[Clinical trials of flomoxef in complicated urinary tract infections].

Flomoxef (6315-S, FMOX), a new oxacephem antibiotic was studied clinically in 27 patients with complicated urinary tract infections. FMOX was intravenously administered at a dose of 1.0 g twice daily for 5 days. Clinical effect of FMOX on patients with complicated urinary tract infections were excellent in 11.5%, moderate in 57.7% and overall clinical efficacy rate was 69.2%. During the treatment with FMOX, urticaria was observed in 1 case. In laboratory tests, a decrease of RBC, Hb and Ht in 1 case, a decrease of WBC in 1 case and an elevation of GPT in another case were observed. But these abnormal values were slight and transient.

[A case of renal pelvic cancer associated with giant hydronephrosis of a horseshoe kidney].

A 71-year-old woman with loss of appetite was referred to our hospital. Imaging diagnosis revealed a large, cystically dilated left kidney with a solid tumor inside the cavity and right hydronephrosis. A chest X-ray revealed multiple metastatic lesions. A horseshoe kidney was found intraoperatively and left nephroureterectomy with partial cystectomy was performed. Histological diagnosis was poorly differentiated transitional cell carcinoma. She died of progressive pulmonary metastases 2 weeks after operation. This is the 19th case of a renal pelvic tumor associated with a horseshoe kidney reported in the Japanese literature. The diagnosis was confounded by the extreme dilation and deformity of the hydronephrotic kidney.

[Percutaneous nephrolithotripsy: experience with one-stage procedure].

From November 1985 through September 1986, 20 cases of upper urinary tract calculi (14 kidney, 7 ureter) were treated by the one-stage procedure percutaneous nephrolithotripsy. Renal and ureteral calculi were successfully removed in all 20 cases (100%). After the procedure, a few small stone fragments remained in 3 cases (the rate of remnant stone : 14%). High fever was noted in 7 patients but did not last longer than 3 days. No patients required blood transfusion. The one-stage percutaneous procedure was considered a more efficient procedure to remove the upper urinary tract calculi, than open surgery or two stage percutaneous nephrolithotripsy. In one-stage percutaneous nephrolithotripsy, however, serum sodium concentration was lowered significantly after the procedure, although the hematocrit remained unchanged throughout. This should be carefully corrected by the supplement of irrigation fluid and intravenous infusion during the procedure.

[Clinical investigation of prostatic cancer patients who underwent radical prostatectomy: analysis of patients in the Tokai Urological Cancer Registry].

Between 1989 and 1991, 815 cases of prostatic carcinoma were registered in the Tokai Urological Cancer Registry. We investigated the clinical features and prognosis of 69 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy. The median age and clinical stage, were 65.9 +/- 4.7 years and A in 7 patients, 66.3 +/- 5.8 years and B in 31, 68.2 +/- 2.7 years and C in 26, 63.4 +/- 13.5 years and N(+) in 5. Neoadjuvant therapy consisting of endocrine therapy and chemoendocrine therapy was administered to 28 and 14 patients, respectively. In comparison to the clinical stage, pathologically, 4 cases (9.5%) showed downstaging or overstaging, 15 (35.7%) understaging and 23 (54.8%) accurate staging in the neoadjuvant therapy group, and, respectively, 2 (7.4%), 12 (44.4%) and 13 (48.2%) in the non-neoadjuvant therapy group. There was a significant difference in the pretreatment prostatic antigen (PA) value between pT0 and pT3 (p < 0.05), between pT0 and pN(+) (p < 0.01) and between pT2 and pN(+) (p < 0.05). In addition, the pretreatment PA value in the recurrence group was higher than that in the non-recurrence group in both neoadjuvant and non-neoadjuvant groups, with a significant difference (p < 0.01) in the neoadjuvant group. Cancer recurrence was noticed in 2 patients given non-neoadjuvant therapy and 3 given neoadjuvant therapy. There was no significant difference in the non-recurrence rate with the pathological stage either with or without neoadjuvant therapy. However, the non-recurrence rate in the neoadjuvant therapy group was higher than that in the non-neoadjuvant therapy group.

[Operative fiberoptic nephroureteroscope--removal of renal and upper ureteral stones].

Two types of operative fiberoptic nephroureteroscopes were developed with the cooperation of the Olympus Optical Company mainly to remove the upper urinary tract calculi. Removal of the renal and upper ureteral stones was attempted in nine cases. The ureter was dilated with olive tip, balloon and Teflon dilators alone or in combination. The combination of balloon and Teflon dilators seemed the most promising. As a result of ureteral dilation, operative fiberoptic nephroureteroscopes, 4.5 mm and 3.5 mm in diameter, could be passed into the ureter in all the cases and the stones could be visualized clearly. Four of the 7 upper ureteral stones and 1 of the 2 pelvic stones could be removed. The success ratio was 56%. The method of stone removal still requires improvement. At present, application of the operative fiberoptic nephroureteroscope is indicated for upper ureteral and renal stones less than 1.0 cm in diameter. With the improved techniques of stone removal using this fiberscope, the indications of extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy or percutaneous nephrolithotripsy will probably be greatly reduced in the near future.

[Dialysis versus renal transplantation; a comparative study on medical cost and quality of life in patients with chronic renal failure].

We studied the medical costs of hemodialysis, CAPD and renal transplantation in our patients with chronic renal failure. The cost per patient averaged 660,000 yen for hemodialysis (760,000 yen for CAPD) in the first month when dialysis was started and 460,000 yen for routine maintenance hemodialysis (240,000 yen for CAPD). There was a difference in cost between recipients treated with conventional immunosuppressants (conventional group) and those receiving cyclosporine (Cs-group). That is, the estimated average cost for the conventional group was 3,800,000 in the first month after kidney grafting and at 60,000 yen in the subsequent months when the patient is cared for at the outpatient clinic; that of Cs-group was at 2,710,000 yen and 170,000 yen. This difference is due to the high cost of cyclosporine. The cumulative cost of maintenance hemodialysis is on a constant linear increase. Recently, clinical results of renal transplantation have improved markedly. Furthermore, our analysis of questionnaires to patients shows that renal transplantation is far superior to hemodialysis on the aspect of the quality of life. Thus, renal transplantation should be promoted further, and then the combined treatment of a low dose of cyclosporine and other immunosuppressants might be recommended to reduce the cost of cyclosporine.

[The clinical efficacy of outpatient extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy].

From March 1989 through December 1989, 123 patients, 9 to 78 years old, were treated by extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) with the Wolf Piezolith device. Outpatient treatment was performed routinely. Anesthesia was not required in all of the patients. No analgesia or sedation was given routinely. When pyuria had been found before treatment, a course of prophylactic oral antibiotics was given. Treatment consisted of 2000 to 6000 shocks in adults. The need for re-treatment was decided on the basis of the follow up X-rays. Fragmentation into particles 5 mm in size or less occurred in 144 of the 149 renoureteral units (96.6%). Unfragmented stones were treated successfully by the combination therapy of ESWL and fiberoptic transurethral nephroureterolithotripsy (f-TUL). Of 144 renoureteral units, 3-month follow-up data are available for 96. Among the 96 units, the rate of being free of stones was 67 per cent for renal stones and 96 per cent for ureteral stones treated in situ. The over-all rate of being free of stones was 80.2 per cent. There were no significant complications. Ultrasound imaging has proved to be as effective as X-ray imaging. Outpatient ESWL with the Wolf Piezolith device is considered to be safe and efficient for the initial treatment of urinary stones. On the other hand, ESWL monotherapy is not sufficient for the treatment of complete staghorn calculi or long-term impacted ureteral calculi. We think that the combination use of ESWL and f-TUL is the most effective procedure for treatment of complicated stones.

[Experimental study on carboplatin toxicity--a comparison with cisplatin].

The toxic potencies of cisplatin and carboplatin were compared in male Wistar rats. The tissue concentration of platinum in rats was 5- to 13-fold larger with cisplatin treated group than carboplatin treated one. The histopathologic examination of various organs revealed severe myelosuppression and mild toxicity in the kidney, testis, spleen and intestine of rats treated with carboplatin. The toxicity of carboplatin was milder than cisplatin in all organs except bone marrow. This reduced toxicity of carboplatin can be accounted for by the presence of a stable dicarboxylate chelate ring structure of this drug, resulting in a much slower rate of hydrolysis to the active form, and the differences in nuclear protein phosphorylation between normal cells and tumor cells. The decreased nephrotoxicity of carboplatin may be due in part to lower drug accumulation in the renal tubular epithelium via the basement transport mechanism.

Operative fiberoptic nephroureteroscopy: removal of upper ureteral and renal calculi.

We tested 2 prototypes of an operating fiberoptic nephroureteroscope, measuring 3.5 and 4.5 mm. in diameter, that have an adequate working channel for auxiliary instruments and irrigation. Difficulty in passing the fiberscope through the ureteral orifice was overcome by dilation with balloon and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) dilators. Our initial trial for stone retrieval under fiberscopic control was performed on 21 patients with upper ureteral and renal calculi. A stone was removed successfully in 15 of the 21 patients (71 per cent). After electrohydraulic lithotripsy calculi were extracted successfully in 9 of 11 patients (82 per cent). Three patients suffered ureteral perforation. The fiberscope was especially helpful when an upper ureteral stone moved back to the kidney during stone manipulation.