Predictor of respiratory disturbances during gastric endoscopic submucosal dissection under deep sedation

BACKGROUND Sedation is commonly performed for the endoscopic submucosal dissection(ESD) of early gastric cancer. Severe hypoxemia occasionally occurs due to the respiratory depression during sedation.AIM To establish predictive models for respiratory depression during sedation for ESD.METHODS Thirty-five adult patients undergoing sedation using propofol and pentazocine for gastric ESDs participated in this prospective observational study. Preoperatively, a portable sleep monitor and STOP questionnaires, which are the established screening tools for sleep apnea syndrome, were utilized. Respiration during sedation was assessed by a standard polysomnography technique including the pulse oximeter, nasal pressure sensor, nasal thermistor sensor, and chest and abdominal respiratory motion sensors. The apnea-hypopnea index(AHI) was obtained using a preoperative portable sleep monitor and polysomnography during ESD. A predictive model for the AHI during sedationwas developed using either the preoperative AHI or STOP questionnaire score.RESULTS All ESDs were completed successfully and without complications. Seventeen patients(49%) had a preoperative AHI greater than 5/h. The intraoperative AHI was significantly greater than the preoperative AHI(12.8 ± 7.6 events/h vs 9.35 ± 11.0 events/h, P = 0.049). Among the potential predictive variables, age, body mass index, STOP questionnaire score, and preoperative AHI were significantly correlated with AHI during sedation. Multiple linear regression analysis determined either STOP questionnaire score or preoperative AHI as independent predictors for intraoperative AHI ≥ 30/h(area under the curve [AUC]: 0.707 and 0.833, respectively) and AHI between 15 and 30/h(AUC: 0.761 and 0.778, respectively).CONCLUSION The cost-effective STOP questionnaire shows performance for predicting abnormal breathing during sedation for ESD that was equivalent to that of preoperative portable sleep monitoring.     

Association of sleep‐disordered breathing with decreased cognitive function among patients with dementia

Sleep is known to be essential for proper cognitive functioning. Sleep disturbance, especially respiratory disturbance during sleep, is a risk factor for the development of dementia. However, it is not known whether hypopnoea during sleep is related to severity of cognitive function in patients already diagnosed with dementia. Considering the high prevalence of sleep problems in aged people, it is important to determine if hypopnoea during sleep contributes to dementia. In addition, it would be desirable to develop a feasible method for objectively evaluating sleep in patients with dementia. For this purpose, a simple sleep recorder that employs single or dual bioparameter recording, which is defined as a type‐4 portable monitor, is suitable. In this study, a type‐4 sleep recorder was used to evaluate respiratory function during sleep in 111 patients with dementia, and data suggesting a possible relationship with cognitive function levels were examined. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the association of severity of dementia with sleep‐disordered breathing, age, diabetes, dyslipidaemia and hypertension. It was found that the respiratory disturbance index was associated with severity of cognitive dysfunction in our subjects. Furthermore, patients younger than 80 years were more susceptible to lower cognitive function associated with sleep‐disordered breathing than patients 80 years old or over, because an increase in the respiratory disturbance index was associated with deteriorated cognitive function only in the former age group. These results suggest that proper treatment of sleep apnea is important for the preservation of cognitive function, especially in patients with early‐stage dementia.     

Associations between serum lipoprotein(a) levels and the severity of coronary and aortic atherosclerosis

To elucidate the associations between Lp(a) levels and coronary and aortic atherosclerosis, we performed aortic MRI in 143 patients undergoing coronary angiography. Severity of aortic atherosclerosis was represented as plaque scores. Of the 143 patients, 104 had coronary artery disease (CAD). Thoracic and abdominal aortic plaques were found in 89 and 131 patients. Lp(a) levels increased stepwise with the number of stenotic coronary vessels: 15.7 (CAD(-)), 21.2 (1-vessel), 21.4 (2-vessel), and 22.9 mg/dl (3-vessel) (P<0.05). For aortic atherosclerosis, 143 patients were divided into quartiles by plaque scores. Lp(a) did not differ among quartiles of thoracic plaques: 17.1, 19.0, 23.5, and 21.2 mg/dl (P=NS), whereas Lp(a) increased stepwise with quartiles of abdominal plaques: 17.1, 19.2, 19.1, and 24.0 mg/dl (P<0.05). Lp(a) was an independent factor for CAD and abdominal aortic plaques, but not thoracic plaques. Thus, Lp(a) levels were associated with aortic atherosclerosis, especially in abdominal aorta, as well as coronary atherosclerosis.     

Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the stomach: clinicopathological and immunohistochemical evaluation

Neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) of the stomach is an uncommon disease. Because of its rarity, the clinicopathological features are unclear, and there is no consensus on the optimal treatment strategy. This study included five consecutive patients with gastric NEC who underwent surgery from July 2001 to August 2011. Clinical presentation, tumor location, tumor morphology and size, pathology and immunohistochemistry results, and treatment outcome were analyzed retrospectively and discussed. The study cohort of four men and one woman ranged in age from 52 to 84 years, with a median age of 72 years. Positive rates of neuroendocrine markers were 40 % for chromogranin A, 60 % for synaptophysin, 60 % for CD56, 40 % for neuron-specific enolase, and 100 % for p53 protein. Median number of lymph node metastases per patient was 10, with severe lymphatic and venous infiltration, and high Ki-67 labeling index (60–90 %) reported for all patients. Median tumor size was 6 cm. Stage IV disease was diagnosed in three patients; the other two patients showed stage IIIA tumors. After a mean follow-up of 29.8 months, two of the five patients had died of the disease. Although rare, gastric NECs deserve particular attention because of their strong malignant potential associated with an extremely poor prognosis. Such carcinomas demand an aggressive surgical approach followed by chemotherapy and multimodality adjuvant therapy.     

Optimal follow-up time to determine the sustained virological response in patients with chronic hepatitis C receiving pegylated-interferon and ribavirin

Background and Aim: This study evaluated whether the assessment of hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐RNA at 12 weeks (FW+12) post‐treatment follow‐up was as applicable as FW+24 to evaluate sustained virological response (SVR) using the highly sensitive real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) HCV assay. Methods and Results: Two hundred and twenty‐two patients with chronic hepatitis C were included in this study. Pegylated interferon (Peg‐IFN) and ribavirin were administered for 24–72 weeks based on the genotype and viral load. Serum HCV‐RNA was measured using real‐time PCR at pretreatment, the end of treatment, FW+4, FW+8, FW+12, FW+16, FW+20 and FW+24. Two hundred patients had a virological response at the end of treatment. One hundred and forty‐eight of 200 (74.0%) patients with a virological response at the end of treatment had an SVR at the FW+24. The positive predictive value (PPV) to identify patients with SVR at FW+4, FW+8, FW+12 was 87.1, 96.1, 98.0%, respectively. The viral load showed a reversion to the basal level as early as 8 weeks in relapse patients. There were only three patients who relapsed after FW+12 and all three of these patients were females with genotype Ib and a high viral load. Conclusion: The assessment of serum HCV‐RNA FW+12, using the highly sensitive real‐time PCR assay, is almost as effective as FW+24 to predict SVR. However, there are false negatives in female patients with a high viral load of genotype Ib when the SVR is predicted by FW+12. The current standard with FW+24 is reasonable, but the assessment of serum HCV‐RNA FW+12 may be effective in most patients.