Recent advances in both diagnostic and therapeutic technologies have caused dramatic changes in treatment strategy for esophageal cancer patients. In this lecture, we will introduce the advances in multimodal treatment for esophageal cancer, based on our own experiences. 1. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with Docetaxel/Cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (DCF) for node-positive esophageal cancer. Recently, in Japan, an efficacy of NAC for resectable advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus has been reported. DCF is expected to be a powerful alternative to cisplatin/5-fluorouracil. Our experience on neoadjuvant or induction DCF will be demonstrated. 2. Efficacy and safety of salvage esophagectomy after dCRT. Salvage esophagectomy is an almost only method to cure the patients with local failure after dCRT, although high mortality and morbidity rates have been reported. We performed 40 cases of salvage esophagectomy during the last 7 years and no hospital mortality has been experienced. Benefit of salvage surgery and procedures to decrease surgical risk will be discussed. 3. Basic research for individualized treatment. If an individualized treatment strategy can be established based on some predictive markers, both improved survival and preserved quality of life will be realized. We will demonstrate the possibility of epigenetic analysis (e.g., LINE-1 methylation level) as biomarkers to predict patient prognosis.

  Balneotherapy for humans has a long tradition in Germany. Carbonated water or CO2 containing spring water has been known for ancient times, not only in spas for bathing but also for drinking. In 1845 the German spa physician Dr. F. Bodo from Bad Nauheim noted a “congested, velvety reddened skin” after taking a bath in warm CO2 enriched water. Conducting absorption experiments Hediger in 1928 demonstrated for the first time that CO2 is absorbed into the body by passing through the intact skin. In Germany 80% of the natural mineral spas contain the minimum concentration of 400mg/kg CO2 required for treatment and 50% of all spas have a CO2 content higher than 1000 mg/kg which is required for the designation as carbon dioxide enriched water. The spa resorts Bad Nauheim and Bad Krozingen harbor natural mineral springs with the world wide highest CO2 concentrations containing 2600 mg/kg and 2200 mg/kg, respectively. These springs belong to artesian wells which means the spring water is under a hydrostatic pressure that is high enough to well up to the surface without any pumps.   The beneficial effects of CO2 balneotherapy are not known in detail yet. However, animal studies have shown that bathing in carbon dioxide rich water enhances collateral blood flow in ischemic hindlimb through mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells and activation of NO system. Daily CO2 bathing for 28 days induced a 4 fold increase in collateral vessel density which was prevented by the administration of L-NAME a NO inhibitor. In humans CO2 bathing improves arteriolar blood flow in patients with arterial occlusive diseases. Patients with necrosis of skin and soft tissue due to disturbed blood flow showed profound improvement of the skin defects with decrease of the necrosis area. To the skin CO2 enriched water has topical effects. Ten days of rinsing detergent-damaged skin with CO2 enriched water enhanced clinical skin regeneration, enhanced epidermal lipid synthesis and enhanced barrier repair. Taking together CO2 balneotherapy has different beneficial effects on human diseases. This review presents the effects of CO2 enriched water on humans diseases and discusses its clinical indications.

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death in Japan. Surgical treatment is the effective way to achieve a long survival. Because of the development of surgical procedure and perioperative management, pancreatic surgery becomes safer. However, it still includes a certain number of morbidities and mortalities. It is important to perform safe operation for long survival. We herein introduce our operative procedure for pancreatic surgery including pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and distal pancreatectomy. In patients undergoing PD, leakage from the pancreatic anastomosis remains an important cause of morbidity and contributes to prolonged hospitalization and mortality. Recently, a new end-to-end pancreatojejunostomy technique without the use of any stitches through the pancreatic texture or pancreatic duct has been developed. In this novel anastomosis technique, the pancreatic stump is first sunk into deeply and tightened with a purse string in the bowel serosa. We modified this method in an end-to-side manner to complete the insertion of the pancreatic stump into the jejunum, independent of the size of the pancreas or the jejunum. Since April 2013, we have performed this new anastomosis technique in 36 patients. The breakdown of preoperative diagnosis of 36 patients were 13 pancreatic cancers, 8 extrahepatic bile duct cancers, 7 intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms and so on. Of 36 PD, 32 were subtotal stomach preserving PD (SSPPD), and the rest were SSPPD combined with left hemihepatectomy or distal pancreatectomy, and middle pancreatectomy. The concentration of amylase in discharged fluid through an abdominal drain decreased day by day. According to the ISGPF definition, pancreatic fistula (PF) was observed in 4 patients (11%). Of 4, only 1 case had grade C PF. This case had a hemorrhage from pancreatic cut end. This occurred probably because the pancreatic cut end was not compressed by the intestinal wall with this technique. This case had reoperation and the hemostasis of pancreatic cut end was secured. The other severe complications were not observed. This new method can be performed safely and is expected to reduce the occurrence of leakage from PD. The development of PF following distal pancreatectomy is an unsolved problem. We introduce a simple technique, the parallel suturing technique, which prevents severe PF by hand-sewn closure of the pancreatic stump. After standard distal pancreatectomy in the described cases, the main pancreatic duct was secured. The stump of the pancreatic remnant was closed with three nonabsorbable monofilament sutures. The three sutures were positioned about 3 mm proximal to the cut end of the pancreas and tied parallel to the pancreatic stump. Ascites fluid was collected through a drain tube, and its concentration of amylase was measured on days 1, 2, 3, and 4 postoperatively. PF was diagnosed according to the ISGPF classification. On postoperative day 4, three patients were categorized as having grade A PF, six were diagnosed with no PF, and the drain tubes of the remaining three were removed on day 3. This simple technique may effectively lighten the severity of PF following distal pancreatectomy. It may have a particular advantage in patients with a wide pancreatic stump.

Spinal tuberculosis usually occurs in a single vertebral body or two to three adjacent vertebrae; it rarely occurs in multiple vertebral bodies. Surgery is indicated in cases that do not improve with conservative therapy, or when paralysis is evident. Two cases regarding patients with spinal tuberculosis in multiple vertebral bodies on whom surgery was performed are reported. Case 1, the patient was a 77-year-old woman with spinal tuberculosis in four vertebral bodies from the lower thoracic to the lumbar spine. As she had pronounced lower back pain, posterolateral fusion with a pedicle screw was performed. Case 2, the patient was a 29-year-old Indonesian man with spinal tuberculosis in 17 vertebral bodies of the spine who was unable to stand due to paralysis of both legs, thus posterolateral fusion with a pedicle screw was performed. Good results were obtained from tuberculostatic drug therapy and surgical instrumentation.
Adult ; Aged ; Antitubercular Agents ; Female ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; male ; Paraplegia ; Spine ; Surgical Instruments ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Spinal

OBJECTIVES: The number of patients with bilateral cochlear implant (CI) has gradually increased as patients and/or parents recognize its effectiveness. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the efficacy of 29 bilateral CI out of 169 pediatric CI users, who received auditory-verbal/oral habilitation at our hearing center. METHODS: We evaluated the audiological abilities 29 Japanese children with bilateral CIs including wearing threshold, word recognition score, speech discrimination score at 1 m from front speaker (SP), 1 m from second CI side SP, speech discrimination score under the noise (S/N ratio=80 dB sound pressure level [SPL]/70 dB SPL, 10 dB) at 1 m from front SP, word recognition score under the noise (S/N ratio=80 dB SPL/70 dB SPL, 10 dB) at 1 m from front SP. RESULTS: Binaural hearing using bilateral CI is better than first CI in all speech understanding tests. Especially, there were significant differences between the results of first CI and bilateral CI on SDS at 70 dB SPL (P=0.02), SDS at 1 m from second CI side SP at 60 dB SPL (P=0.02), word recognition score (WRS) at 1 m from second CI side SP at 60 dB SPL (P=0.02), speech discrimination score (SDS) at 1 m from front SP under the noise (S/N=80/70; P=0.01) and WRS at 1 m from front SP under the noise (S/N=80/70; P=0.002). At every age, a second CI is very effective. However, the results of under 9 years old were better than of over 9 years old on the mean SDS under the noise (S/N=80/70) on second CI (P=0.04). About use of a hearing aid (HA) in their opposite side of first CI, on the WRS and SDS under the noise, there were significant differences between the group of over 3 years and the group of under 10 months of HA non user before second CI. CONCLUSION: These results may show important binaural effectiveness such as binaural summation and head shadow effect. Bilateral CI is very useful medical intervention for many children with severe-to-profound hearing loss in Japan as well as elsewhere.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Head ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Japan ; Noise ; Parents ; Speech Perception

The symposium on “Oncology Leadership in Asia” was held as part of the official program of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Korean Cancer Association with International Cancer Conference. Given the increasing incidence of cancer in all countries and regions of Asia, regardless of developmental stage, and also in light of the recognized need for Asian countries to enhance collaboration in cancer prevention, research, treatment and follow-up, the symposium was held with the aim of bringing together oncology specialists from eight countries and regions in Asia to present the status in their own national context and discuss the key challenges and requirements in order to establish a greater Asian presence in the area of cancer control and research. The task of bringing together diverse countries and regions is made all the more urgent in that while Asia now accounts for more than half of all new cancer cases globally, clinical guidelines are based predominantly on practices adopted in Western countries, which may not be optimized for unique ethnic, pharmacogenomic and cultural characteristics in Asia. Recognizing the need for Asia to better gather information and data for the compilation of Asia-specific clinical guidelines, the participants discussed the current status in Asia in the national and regional contexts and identified future steps towards integrated and collaborative initiatives in Asia. A key outcome of the symposium was a proposal to combine and integrate the activities of existing pan-Asian societies, including the Asian Pacific Federation of Organizations for Cancer Research and Control (APFOCC) and Asian Clinical Oncology Society (ACOS). Further proposals included the expansion of pan-Asian society membership to include individuals and the essential need to encourage the participation of young researchers in order to ensure self-sustainability of cancer control efforts in the future.
Asia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cooperative Behavior ; Cultural Characteristics ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leadership* ; Medical Oncology ; Specialization

OBJECTIVES: We conducted multi-directional language development tests as a part of the Research on Sensory and Communicative Disorders (RSVD) in Japan. This report discusses findings as well as factors that led to better results in children with severe-profound hearing loss. METHODS: We evaluated multiple language development tests in 33 Japanese children with cochlear implants (32 patients) and hearing aid (1 patient), including 1) Test for question and answer interaction development, 2) Word fluency test, 3) Japanese version of the Peabody picture vocabulary test-revised, 4) The standardized comprehension test of abstract words, 5) The screening test of reading and writing for Japanese primary school children, 6) The syntactic processing test of aphasia, 7) Criterion-referenced testing (CRT) for Japanese language and mathematics, 8) Pervasive development disorders ASJ rating scales, and 9) Raven's colored progressive matrices. Furthermore, we investigated the factors believed to account for the better performances in these tests. The first group, group A, consisted of 14 children with higher scores in all tests than the national average for children with hearing difficulty. The second group, group B, included 19 children that scored below the national average in any of the tests. RESULTS: Overall, the results show that 76.2% of the scores obtained by the children in these tests exceeded the national average scores of children with hearing difficulty. The children who finished above average on all tests had undergone a longer period of regular habilitation in our rehabilitation center, had their implants earlier in life, were exposed to more auditory verbal/oral communication in their education at affiliated institutions, and were more likely to have been integrated in a regular kindergarten before moving on to elementary school. CONCLUSION: In this study, we suggest that taking the above four factors into consideration will have an affect on the language development of children with severe-profound hearing loss.
Aphasia ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive ; Cochlear Implants ; Communication Disorders ; Comprehension ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Japan ; Language Development ; Mass Screening ; Mathematics ; Rehabilitation Centers ; Vocabulary ; Weights and Measures ; Writing