fifth patient in whom the site of infection was not known, the UNOS status was 1. The MELD score was calculated in eight patients, six of whom had high MELD scores (>20). CONCLUSION: Most cases were manageable by choosing and changing antibiotics and antifungal drugs according to the results of surveillance cultures twice a week. However, aspergillosis had an extremely poor prognosis. Patients with a high MELD score or low UNOS status, or both, showed poor prognosis; and in them, multiple drug resistance bacteria caused severe perioperative infectious complications.

Adult↗

Central motor conduction in patients with anti-ganglioside antibody associated neuropathy syndromes and hyperreflexia.

OBJECTIVES: Several serum antibodies against gangliosides are diagnostically important, particularly in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS), and multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN). Although hyperreflexia is an atypical symptom in these disorders, it has been found in some patients with GBS, MFS, and MMN. The aim of the study was to determine whether hyperreflexia corresponds to corticospinal tract dysfunction in these patients. METHODS: The study examined central and peripheral motor conduction in patients with hyperreflexia who exhibited acute paralysis (group 1, n=5), acute ataxia and ophthalmoplegia (group 2, n=7), or chronic paralysis with conduction block (group 3, n=2). The clinical symptoms are similar to those in patients with GBS, MFS, and MMN, respectively, and serum anti-ganglioside antibodies were found to be positive in all patients. Using magnetic and electrical stimulation techniques, central and peripheral motor conduction were compared in patients in groups 1, 2, and 3 and patients with GBS (n=7), MFS (n=8), and MMN (n=6). RESULTS: Central motor conduction times (CMCTs) in patients in groups 1, 2, and 3 were significantly delayed compared with those in patients with GBS, MFS, and MMN (p<0.01, p<0.05, p<0.05, respectively), and the delayed CMCTs significantly improved in the recovery periods (p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.05, respectively). However, motor conduction velocity, compound muscle action potential, and F wave conduction velocity were not significantly different between the patients. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that corticospinal tract is functionally involved in patients with anti-ganglioside antibody associated neuropathy syndromes and hyperreflexia

Adolescent↗

Spatiotemporal symmetry in rings of coupled biological oscillators of Physarum plasmodial slime mold.

Spatiotemporal patterns in rings of coupled biological oscillators of the plasmodial slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, were investigated by comparing with results analyzed by the symmetric Hopf bifurcation theory based on group theory. In three-, four-, and five-oscillator systems, all types of oscillation modes predicted by the theory were observed including a novel oscillation mode, a half period oscillation, which has not been reported anywhere in practical systems. Our results support the effectiveness of the symmetric Hopf bifurcation theory in practical systems.

Animals↗

Integration of gene amplification and capillary gel electrophoresis on a polydimethylsiloxane-glass hybrid microchip.

We report on the development of a hybrid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-glass microchip for genetic analysis by functional integration of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE), and on related temperature control systems for PCR on a PDMS-glass hybrid microchip. The microchip was produced by molding PDMS against a microfabricated master with comparatively simple and inexpensive methods. PCR was successfully carried out on the PDMS-glass hybrid microchip with 500 bp target of lambdaDNA and the amplified gene was subsequently analyzed by CGE on the same PDMS-glass microchip. The chip could be considered as an inexpensive single-use apparatus compared to glass or silicon-made microchips for the same purpose.

Bacteriophage lambda↗

Indications for curative resection of advanced gallbladder cancer with hepatoduodenal ligament invasion.

PURPOSE: Hepatoduodenal ligament invasion (HLI) is an inhibiting factor for the curative resection of advanced gallbladder cancer. The aim of this study was to clarify the indications for surgical resection in patients with advanced gallbladder cancer with and without HLI by analyzing outcomes. METHODS: The subjects were 58 patients with advanced gallbladder cancer who underwent aggressive resection, and 20 nonresected patients diagnosed as haring HLI. The presence of stromal cancerous infiltration at six sites in the hepatoduodenal ligament was investigated. The extent of cancer spread was classified into two grades by the number of sites where cancer cells detected: low grade, one or two invasion sites; high grade, three or more sites. RESULTS: Pancreatoduodenectomy, vascular reconstruction, and extensive hepatectomy were frequently performed in the patients with HLI. The cumulative 5-year-survival rate of the HLI patients was 10.9%, significantly worse than that of the resected patients without HLI (46.6%; P < 0.01). Patients with paraaortic lymph node metastasis died within 1 year. The cumulative 5-year-survival rate after curative resection was 38.1%, significantly better than that after noncurative resection (0%; P < 0.05). The survival was significantly worse in patients with high-grade invasion than in these with low-grade invasion (P < 0.05), being equivalent to that in the nonresection patients. Of four factors, operative curability, hepatic lobectomy, HLI grade, and paraaortic lymph node metastasis, the HLI grade and hepatic lobectomy were considered to be significant prognostic factors by Cox's multivariate analysis (backward stepwise method). CONCLUSIONS: Aggressive surgical resection for curative purposes should be limited to patients with low-grade HLI and metastasis-negative paraaortic lymph nodes.

Adult↗

Adjuvant therapies using biliary stenting for malignant biliary obstruction.

The aim of this study was to analyze the patency of expandable metallic stents in malignant biliary obstruction and to evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant therapy accompanied by biliary stenting. We analyzed 29 patients in whom bile duct stenting was performed for malignant biliary obstruction. Their types of disease were: hilar ductal carcinoma (n = 8), gallbladder carcinoma (n = 11), and pancreatic carcinoma (n = 10). Initially, 46 expandable metallic stents were placed in 29 patients. In 23 of the 29 patients, adjuvant therapy was administered. Seventeen patients underwent radiotherapy, and 16 patients received various systemic chemotherapies. In principle, hyperthermia was performed twice a week, simultaneously with radiotherapy. Patient survival and the probability of stent patency were calculated using actuarial life table analysis. There was no significant difference in stent patency among the patients according to type of disease. Hyperthermia did not influence the stent patency rate. The median stent patency time was significantly greater in the chemo-radiation group than in the no-adjuvant therapy group: 182 days versus 68 days, respectively (P = 0.017). Moreover, a significant increase was seen in the median survival time in the chemo-radiation group: 261 days versus 109 days (P = 0.0337). Complications occurred in 9 patients (31.0%). Stent occlusion occurred in 6 patients (20.7%), with all of these patients managed successfully using a transhepatically placed new expandable metallic stent, employing the stent-in-stent method. Stent migration occurred in 2 patients after radiotherapy. Adjuvant therapies such as radiotherapy and systemic chemotherapy, in combination with stent insertion, resulted in an increase in the patency period of expandable metallic stents and in increased patient survival time.

Aged↗

Fe-type nitrile hydratase.

The characteristic features of Fe-type nitrile hydratase (NHase) from Rhodococcus sp. N-771 are described. Through the biochemical analyses, we have found that nitric oxide (NO) regulates the photoreactivity of this enzyme by association with the non-heme iron center and photoinduced dissociation from it. The regulation is realized by a unique structure of the catalytic non-heme iron center composed of post-translationally modified cysteine-sulfinic (Cys-SO2H) and -sulfenic acids (Cys-SOH). To understand the biogenic mechanism and the functional role of these modifications, we constructed an over-expression system of whole NHase and individual subunits in Escherichia coli. The results of the studies on several recombinant NHases have shown that the Cys-SO2H oxidation of alphaC112 is indispensable for the catalytic activity of Fe-type NHase.

Binding Sites↗