Lymphangioma of the Esophagus

Lymphangioma of the esophagus is a rare submucosal benign tumor. A 49-year-old man was referred because of a foreign body sensation in the esophagus. In endoscopy, a 10.0×1.0-cm longitudinal, translucent, whitish yellow mass covered with normal esophageal mucosa was found in the lower esophagus. Endoscopic ultrasonography revealed a heterogeneous, mainly hypoechoic, well-circum-scribed lesion located in the third layer. Incisional biopsy was performed, and histologic findings showed multiple dilated lymphatic vessels, consistent with lymphangioma. After 3 months of proton pump inhibitor treatment, the symptom was relieved and the patient is currently asymptomatic and under surveillance

Lung Transplantation in a Patient with Pre-transplant Colonization of Extensively Drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

Colonization of the pre-transplant lung by multidrug-resistant bacteria affects short- and long-term outcomes of lung transplantation. However, there are no case reports on the colonization of a pre-transplant lung by drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. We report a case of extensively drug resistant (XDR) A. baumannii colonization in the tracheobronchial tree that caused severe infectious complications after bilateral lung transplantation. A 23-year-old man diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) 4 years earlier with a history of allogenic bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia was admitted to the hospital with dyspnea. Due to progressive hypercapnic respiratory failure, long-term mechanical ventilation was started after a tracheostomy was performed, and the patient underwent a bilateral lung transplantation to treat end-stage BOS. After the transplantation, the colonization of XDR A. baumannii caused severe bacterial pneumonia in the early postoperative period. Combined treatment with colistin and meropenem led to recovery from the pneumonia but caused drug-induced renal failure. Because many centers are willing to transplant candidates who are on mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal life support, the incidence of XDR A. baumannii colonization of pretransplant lungs is expected to increase. Further studies are needed to examine pre-transplant management strategies in patients colonized with XDR A. baumannii

Optimization of diagnostic performance for differentiation of recurrence from radiation necrosis in patients with metastatic brain tumors using tumor volume-corrected 11C-methionine uptake

Abstract Background Tumor to normal tissue ratio (T/N ratio) on 11C-methionine (11C-MET) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is affected by variable factors. We investigated whether T/N ratio cutoff values corrected according to metabolic tumor volume (MTV) could improve the diagnostic performance of 11C-MET PET/CT for diagnosis of recurrence in patients with metastatic brain tumor. Forty-eight patients with metastatic brain tumors underwent 11C-MET PET/CT for differential diagnosis between recurrence and radiation necrosis after gamma knife radiosurgery (GKR). Both T/N ratio and MTV were estimated in each lesion on 11C-MET PET/CT. The lesions were classified into three groups based on MTV criteria (≤ 0.5 cm3; > 0.5, ≤ 4.0 cm3; and > 4.0 cm3). The optimal cutoff values of the T/N ratio from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were determined in each group (MTV-corrected) as well as total lesions (non-corrected). Finally, diagnostic performance of 11C-MET PET/CT was compared with the MTV-corrected cutoff values. Results Among 77 lesions, 51 were diagnosed with recurrence. The mean T/N ratio was 2.25 (± 1.12) for recurrent lesions and 1.44 (± 0.22) for radiation necrosis (P  4.0 cm3). In small-sized lesions (MTV ≤ 0.5 cm3), MTV-corrected cutoff values (1.23) could maintain favorable diagnostic performance with sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy (70.0, 80.0, and 73.3%, respectively), compared to non-corrected cutoff values. Conclusions MTV-corrected cutoff values of T/N ratio could maintain the diagnostic performance of 11C-MET PET/CT in small sized, metastatic brain tumors. We expect our results to contribute to reproducible and standardized interpretation of 11C-MET PET/CT

A multi-center, randomized, clinical study to compare the effect and safety of autologous cultured osteoblast(Ossron™) injection to treat fractures

Abstract Background We performed a multicenter, open, randomized, clinical study of autologous cultured osteoblast injection for long-bone fracture, to evaluate the fracture healing acceleration effect and the safety of autologous cultured osteoblasts. Methods Sixty-four patients with long-bone fractures were randomly divided into two groups, i.e. those who received autologous cultured osteoblast injection and those who received no treatment. The sum of the difference in the callus formation scores after four and eight weeks, was used as the first efficacy variable. Results The autologous cultured osteoblast injection group showed fracture healing acceleration of statistical significance, and there were no specific patient complications when using this treatment. Conclusion Autologous cultured osteoblast injection should therefore be considered as a successful treatment option for treating long-bone fracture. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN10637905</p

Metabolic Profiling Regarding Pathogenesis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, eventually fatal disease characterized by fibrosis of the lung parenchyma and loss of lung function. IPF is believed to be caused by repetitive alveolar epithelial cell injury and dysregulated repair process including uncontrolled proliferation of lung (myo) fibroblasts and excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins in the interstitial space; however, the pathogenic pathways involved in IPF have not been fully elucidated. In this study, we attempted to characterize metabolic changes of lung tissues involved in the pathogenesis of IPF using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry-based metabolic profiling. Partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model generated from metabolite data was able to discriminate between the control subjects and IPF patients (<i>R</i>²<i>X</i> = 0.37, <i>R</i>²<i>Y</i> = 0.613 and <i>Q</i>² (cumulative) = 0.54, receiver operator characteristic AUC > 0.9). We discovered 25 metabolite signatures of IPF using both univariate and multivariate statistical analyses (FDR < 0.05 and VIP score of PLS-DA > 1). These metabolite signatures indicated alteration in metabolic pathways: adenosine triphosphate degradation pathway, glycolysis pathway, glutathione biosynthesis pathway, and ornithine aminotransferase pathway. The results could provide additional insight into understanding the disease and potential for developing biomarkers