Ebstein's anomaly is a rare congenital heart disease. A 51-year-old man was hospitalized due to Ebstein's anomaly with severe congestive heart failure. He underwent Hetzer's procedure for tricuspid valve incompetence and right atrial isolation technique to restore the sinus rhythm. The postoperative course was uneventful, he was discharged from the hospital on the 21st day after the operation. The cardiothoracic ratio reduced from 74% before the operation to 60%. And his New York Heart Association functional class also improved from III to I after discharge. Hetzer's procedure for tricuspid valve repair in Ebstein's anomaly restructures the valve mechanism at the level of the true tricuspid annulus by using the most mobile leaflet for valve closure without placation of the atrialized chamber. We thus conclude that Hetzer's procedure, with anatomical evaluation of the malformed tricuspid valves before or during the operation, is beneficial as a simple and reproducible method for the repair of certain cases of Ebstein's anomaly.

Infectious endocarditis associated with Streptococcus bovis, which is rare in Japan, is a frequently reported complication of gastrointestinal tumors, especially in colon cancer. We report a patient who was successfully treated for the S. bovis-induced infectious endocarditis complication in colon cancer. A 60-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for detailed examination of high fever of unknown origin, that had lasted for 2 months. S. bovis was identified in the venous blood culture. An echocardiogram showed severe aortic valve regurgitation of the third degree and vegetation on the aortic valve. We therefore diagnosed infectious endocarditis. Colonoscopy revealed sigmoid colon cancer. After endoscopic mucosal resection of the lesion, the aortic valve was replaced. The postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged from the hospital 36 days post operatively.

A 52-year-old woman who had been treated for miliary pulmonary tuber culosis complained of left flank pain. Abdominal aortic angiography revealed a saccular type aneurysm in the supra-renal abdominal aorta. We resected the aneurysm and reconstructed the aorta by arificial graft patch under partial extracorporeal circulation. The left renal artery was reconstructed by an artificial graft. During the operation, the superior mesenteric artery and the bilateral renal arteries were perfused by blood from the extracorporeal circuit. On pathological examination, it was shown that the aneurysm was caused by tuberculosis.

Infectious endocarditis associated with Streptococcus bovis, which is rare in Japan, is a frequently reported complication of gastrointestinal tumors, especially in colon cancer. We report a patient who was successfully treated for the S. bovis-induced infectious endocarditis complication in colon cancer. A 60-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for detailed examination of high fever of unknown origin, that had lasted for 2 months. S. bovis was identified in the venous blood culture. An echocardiogram showed severe aortic valve regurgitation of the third degree and vegetation on the aortic valve. We therefore diagnosed infectious endocarditis. Colonoscopy revealed sigmoid colon cancer. After endoscopic mucosal resection of the lesion, the aortic valve was replaced. The postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged from the hospital 36 days post operatively.

We report a case of tricuspid infective endocarditis with peripheral pulmonary artery aneurysm. A 31-year-old man with a history of intravenous drug abuse was admitted to our institution. Echocardiography showed severe tricuspid valve insufficiency and large vegetation (10 mm) attached to the tricuspid valve. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a right peripheral pulmonary artery aneurysm. We operated because of the large amount of vegetation. Before the operation, we performed coil embolization for peripheral pulmonary aneurysm. During the operation, we removed the posterior leaflet with vegetation, and performed tricuspid valve repair. The postoperative course was uneventful. Postoperative echocardiography did not show any tricuspid valve insufficiency or vegetation.

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) are anti-oxidant enzyme genes. Polymorphisms of GSTs, SOD2 and NQO1 have been reported to influence individual susceptibility to various diseases. In an earlier study, we obtained preliminary findings that a subset of glutathione S-transferase T1 (GSTT1)-wt patients with varicocele may exhibit good response to varicocelectomy. In this study, we extended the earlier study to determine the distribution of genotype of each gene in the infertile population and to evaluate whether polymorphism of these genes affects the results of surgical treatment of varicocele. We analyzed 72 infertile varicocele patients, 202 infertile patients without varicocele and 101 male controls. Genotypes of GSTs were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Genotyping of SOD2 and NQO1 was performed using the PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. A significantly better response to varicocelectomy was found in patients with the GSTT1-wt genotype (63.2%) and NQO1-Ser/Ser genotype (80.0%) than in those with GSTT1-null genotype (35.3%) and NQO1-Pro/Pro or NQO1-Pro/Ser genotype (45.2%), respectively. The frequencies of glutathione S-transferase M1/T1, SOD2 and NQO1 genotypes did not differ significantly among the varicocele patients, idiopathic infertile patients and male controls. GSTT1 genotype is associated with improvement of semen parameters after varicocelectomy. As the number of patients with NQO1-Ser/Ser genotype was not sufficient to reach definite conclusions, the association of NQO1 genotype with varicocelectomy requires further investigation.
Adult ; Genotype ; Glutathione Transferase ; genetics ; Humans ; Infertility, Male ; etiology ; genetics ; surgery ; Male ; NAD(P)H Dehydrogenase (Quinone) ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Superoxide Dismutase ; genetics ; Treatment Outcome ; Varicocele ; complications ; genetics ; surgery

To screen for additional treatment targets against tongue cancer, we evaluated the contributions of extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK), AKT and ezrin in cancer development. Immunohistochemical staining showed that ERK and ezrin expressions were significantly higher in invasive squamous cell carcinoma than in carcinoma in situ. To investigate the roles of ERK and ezrin in cancer development, we used the non-woven silica fibre sheet Cellbed with a structure resembling the loose connective tissue morphology in a novel 3D culture system. We confirmed that the 3D system using Cellbed accurately mimicked cancer cell morphology in vivo. Furthermore, cell projections were much more apparent in 3D-cultured tongue cancer cell lines than in 2D cultures. Typically, under conventional 2D culture conditions, F-actin and cortactin are colocalized in the form of puncta within cells. However, in the 3D-cultured cells, colocalization was mainly observed at the cell margins, including the projections. Projections containing F-actin and cortactin colocalization were predicted to be invadopodia. Although suppressing ezrin expression with small interfering RNA transfection caused no marked changes in morphology, cell projection formation was decreased, and the tumour thickness in vertical sections after 3D culture was markedly decreased after suppressing ERK activity because both the invasion ability and proliferation were inhibited. An association between cortactin activation as well as ERK activity and invadopodia formation was detected. Our novel 3D culture systems using Cellbed™ are simple and useful for in vitro studies before conducting animal experiments. ERK contributes to tongue cancer development by increasing both cancer cell proliferation and migration via cortactin activation.
Carcinoma in Situ ; metabolism ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Cytoskeletal Proteins ; metabolism ; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases ; metabolism ; Humans ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; pathology ; Phosphorylation ; Podosomes ; pathology ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ; metabolism ; Silicon Dioxide ; Tongue Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Tumor Cells, Cultured