[Tracheo-Bronchial Airway Stenting for Airway Stenosis Due to Inoperable Advanced Esophageal Cancers].

BACKGROUND: Airway invasion due to inoperable advanced esophageal cancers can sometimes cause serious complications includingairway stenosis and fistula, and compromise patients' QOL. We retrospectively evaluated the effect of tracheobronchial airway stentingfor airway stenosis due to inoperable advanced esophageal cancers. METHODS: Between 2010 and 2017, 9 patients with airway stenosis due to inoperable advanced esophageal cancers were treated by placement of a tracheo- bronchial airway stent. RESULTS: Eight patients were treated with self-expandable metallic stents and only 1 patient was treated with a Dumon Y stent. In all cases, tracheo-bronchial airway stents were successfully placed without major complications. Four patients received post-stentingtreatment and 5 patients could be discharged from the hospital. The median survival time after stent placement was 2.8 months. CONCLUSIONS: Tracheo-bronchial airway stentingwas a safe and effective treatment for improvingpatients ' QOL.

[Re-resection for local recurrence in the remnant pancreas after pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer- a case report].

A 70-year-old female suffered from jaundice was admitted to our hospital for a tumor in the pancreas head. CA19-9 and DUPAN-2 levels were increased in laboratory test. Enhanced abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a low density area of pancreas head. Cytology of pancreatic juice was performed by ERCP, and malignant cells were detected. Pancreaticoduodenectomy was performed under a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (T3N1M0, stage III). Despite of adjuvant chemotherapy (gemcitabine) after surgery, CT scan revealed a low density area in the cut end of remnant pancreas at 3 months, which was accompanied with elevation of and CA19-9 and DUPAN-2 levels. We diagnosed as a recurrent pancreatic cancer of remnant pancreas without any other side of recurrence and re-resection was performed. Because of chylous ascites and depression following a second surgery, postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy could not be started. Re-recurrence was detected at 3 months after the second surgery, and she died 6 months after the surgery. Remnant or repeated pancreatectomy for local recurrent pancreatic carcinomas is extremely rare with limited number of cases reported in the literature. We report our experience, and discuss the significance of re-resection for recurrence of remnant pancreas.

[Evaluation of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy using removable W-spiral catheter].

The authors analyzed the 62 patients who underwent hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy using W-spiral (WS) catheter. The catheter was successfully inserted into the hepatic artery without a coil fixation in 57 cases. After cessation of chemotherapy, the catheter was removed in 32 cases without difficulty, which resulted in improved patients' quality of life as well as preservation of patency of hepatic arteries. This catheter has a special shape-memory alloy in its tip, which allows preferable fixation without coils and removal of the catheter if desired. HAI using this catheter and subsequent removal of it is a reasonable strategy in the era with potent systemic chemotherapy.