Background: Combination treatment with bevacizumab and paclitaxel has been approved for treating human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2)-negative metastatic breast cancer(MBC) in Japan. Japan has no official economical guideline showing decision criteria for the approvals of new drugs. However, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence(NICE) in UK hardly recommends the combinational use of bevacizumab for HER2-negative MBC, because of its poor cost-effectiveness.　Objective: The evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of additional bevacizumab as primary chemotherapy for HER2-negative MBC in accordance with the clinical practice guideline in JapanMethods: A Markov cohort simulation was used to follow the clinical course of typical patients with MBC. Transition probabilities were estimated from randomized clinical trials. Direct medical costs were assessed from the perspective of the Japanese health-care system. This study used quality-adjusted life year(QALY), and both costs and QALYs were discounted 3% annually. The time horizon was 10 years. Both a univariate and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results: The additional use of bevacizumab to paclitaxel required an additional cost of JPY 9.12 million(USD 114,000) for obtaining a gain of 0.26 QALYs, and the incremental cost effectiveness ratio was JPY 35 million(USD 437,000). Conclusion：By assuming of GBP 20,000-30,000(JPY 2.5-3.75 million and USD 31,000-46,900) to be an index value threshold by NICE, combination treatment with bevacizumab was found to be hardly cost-effective. Based on the fair and adequate distribution of medical resource, economical guidelines reflecting the Japanese health-care system are necessary. (Jpn J Pharmacoepidemiol 2013；18(1)：1-12)

A 69 year old man who was admitted with hoarseness and diagnosed as aneurysm of the diverticulum of the ductus arteriosus was reported. Operation was performed through a median sternotomy under partial cardiopulmonary bypass. Saccular form aneurysm, had a stalk attaching to left pulmonary artery, was repaired using Dacron patch prosthesis. His postoperative course was uneventful except transient left pleural effusion. Because of fragirity of aneurysm in the adult, early surgical intervention is recommended. To our knowledge, this is 11th surgically treated case to be reported in the literature in Japan.

One hundred and thirty cases of closed mitral commissurotomy were followed for up to 25 years and 10 months. There was no operative death, but 31 cases died during the follow-up period. Eight cases died suddenly of unknown cause, 7 due to heart failure, 5 due to thromboembolism, 4 on reoperation, and 6 due to other reasons. In the 7 cases who died of heart failure late after commissurotomy, 3 cases refused reoperation. Each of the remaising 4 cases were not operated on because of associated severe liver dysfunction, left ventricular dysfunction plus pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failure due to bronchial asthma, and unknown reasons, respectively. The actuarial survival rate was 93.6% 10 years after surgery, and 72.2% 20 years after surgery. Forty-two cases had reoperation with a mean interval of 12 years and 6 months. Reoperation-free survival rate was 88.7% 10 years after the first operation and 42.8% 20 years after the first operation. Incidence of major thromboembolism was 1.25%/patient-year. Thromboembolism and sudden death of unknown cause constituted the leading cause of late death and played a key role in long term results. Cardiac event-free survival rate was 65.7% 10 years after surgery and 32.6% 20 years after surgery. From these results it was concluded that the clinical limitations of the effectiveness of closed mitral commissurotomy was around ten years after surgery. We believe that these findings provide useful information for percutaneous transvenous mitral ommissurotomy.

A 65-year-old woman was referred for progressive dyspnea and leg edema. Physical examination revealed a continuous murmur along the right sternal border. Enhanced computed tomography showed an aneurysm that extended to the right atrium. Aortic angiography confirmed the rupture of the valsalva aneurysm into the right atrium. The patient underwent emergency surgery to close the aneurysm ostium and suture closure of the right atrial fistula. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful.

Background: Arbekacin (ABK) is an aminoglycoside that exhibits anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and anti-Pseudomonas aeruginosa activities. Therefore, for patients with febrile neutropenia (FN) and concurrent pneumonia suspected to be caused by MRSA, ABK may be sufficiently effective even as a single agent. Materials and Methods: Patients with hematologic malignancies treated with ABK who met the following criteria were included: 1) fever during neutropenia or functional neutropenia, 2) FN complicated by pneumonia, and 3) possible infection by antimicrobial-resistant Grampositive cocci. Results: This study encompassed 22 episodes involving 19 patients, of which, 15 (68.2%) were successfully treated with ABK. Of the nine episodes showing inadequate response to other anti-MRSA drugs, eight were successfully treated with ABK. Grade 2 or worse adverse events included acute kidney injury (13.6%) and increased transaminase levels (9.1%). Conclusion The present study demonstrated that ABK is effective and safe in patients with FN and concurrent pneumonia caused by antimicrobial-resistant Gram-positive cocci. ABK may also be effective in patients who are unresponsive to other anti-MRSA drugs. Therefore, ABK may be beneficial in the treatment of pneumonia caused by antimicrobial-resistant Gram-positive cocci in patients with FN.

The case is that of a 90-years-old man. A previous doctor performed abdominal graft replacement for an abdominal aortic aneurysm 5 years earlier and continued outpatient CT follow-up. Follow-up CT showed the right aortic arch and dilation of the thoracic aortic aneurysm, and the patient was referred to our hospital. Contrast-enhanced CT showed an aortic arch aneurysm ; the aneurysm diameter was 62 mm in major axis and 60 mm in minor axis, which was judged to be suitable for surgery. It was a rare right-sided aortic arch with no congenital heart malformation and no situs inversus. Endovascular treatment was considered because he was 90 years old and very elderly, but there were concerns about the risk of embolism, irregular manipulation and central landing. For the surgical method, we selected total arch replacement using a frozen elephant trunk technique. We succeeded in avoiding serious complications by selecting an appropriate treatment method through careful evaluation.