[TS-1 treatment for progressive gastric cancer in a patient on chronic dialysis--assessment of dosage regimen by monitoring blood concentrations of therapeutic drugs (TDM)].

The optimum dose of TS-1 for the treatment of peritoneally disseminated gastric cancer in a patient with chronic renal failure undergoing chronic dialysis was estimated by monitoring the blood concentrations of 5-FU and gimeracil (CDHP) [therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM)] during administration of TS-1. Immediately after dialysis, 50 mg or 40 mg of TS-1, corresponding to 50% and 40% of the standard dose (100mg for this patient), respectively, was administered orally once a day every other day, and TDM was conducted. Compared with the pharmacokinetic parameters of 5-FU at the time of the initial administration of 50 mg or 40 mg of TS-1 and that of cancer patients with normal renal function, the AUC shown in the administration of 40 mg was equivalent to that observed with a single safe dose of 100 mg in patients with normal renal function. Based on this observation, the daily TS-1 dose was set at 40 mg in this patient, and TS-1 treatment was started after confirming the absence of the accumulation of 5-FU or CDHP during repeated administrations. In this treatment protocol, TS-1 was administered 11 times at a daily dose of 40 mg every other day immediately after dialysis, followed by a rest. This .administration schedule was defined as one course. Under these conditions, the patient was treated on an outpatient basis, and the treatment could be safely continued without the development of any severe adverse events, such as myelosuppression.

Pneumoretroperitoneum, pneumomediastinum, pneumopericardium, and subcutaneous emphysema complicating sigmoidoscopy: report of a case.

An 80-year-old woman presented to our outpatient center with abdominal pain and blood-stained stools. She underwent a colonoscopy, which showed a 4-cm type II tumor in the rectum. About 2 h after the colonoscopy, mild facial edema and subcutaneous emphysema developed around her neck. A chest X-ray showed pneumopericardium, pneumomediastinum, and subcutaneous emphysema, and an abdominal X-ray demonstrated retroperitoneal air. An exploratory laparotomy was performed on the second day after the colonoscopy, which showed air in the subserosal space of the sigmoid colon. The air seemed to have leaked from a 2-cm inflamed diverticulum in the sigmoid colon. The mesosigmoid was also expanded by air. We discuss the anatomical mechanism of the various clinical presentations of extraluminal air following colonoscopy.