Pivot technique combined with mandibular backward distraction osteogenesis for the patient with high risk for relapse

Severe skeletal relapse is one of the most difficult problems after mandibular advancement, and the management to overcome such problems tends to require more compromised methods and longer treatment period. We described that mandibular backward distraction osteogenesis with maxillomandibular fixation at an appropriate occlusion. Furthermore, to avoid inappropriate distraction vector, the distal plates of the distraction device were fixed with 1 screw to work as a pivot after the manipulation of the condyle to the glenoid fossa at the end of distraction activation. This technique was applied to 3 female patients with mandibular deficiency. The intraoral distractors were set on the lateral surface of the mandibular body; the fixation of the distal plate was fixed with 1 monocortical screw to make the proximal segment including the condyle manipulating at the end of the distraction phase by releasing the maxillomandibular fixation. The distraction rate was 1 mm/d, and the latency period was 7 days. The follow-up period after mandibular backward distraction osteogenesis ranged from 26 to 56 months. No specific complication, such as broken device, severe infection, or bony nonunion, occurred. Postoperative relapse was not observed during the follow-up period. This technique might become 1 choice to apply for mandibular deficiency in a patient with high risk for relapse.     

Sequential monitoring of serum IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ levels in a CAEBV patient treated by plasma exchange and immunochemotherapy

We report the case of a female patient with chronic active Epstein?CBarr virus infection (CAEBV) accompanied by hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS). On admission, she presented with severe liver dysfunction and disseminated intravascular coagulation with elevation of serum IL-6, TNF-??, and IFN-?? levels. Plasma exchange (PE) followed by immunochemotherapy with prednisolone, cyclosporine A, and VP16 was performed. PE decreased serum cytokine levels dramatically and improved liver function. Following immunochemotherapy, CAEBV became inactive. Four months after discharge, however, CAEBV relapsed with HPS, and serum cytokine levels were extremely elevated again. There was no response to immunochemotherapy, and the patient died 1?day after admission. We examined the cytokines in five additional untreated-CAEBV patients and determined that they were elevated above the normal level in all patients. These results suggest that inflammatory cytokines may have roles in the development of CAEBV, and that their depletion can be an effective treatment for this disease.     

SPan-1 Is a Useful Prognostic Marker for Patients with Stage IV Gastric Cancer Who Underwent Palliative Gastrectomy: A Retrospective Multivariate Study

Background

We retrospectively investigated prognostic factors to be used in selecting the patients with stage IV gastric cancer (GC) who have an unfavorable prognosis after palliative gastrectomy.

Methods

A total of 146 GC patients at stage IV who had undergone palliative gastrectomy were enrolled. Various clinicopathological parameters were evaluated for prognosis.

Results

Surgical morbidity and hospital mortality occurred in 35 (23.9 %) and 4 (2.7 %) patients, respectively. The overall 5-year survival rate and the median survival time were 11.2 % and 13.2 months, respectively. Of the 146 patients, 64 had uncomfortable symptoms associated with GC and 76 had no such symptoms. Of the 64 patients with uncomfortable symptoms, 60 (93.7 %) experienced relief of these symptoms after palliative surgery. Multivariate analysis for patients without uncomfortable symptoms associated with GC revealed that the number of incurable factors and serum SPan-1 level were independent prognostic factors.

Conclusions

Patients with stage IV GC who had multiple incurable factors and a high level of serum SPan-1 might not be candidates for palliative gastrectomy for the purpose of prognostic benefit.     

Significance of exercise-induced ST segment depression in patients with myocardial infarction involving the left circumflex artery: evaluation by exercise thallium-201 myocardial single photon emission computed tomography

The significance of exercise-induced ST segment depression in patients with left circumflex artery involvement was investigated by comparing exercise electrocardiography with exercise thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography(Tl-SPECT) and the wall motion estimated by left ventriculography. Tl-SPECT and exercise electrocardiography were simultaneously performed in 51 patients with left circumflex artery involvement(angina pectoris 30, myocardial infarction 21). In patients with myocardial infarction, exercise-induced ST depression was frequently found in the V2, V3 and V4 leads. In patients with angina pectoris, ST depression was frequently found in the II, III, aVF, V5 and V6 leads. There was no obvious difference in the leads of ST depression in patients with myocardial infarction with ischemia and without ischemia on Tl-SPECT images. In patients with myocardial infarction, the lateral wall motion of the infarcted area evaluated by left ventriculography was more significantly impaired in the patients with ST depression than without ST depression(p < 0.01). Exercise-induced ST depression in the precordial leads possibly reflects wall motion abnormality rather than ischemia in the lateral infarcted myocardium.     

Interatrial shunt flow profiles in newborn infants: a colour flow and pulsed Doppler echocardiographic study.

Interatrial shunt flow profiles in 36 normal term infants were examined serially by colour flow and pulsed Doppler echocardiographic techniques from within an hour of birth to four or five days after birth. Shunt flow across the foramen ovale was detected in 33 normal infants (92%) within an hour of birth (mean 40 minutes). The occurrence of interatrial shunting decreased with age, but a shunt signal was still detected in 17 infants (47%) on the fourth or fifth day of life, by then the ductus arteriosus had already closed in all the normal infants. The direction of interatrial shunt flow was predominantly left-to-right, but in 64% there was a coexistent small right-to-left shunt in diastole within an hour of birth; by four to five days it was found in 19%. In the six patients with persistent fetal circulation the direction of the interatrial shunt flow was predominantly right-to-left with biphasic peaks in diastole and systole at the early stage of the disease, and the period of right-to-left shunt flow during each cardiac cycle was significantly longer than that in normal infants examined within 1 hour of birth. In all patients the ductus closed before the foramen ovale. At the time of ductal closure in all patients with persistent fetal circulation right-to-left shunt flow was seen during diastole and its period was still prolonged. These findings suggest that interatrial shunting, predominantly left-to-right, is common in normal newborn infants. Evaluation of the characteristics of the interatrial shunt by Doppler echocardiography may be useful for predicting the progress of or improvement in neonates with persistent fetal circulation.     

Endoscopic appearance of the colon and small intestine of a patient with hemorrhagic enteric graft-vs.-host disease

Endoscopic appearance of the gastrointestinal tract of a patient with severe hemorrhagic enteric graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) is presented. A 29-year-old man with chronic myelogenous leukemia suffered from severe enteric GVHD after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Endoscopy showed hemorrhagic ulceration of the upper jejunum, terminal ileum, and colon at the onset of melena. Sections of biopsies were compatible with acute GVHD. Repeat endoscopy showed gradual healing of the lesions after steroid pulse and antilymphocyte globulin therapy, but the patient died of cytomegalovirus pneumonitis 14 months later. Autopsy revealed submucosal fibrosis of the small intestine and colon.