Objective：In Parkinson's disease and Parkinsonian syndrome (referred to collectively as PD), the progression of functional decline is influenced by complications such as bone fracture or pneumonia. We aimed to assess the efficiency of short-term inpatient rehabilitation therapy for patients with PD in terms of functional recovery and cost-effectiveness.

Methods：We investigated differences in outcomes of inpatient rehabilitation for 84 patients with PD, in relation to reasons for hospitalization. Patients with complications, including orthopedic diseases (n＝15), and disuse syndrome (n＝16) received therapy for 3 hours/day in Kaifukuki postacute convalescent rehabilitation wards (KRW) or 2 hours/day in other facilities. Fifty-three patients without complications and thus not eligible for admission to KWR were provided with short-term inpatient rehabilitation therapy (training for 2 hours/day, 6 days/week for 1 month).

Results：In the patients without complications, the efficiency of FIM (FIM gain/hospital stay) was significantly greater (p＝0.03) and the amount of training and the medical expenses needed to improve the FIM score by 1 point, calculated as total training units (1 unit＝20 minutes of therapy as per the Japanese medical insurance system) divided by FIM gain and total medical cost divided by FIM gain, showed a decreasing trend (p＝0.07, 0.10, respectively) in comparison with that in the patients with complications.

Conclusion：Short-term inpatient rehabilitation for PD patients without complications is beneficial in terms of rehabilitation efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and appears effective at preventing complications and reducing costs. Reconsideration of the medical insurance system may be necessary so that short-term inpatient rehabilitation can be offered in various facilities, including Kaifukuki wards.

Purpose: This study investigated the current state of critical hemorrhage during home palliative care for terminally ill cancer patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective medical chart review of 7 cancer patients (1.4%) who received home palliative care from our clinic and died of critical hemorrhage at home from October 2007 to December 2014. Results: Four patients were male, the mean age was 70±11 years, and underlying diseases were different. None of the patients were accompanied by medical staff at the onset of bleeding. Six patients died at home and one patient was admitted to hospital for hemostasis. Six patients had a pre-hemorrhage episode more than 24 hours before critical hemorrhage occurred from the same site. One patient was administered a hemostatic agent, hemostasis was attempted in one, and one was given sedation. Six patients wanted to die at home, and did die at home. Discussion: If terminally ill cancer patients have critical hemorrhage at home, our options are limited. The results of this study suggest the importance of hemorrhage risk assessment and advance care planning.

No abstract available.
Melanoma

Background: No consensus exists regarding which anthropometric measurements are related to bone mineral density (BMD), and this relationship may vary according to sex and age. A large Japanese cohort was analyzed to provide an understanding of the relationship between BMD and anthropometry while adjusting for known confounding factors. Methods: Our cohort included 10,827 participants who underwent multiple medical checkups including distal forearm BMD scans. Participants were stratified into four groups according to age (≥50 years or <50 years) and sex. The BMD values were adjusted for confounding factors, after which single and partial correlation analyses were performed. The prevalence of osteopenia was plotted for each weight index (weight or body mass index [BMI]) class. Results: Cross-sectional studies revealed that weight was more favorably correlated than BMI in the older group (R=0.278 and 0.212 in men and R=0.304 and 0.220 in women, respectively), whereas weight and BMI were weakly correlated in the younger age groups. The prevalence of osteopenia exhibited a negative linear relationship with weight among older women ≥50 years of age, and an accelerated increase was observed with decreasing weight in older men weighing <50 kg and younger women weighing <60 kg. When weight was replaced with BMI, the prevalence was low in most subgroups classified by weight. Conclusions Weight, rather than BMI, was the most important indicator of osteopenia but it might not be predictive of future bone loss.

Using the data of 139 ovarian cancer cases at our hospital, we investigated the effect of jingizai on prognosis when it was combined with standard therapy for ovarian cancer and prognosis by histopathological types. Combining jingizai with standard therapy was not effective in cases of stage I-II ovarian cancer, but it was effective in cases of stage III-IV ovarian cancer. Upon examination the effectiveness of jingizai according to histopathological types, we observed some improved prognosis in serous adenocarcinoma and mucinous adenocarcinoma cases ; however, prognosis didn't improve in endometrioid adenocarcinoma and clear cell adenocarcinoma. These results indicate that the effectiveness of combining jingizai with standard therapy may differ depending on histological type of ovarian cancer. When we investigated the difference between the distribution of histopathological types by cancer staging, we frequently found clear cell adenocarcinoma in stage I-II cancer cases. Also, serous adenocarcinoma and poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma had a high frequency among stage III-IV cancer cases. This difference may be the reason that the effectiveness of jingizai is different depending on the advances of each stage. However, no statistical difference was confirmed due to the small number of subjects analyzed. Analysis of larger sample size, which can be collected by performing collaborative studies with other facilities, will be required for more detailed investigation.