Purpose: Oral sulfate tablets are abundantly used for bowel preparation before colonoscopy. However, their efficiency and safety for bowel preparation before colorectal surgery remain ill-defined. Herein, we aimed to compare the surgical site infection rates and efficiency between oral sulfate tablets and sodium picosulfate. Methods: We designed a prospective, randomized, phase 2 clinical trial. Patients with colorectal cancer aged 19–75 years who underwent elective bowel resection and anastomosis by minimally invasive surgery were administered oral sulfate tablets or sodium picosulfate. Eighty-three cases were analyzed from October 2020 to December 2021. Surgical site infection within 30 days after surgery was considered the primary endpoint. Postoperative morbidities, the degree of bowel cleansing, and tolerability were the secondary endpoints. Results: Surgical site infection was detected in 1 patient (2.5%) in the oral sulfate tablet group and 2 patients (4.7%) in the sodium picosulfate group, indicating no significant difference between the 2 groups. Postoperative morbidity and the degree of bowel cleansing bore no statistically significant differences. Furthermore, none of the investigated tolerability criteria, namely bloating, pain, nausea, vomiting, and discomfort, differed significantly between the 2 groups. The patients’ willingness to reuse the drug was also not significantly different between the 2 groups. Conclusion Although we could not establish the noninferiority of oral sulfate tablets to sodium picosulfate, we found no evidence suggesting that oral sulfate tablets are less safe or tolerable than sodium picosulfate in preoperative bowel preparation.

PURPOSE: We evaluated the concordance between core needle biopsy (CNB) and surgical specimens on examining intrinsic biological subtypes and receptor status, and determined the accuracy of CNB as a basic diagnostic method. METHODS: We analyzed breast cancer patients with paired CNB and surgical specimen samples during 2014. We used monoclonal antibodies for nuclear staining, and estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status evaluation. A positive test was defined as staining greater than or equal to 1% of tumor cells. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) was graded by immunohistochemistry and scored as 0 to 3+ according to the recommendations of the American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists. Ki-67 immunostaining was performed using the monoclonal antibody Ki-67, and the results were divided at 10% intervals. The cutoff value for high Ki-67 was defined as 20%. Concordance analysis of ER, PR, HER2, Ki-67, and five intrinsic biological subtypes was performed on CNB and surgical specimens. Statistical analysis for concordance was calculated using κ-tests. RESULTS: We found very good agreement for ER and PR with a concordance of 96.7% for ER (κ=0.903), and 94.3% for PR (κ=0.870). HER2 and Ki-67 showed concordance rates of 84.8% (κ=0.684) and 83.5% (κ=0.647), respectively, which were interpreted as good agreement. Five subgroups analysis showed 85.8% agreement and κ-value of 0.786, also indicating good agreement. CONCLUSION: CNB showed high diagnostic accuracy compared with surgical specimens, and good agreement for ER, PR, HER2, and Ki-67. Our findings reaffirmed the recommendation of CNB as an initial procedure for breast cancer diagnosis, and the assessment of receptor status and intrinsic biological subtypes to determine further treatment plans.
Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Biopsy, Large-Core Needle* ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Diagnosis ; Estrogens ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry* ; Methods ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Receptors, Estrogen ; Receptors, Progesterone

Pseudomelanosis duodeni is a rare benign condition in which dark pigments accumulate in macrophages located in the lamina propria of the duodenal mucosa. Most reported cases had hypertension with or without chronic renal failure, and were taking antihypertensive agents and iron supplements. Therefore, it has been assumed that pseudomelanosis duodeni is associated with these medications. Our case was a 77 year-old female patient diagnosed as having hypertension, congestive heart failure, iron deficiency anemia, and depression, who had been treated with antihypertensive agents and iron supplement. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed many tiny discrete dark macules scattered throughout the first and second portions of the duodenum. Endoscopic mucosal biopsy disclosed macrophages with Prussian blue and Fontana-Masson stain positive pigments, which suggested that the nature of pigment was iron sulfide.
Aged ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Antihypertensive Agents ; Biopsy ; Depression ; Duodenum ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Female ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Iron ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Macrophages ; Mucous Membrane

Sixteen eyes of 8 premature infants with stage 3 retinopathy of prematurity were treated with cryotherapy. Transconjunctival or transscleral cryotherapy was applied to the avascular retina with a cataract cryoprobe under general anesthesia. The mean follow up period was 8.2 months with a range of 4.5 to 14 months. Twelve(75%) of 16 treated eyes showed complete resolution of retinopathy of prematurity, while 4(25%) of 16 treated eyes showed cicticial change: 1 eye became cicatricial Grade I and 3 eyes Grade II.
Anesthesia, General ; Cataract ; Cryotherapy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Retina ; Retinopathy of Prematurity*

Sixteen eyes of 8 premature infants with stage 3 retinopathy of prematurity were treated with cryotherapy. Transconjunctival or transscleral cryotherapy was applied to the avascular retina with a cataract cryoprobe under general anesthesia. The mean follow up period was 8.2 months with a range of 4.5 to 14 months. Twelve(75%) of 16 treated eyes showed complete resolution of retinopathy of prematurity, while 4(25%) of 16 treated eyes showed cicticial change: 1 eye became cicatricial Grade I and 3 eyes Grade II.
Anesthesia, General ; Cataract ; Cryotherapy* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Retina ; Retinopathy of Prematurity*