Pontine lesion in hyperglycemic crises: Relevance to osmotic demyelination syndrome and posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome.

We herein describe a case of type 1 diabetes that presented with a pontine lesion during two hyperglycemic crises accompanied by marked fluctuations in serum osmotic pressure and blood pressure. Magnetic resonance imaging showed swollen pons with osmotic demyelination syndrome characteristics accompanying cytotoxic edema at the first crisis. The involvement of vasogenic edema was also assumed in the second crisis. Neurological symptoms were milder than magnetic resonance imaging findings. The patient recovered after 7 days without sequelae in both crises. Based on these findings, a pontine lesion needs to be considered in patients with poorly controlled diabetes showing rapid metabolic and blood pressure changes, as observed in hyperglycemic crises. Cytotoxic edema leading to osmotic demyelination syndrome and vasogenic edema caused by vascular endothelial cell damage might both be involved in the pathogenesis of a pontine lesion.

Analysis of the rat skin permeation of hydrophilic compounds using the Renkin function.

The Renkin function was applied to characterize the penetration pathways through rat skin following different pretreatments. Nonmetabolic oligosaccharides and sugar alcohols, as model hydrophilic compounds, were applied simultaneously to the excised skin to obtain the equivalent cylindrical pore radius (R) and pore occupancy/length ratio (ε/L) for each skin piece. The R and ε/L values obtained were used to construct the simulation curves of the permeability coefficient (P(a))-molecular weight (MW). In the case of full-stripped skin, the P(a) of the model compounds and separately obtained P(a) of 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (CF) showed good agreement with the simulation curve based on the Renkin function, suggesting that the viable epidermis and dermis in the full-stripped skin contained permeation pathways for hydrophilic compounds like aqueous channels. On the other hand, there was poor agreement of P(a) with the simulation curve for skin pretreated with an ethanol-menthol mixed enhancer system and the observed P(a) of CF in the pretreated skin was twice that calculated. The enhancer system might not be able to create aqueous channels in the lipid layer of the stratum corneum and could increase the permeation of CF in the layer in a different way. The analysis presented here will be useful not only for quantitative evaluation of drug permeation through aqueous channels in treated skins but also for investigation of the mechanism of skin-permeation enhancing techniques.

Successful treatment of hypovascular advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with lipiodol-targetting intervention radiology.

We report a case of hypovascular advanced hepa-tocellular carcinoma (HCC) successfully treated with a novel combination therapy of percutaneous ethanol-lipiodol injection (PELI) and intervention radiology (IVR), lipiodol-targetting IVR (Lipi-IVR). The present case had a hypovascular HCC (3 cm in diameter) located in the S6 region of the liver. Although the tumor was not detectable at all by both of early and late phase of helical dynamic computed tomography (CT), it could be detected by ultrasonography (US) as a low echoic space occupying lesion (SOL) beside the gallbladder and right kidney. Serum levels of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and AFP-L3 were extremely high. Combination therapy of PELI, firstly reported in our department, and IVR (PELI and IVR, lipiodol-targetting IVR) was performed twice for the treatment. PELI could effectively visualize the location of the tumor for IVR treatment and show the presence of a thin blood vessel branching from the right hepatic artery flowing into the lipiodol deposit. After treatment, the serum levels of AFP and AFP-L3 were rapidly decreased to normal and maintained for more than eight months. Thus, this case expressing the tremendous effect might give us insight into the effectiveness of the novel combination therapy of PELI and IVR for the treatment of hypovascular HCC.

Thoracoscopic ethanol injection and radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma located immediately under the diaphragm.

We previously reported that the combination therapy of percutaneous ethanol injection and radiofrequency ablation (PEI-RFA) was more effective than RFA alone in inducing wider coagulated necrosis for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the present study, we thoracoscopically applied the combination therapy to the treatment of HCC located immediately under the diaphragm. RFA electrode and ethanol injection needle were inserted into the tumor through the right side of the diaphragm in 6 patients with HCC close to the diaphragm. In all cases, the tumor was completely ablated with enough safety margin around the tumor. No local tumor recurrence has been observed in a relatively short-time follow-up period. The volume of coagulated necrosis and the energy requirement for coagulation in thoracoscopic ethanol injection and RFA (T-EI-RFA) were comparable to those of PEI-RFA. Although HCC located immediately under the diaphragm is difficult to treat with a percutaneous approach due to the poor visualization by ultrasonography, T-EI-RFA is considered to be an effective treatment modality.

Time-lag performance of radiofrequency ablation after percutaneous ethanol injection for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

We have previously reported that the combination therapy of percutaneous ethanol injection and radiofrequency ablation (PEI-RFA) was more effective than RFA alone to induce wider coagulated necrosis for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the present study, the effect of time-lag performance of RFA after PEI was evaluated under the same ablation condition as PEI-RFA by analyzing the volume of coagulated necrosis, the energy requirement for ablation and the amount of ethanol injected into HCC. The comparative study between time-lag PEI-RFA and no time-lag PEI-RFA showed that the total energy requirement and the energy requirement per unit volume for whole and marginal coagulated necrosis were significantly smaller in the time-lag group than in the no time-lag PEI-RFA group. In time-lag PEI-RFA, the volume of coagulated necrosis induced positively correlated with the amount of ethanol injected into HCC as previously observed in PEI-RFA treatment. These results suggest that time-lag PEI-RFA can induce comparable coagulated necrosis with a smaller energy requirement than no time-lag PEI-RFA, and that time-lag PEI-RFA is likely to be less invasive than no time-lag PEI-RFA for inducing comparable coagulated necrosis. Thus, time-lag performance of RFA after PEI may make RFA treatment more effective and less invasive for the treatment of patients with HCC.

Successful treatment of large-size advanced hepatocellular carcinoma by transarterial chemoembolization followed by the combination therapy of percutaneous ethanol-lipiodol injection and radiofrequency ablation.

We report a case of large-size hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) successfully treated with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) followed by the combination therapy of percutaneous ethanol-lipiodol injection and radiofrequency ablation (PELI-RFA) and percutaneous ethanol-lipiodol injection (PELI) therapy. In the present case, the patient had a large-size advanced HCC, 7 cm in diameter, located in the S8 region of the liver. In addition, the hepatic reserve of the patient was severely poor. In order not to impair the poor hepatic reserve, we chose PELI-RFA and PELI, originally developed in our department and reported as milder treatment modalities than others. After TACE , PELI-RFA and PELI were performed several times, the HCC was totally destroyed and early enhancement shown by helical dynamic computed tomography disappeared completely after treatment. The hepatic reserve of the patient was not impaired by the series of treatments. Serum levels of tumor markers, alpha-fetoprotein and Des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin, were rapidly decreased to almost normal levels. PELI-RFA and PELI may be effective for the treatment of large-size HCC of patients with poor hepatic reserve.

[Hyperfractionated radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer].

The clinical efficacy and safety of hyperfractionated radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy were studied retrospectively in patients with primary advanced esophageal cancer. The subjects were 31 patients who were treated with hyperfractionated radiotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy in our institution between 1990 and 2001. The chemoradiotherapy consisted of cisplatin 70-80 mg/m2 on day one, and continuous infusion of 5-fluorouracil 700-800 mg/m2/24 hours on days 1 to 3, with concurrent hyperfractionated radiotherapy (57.6-72 Gy). Complete remission (CR) was observed in 17 cases, and partial response in 13 cases (response rate: 96. 7%). Three-year survival rate and 5-year survival rate were 35.5% and 26.3%, respectively. Grade 3/4 hematological toxicities included leukocytes in 7 patients (22.6%), hemoglobin in 6 patients (19.4%), and platelets in 4 patients (12.9%). Grade 3 dysphagia-esophageal related to radiation was observed in 3 patients (9.7%). Late toxicities occurred with the following incidences: hypothyroidism in 2 patients, benign esophageal strictures in 2 patients, pericardial effusion in 8 patients, and pleural effusion in 8 patients. The results suggest that combined chemotherapy and hyperfractionated radiotherapy is an effective and well-tolerated regimen.