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To indicate renal disorders and to predict the prognosis of renal function, we investigated the significance of endothelin-I (ET-1) in retained urine, which was collected at the relief of urinary tract obstruction in 20 congenital hydronephrotic patients. Urinary ET-1 level ranged from 15 to 1411 pg/mg creatinine (Cr), and was higher than in normal Subjects in many cases. The value showed a positive correlation with the N-acetyl-β-Dglucosaminidase level (U/gCr) (r=0.663, p < 0.01) and β-2-microglobulin level (μg/mgCr) (r=0.486, p < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between ET-1 and albumin level. Immunohistochemical staining of renal tissue specimens showed ET-1 positivity in part of the medullary tubular epithelia of both normal and hydronephrotic kidneys, but no difference was seen between normal and hydronephrotic kidneys. These data suggest that urinary ET-1 level is a potential indicator of renal tubular disorders in hydronephrotic patients.

Tc99m-dimercaptosuccinic acid renal uptake (DMSA uptake) was examined to assess the changes in split renal function following percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) in 9 patients with a total of 12 renal artery stenoses and renovascular hypertension (RVH). The results were studied with respect to age, degree of renal artery stenosis, and renal vein renin ratio (RVRR) before PTRA. Although the degree of renal artery stenosis, systolic blood pressure, and peripheral blood plasma renin activity were improved 3 months after PTRA, neither the DMSA uptake of the affected kidneys nor that of the contralateral kidneys improved. Although restenosis occurred during the long follow-up period in one patient, DMSA uptake did not change in parallel with the degree of stenosis or RVRR. The degree of improvement in DMSA uptake, blood pressure, and plasma renin activity after PTRA in patients aged under 70 years was significantly higher than that in patients 70 years or older. Good improvement of renal function was attained in a 4-year-old boy, despite the fact that split renal function prior to PTRA was so poor that nephrectomy had been considered instead of PTRA. These results suggest that several factors before PTRA, such as DMSA uptake, degree of renal artery stenosis, and RVRR, are not absolutely predictive of results after PTRA, and that the effect of PTRA on blood pressure and renal function is greater in younger patients.

Upper urinary tract dynamics was evaluated using diuresis renography during full and empty reservoir in 14 patients (11 men, 3 women, 13-70 years old) with intestinal urinary reservoir or intestinal bladder augumentation. Types of operation were Mainz pouch urinary diversion 5, Mainz neobladder to urethra 5, Kock pouch urinary diversion 2, and Mainz bladder augumentation 2. Diuresis renography was performed using 99mTc-DTPA and furosemide during full and empty reservoir, and several parameters (Tmax, T75, T50, GFR) in addition to the patterns of renogram were evaluated. In the normal control, none of the parameters of the diuresis renogram with full bladder differed from those with empty bladder. In 5 of 14 patients, abnormal waves on cystometry (CMG) were found, and in 4 of these 5 patients, the patterns of diuresis renogram of full reservoir were worse than those of empty reservoir. However, the patterns of diuresis renogram of full reservoir were not different from those of empty reservoir in 9 patients without abnormal waves on CMG. In conclusion, renal injury may easily occur in patients with intestinal reservoir and abnormal waves on CMG.

A 46-year-old housewife with regurgitation of mitral valve developed acute renal failure due to acute thrombosis of bilateral renal arteries after cardiac catheterization. A regional fibrinolytic therapy using transarterial infusion of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) was performed at 8 h after the onset, and was successful. She could be taken off hemodialysis 2 weeks after the fibrinolytic therapy, and could be successfully operated on with mitral valve replacement 7 months after that. Three years after mitral valve replacement, her serum creatinine was 148 mumol/l. This is the longest follow-up case after regional transarterial fibrinolysis of acute thrombosis of renal artery using t-PA, and this therapy is a safe and good one for acute thrombosis of renal artery.

Intraurethral catheters (IUC) were used for elderly male patients with prostatic urethral obstruction (PUO) due to malignancy (MA) and benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). Thirty-three men complaining of urinary retention in spite of medical therapy at the risk for prostatic surgery underwent insertion of IUC (16Fr Puroflex, Angiomed Co., Ltd., Germany). Six of 33 were patients with PUO due to MA (5 prostatic cancer, and 1 urethral invasion of rectal cancer, mean 82.7 years old), and the other 27 were patients with BPH (average 80.1 years old). Follow-up period of the former ranged from 2 to 9 (mean 6.5) months, and that of the latter ranged from 6 to 23 months. Water filling cystometry (CMG) before the insertion of IUC and fluoroscopic voiding cystourethrography (VCU) just after insertion of IUC were performed. We defined normal CMG and normal VCU as normal bladder, overactive CMG and normal VCU as overactive bladder, and normal or poor sensitive CMG and underactive VCU as underactive bladder. Five of 27 BPH patients had previous prostatic operations (TUR-P, and/or balloon dilation), but 6 MA did not. All of MA (3 normal bladder, 2 overactive bladder, and 1 underactive bladder) voided satisfactorily, and average duration of IUC in place was 6.5 months without exchange of IUC. Although sixteen of 27 (59.3%) BPH patients voided satisfactorily, and average duration of IUC in place was 12.1 months without exchange of IUC, in the other 11 of these 27 BPH patients were removed IUC, and average duration of IUC in place was 4.7 weeks.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

At the age of three yr, a male patient had surgical treatment for bilateral vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), and at the age of 19 yr, he developed nephrotic syndrome because of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). His renal function deteriorated despite treatment with temocapril and aspirin, and dialysis treatment was started when he was 19. After nine yr of dialysis, he received a living kidney transplantation from his 58-yr-old father, who had a long history of hypertension. A graft biopsy before perfusion showed moderate arteriolosclerosis. As urine protein increased to 2.15 g/d at 16 months after kidney transplantation, the graft biopsy was performed again. FSGS lesion with severe arteriosclerosis was recognized under light microscope, while the effacement of podocyte foot processes was seldom observed. The alteration of calcineurin inhibitor from cyclosporine to tacrolimus, combined with the new administration of angiotensin receptor antagonist (valsartan) and aldosterone receptor blocker, successfully decreased the amount of urine protein to 0.8 g/d within two wk. We considered that the present case showed two distinct types of FSGS lesions--one because of VUR and the other because of cyclosporine arteriolopathy--in each native kidney and transplanted kidney.

Nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia (NOMI) is an infrequent and fatal disorder. We describe a 54-year-old man who developed NOMI during the peritransplant period following ABO-incompatible living-donor kidney transplantation, but who was successfully treated with his renal graft function unimpaired. Abdominal pain appeared on the sixth postoperative day (POD), and emergency surgery was performed on POD 8. Discontinuous segmental necrosis extended throughout the small intestine, and the necrotic segments were entirely removed. He thereafter had ischemia of the ascending colon, which was treated with colectomy, and prostaglandin E1 delivered through the related artery prevented advanced necrosis. Temporary colostomy was closed 20 months after surgery. He maintains excellent graft function at present without secondary disorder. There has been no ABO-incompatible kidney transplant recipient complicated with NOMI. However, patients with end-stage renal disease are at the highest risk for this lethal condition, and physicians and urologists should correctly recognize its diagnostics and therapeutics.

The lymphocyte immunosuppressant-sensitivity test (LIST) has been reported extensively as being able to estimate the pharmacological efficacy of immunosuppressive drugs in individual patients. This study measured the IC50 values for 6 drugs, cyclosporine, tacrolimus, methylprednisolone, 6-mercaptopurine, mycophenolic acid, and mizoribine, against mitogen-induced proliferation of peripheral-blood lymphocytes in 29 renal transplant recipients. We also examined relationship between the IC50 values and 4 factors; age, duration of dialysis, percentage of lymphocytes in total white blood cells, and blastogenesis stimulation index by mitogen. There were no significant correlations between the IC50 values and these factors, except that the tacrolimus IC50 value was correlated weakly with the stimulation index (p

We present the case of a young lady who developed renal cell carcinomas (RCC) in the allograft and bilateral native kidneys metachronously within one year. She received a living donor kidney transplantation from her father. A solid tumor of 4 cm in diameter was uncovered first in the allograft kidney 103 months after transplantation, and was treated with graftectomy. Six months after graftectomy, a right renal tumor measuring 3.5 cm and left renal tumors emerged in the native kidneys. She underwent laparoscopic right and left radical nephrectomy in separate sessions. The pathological diagnosis in the allograft and right renal tumors was clear cell RCC with eosinophilic cytoplasm and that in the left kidney was clear cell carcinoma. Fluorescence in situ hybridization and human leukocyte antigen typing showed that each tumor was most probably primary disease. She was free of disease 18 months postoperatively. This is the first report on RCC arising both in the allograft and bilateral native kidneys.

The results of several pre-operative localizing methods and pathological findings were compared in 11 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. 1. The accuracy rate was highest with selective blood sampling from the thyroid vein and MRI, which was 75% with both methods. The 3rd was dual photon scintigraphy, the accuracy rate being 62.5%. The 4th was ultrasonography, 57.1%, and the rate was lowest with CT, 25%. 2. MRI-a new localizing method-has a weak point that it cannot differentiate lymph nodes from parathyroid adenoma/hyperplasia. 3. Not to overlook small lesion of primary hyperplasia, several localizing methods should be performed before initial neck exploration.

1) 沢わさびおよび西洋わさびの特徴的な香気成分を逃すことなく濃縮できる凍結濃縮法を検討した.2)わさび類の酵素反応の時期について検討し,凍結粉砕物の水抽出物をそのまま凍結濃縮し,その後に酵素反応を行わせる方法が良いことが分かった.3) ω-メチルスルフィニルアルキルイソチオシアナート類は, ω-メチルチオアルキルイソチオシアナート類あるいは,それらの配糖体から酵素的に変換され生成することが分かった.

On 24 reno-ureteral units of 21 patients with a silicon ureteral stent, urodynamic study of the upper urinary tract was performed by diuresis radionuclide urography (DRU). We obtained the following conclusions. 1. A silicon stent was useful to maintain urinary stream in ureteral operation. 2. In extrinsic ureteral stricture due to pelvic malignant tumor, pattern of DRU was still poor after indwelling stent. 3. When a stent of the 5-8F's outer diameter was used for an adult, a too thick stent for the ureteral size might rather interrupt the urinary stream. 4. Patterns of DRU and GFR measured by Gates' method in the state of ureteral stenting could warns that hydronephrotic kidney may develop.

Urinary beta-2-microglobulin (beta 2-MG), urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), urinary creatinine (Cr) and serum creatinine level were measured in 79 patients with primary vesico-ureteral reflux. Comparing the data between conservatively treated group and operated group, between pre and post operation, we obtained the following conclusions: 1. From urinary beta 2-MG and NAG, renal tubular damage tended to increase in both conservatively treated group and operated group in proportion to the grade of reflux. But the degree of tubular damage was more severe in the conservatively treated group than in the operated group. 2. Tubular reabsorption ability was lower in the operated group than in the conservatively treated group. 3. In patients with severe tubular damage, improvement of tubular function was seen at the early stage after operation. 4. Anti-reflux operation was shown to be effective even in improving glomerular function.

Kidney transplantation has a powerful influence on the nutritional status of patients with end-stage renal disease. How to control diet varies in different races and periods after kidney transplantation. In general, malnutrition in patients with end-stage renal disease slowly recovers after kidney transplantation; however, several dietary interventions are required throughout the post transplant course. While hyperalimentation is warranted to control the hypercatabolic state immediately following the transplant operation, dietary restriction of protein, salt and calories is recommended to prevent life-style related diseases, which affect patient and graft survival. No consensus on dietary control in kidney transplant recipients has been reached yet. Herein, we present the nutritional status of Japanese kidney allograft recipients, discuss some unresolved nutritional problems and review the recent literature.

Kidney transplantation has a powerful influence on the nutritional status of patients with end-stage renal disease. How to control diet varies in different races and periods after kidney transplantation. In general, malnutrition in patients with end-stage renal disease slowly recovers after kidney transplantation; however, several dietary interventions are required throughout the post transplant course. While hyperalimentation is warranted to control the hypercatabolic state immediately following the transplant operation, dietary restriction of protein, salt and calories is recommended to prevent life-style related diseases, which affect patient and graft survival. No consensus on dietary control in kidney transplant recipients has been reached yet. Herein, we present the nutritional status of Japanese kidney allograft recipients, discuss some unresolved nutritional problems and review the recent literature.

Collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy is a recently recognized entity that is characterized by massive accumulation of collagen fibrils in the mesangial and subendothelial areas, and an elevated serum level of procollagen III peptide (PIIIP). We report the first case of a collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy patient who received a kidney transplantation. She received the kidney transplantation at the age of 18 years and the post-operative course was uneventful with good renal function on immunosuppression, which consisted of methylprednisolone, tacrolimus and basiliximab. Although urinary protein was negative, the serum level of PIIIP gradually elevated which suggests new collagen production in the graft. These findings indicate that the recipient had a systemic factor that stimulated collagen production. To investigate the prognosis of collagenofibrotic glomerulopathy, we carried out a questionnaire survey on 14 patients at 9 hospitals. None of these patients had received a kidney transplantation. However, 7 already had end-stage renal failure. Ten years after diagnosis, the renal survival rate was 49%. This rate is lower than cited in previous reports.

Summary Addition of interleukin-2 receptor antagonist (IL-2RA) induction to calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based regimens reduces biopsy-proven acute rejection by 30–40%. IL-2RA induction facilitates early withdrawal of steroids, and supports the safe use of reduced-exposure CNI or delayed CNI introduction. IL-2RAs and rabbit antithymocyte globulin (Thymoglobulin®) show comparable efficacy in patients at standard or low immunologic risk, but the adverse event profiles of lymphocyte-depleting agents are less favorable. IL-2RAs, uniquely, provide effective immunosuppression with similar tolerability to placebo.

Background. Complement 4d (C4d) deposition in the peritubular capillary (PTC) in the kidney allograft is a useful diagnostic marker for humoral rejection. C4d is produced not only by the classical pathway but also by the lectin pathway of the complement activation cascade. We have recently reported the in situ role of the later phase of the complement cascade in renal allografts with C4d deposition; however, the initial process prior to C4d deposition is yet to be resolved. Methods. To clarify the early phases of the complement activation cascade, we evaluated the deposition of initial proteins of the above two pathways; IgG, IgM, mannose-binding lectin (MBL), H-ficolin, L-ficolin, MBL-associated serine protease (MASP)-1 and MASP-2 in kidney allografts with PTC C4d deposition. Results. Sixty kidney allograft specimens were divided into two groups on the basis of the presence of C4d deposition in PTC. The C4d-positive group (n ¼ 18) included nine ABO-identical and nine ABOincompatible cases, and the C4d-negative group (n ¼ 42) had 34 ABO-identical and eight ABOcompatible (but not identical) cases. In the C4dpositive group, 16 of 18 cases showed diffuse H-ficolin and IgM deposition in PTC. In contrast, H-ficolin and IgM were not detected in PTC in the C4d-negative group. Other initial proteins were not detected in all cases. Conclusions. Our study suggested for the first time that the lectin pathway activated by H-ficolin may be involved in C4d deposition on PTC in the kidney allograft.

Background: We have been making continuous efforts in ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation since 1989 to expand the opportunities for kidney transplantation from living donors in Japan. Patients and method: From the Japanese registry, we reviewed the long-term patient and graft survival of ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation. This survey focused on 564 patients who received ABO-incompatible kidney grafts from January 1989 to December 2003 in whom monitoring follow-up could be achieved in 60 institutions all over Japan. The mean age of 367 (65%) male and 197 (35%) female patients at surgery was 34.5 yr. Pre-operative anti-A/B antibody (Ab) removal and splenectomy (n=553, 98%) were routinely performed combined with triple or quadruple immunosuppression using calcinurine inhibitor (CNI), anti-metabolites and steroids with or without deoxyspurgualin (DSG) or anti-lymphocyte Abs. Results: The overall patient survival rate at 1, 3, 5 and 10 yr after transplantation was 94, 91, 88 and 81%, with overall graft survival rates of 86, 82, 74 and 53%, respectively. The graft survival rate was significantly higher in patients aged 29 and younger compared with those aged 30 and older. Children aged 15 or younger in particular have shown excellent graft survival rates at 1, 3, 5 and 10 yr of 90, 90, 86 and 76%, respectively. Patients with anticoagulation therapy (n=285) showed a significantly higher graft survival rate than those without anticoagulation (n=213), with 10-yr graft survival rates of 59 vs. 48%. There were no significant differences between A and B incompatibility with respect to clinical outcomes. There were also no significant difference in numbers of human leukocyte antigen mismatches, induction and maintenance CNI (cyclosporin A (CYA) vs. tacrolimus) and donor/recipient relationships with respect to the outcomes. We divided the patients into five groups according to the transplanted year periods. The outcome of the most recent 124 cases since 2001 had dramatically improved, with 2-yr graft survival of 94%, and there is a significant difference between the groups in 2001 onwards and the other four groups. Conclusion: This study confirms that the long-term outcome of ABO-incompatible living kidney transplantation is excellent and is similar to that of ABO-compatible cases. Recent data show that short-term graft survival has also improved. ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation is a radical, but safe and effective, treatment choice for end-stage renal disease.

Owing to the severe shortage of cadaveric grafts in Japan, we have performed ABO-incompatible living donor kidney transplantation since 1989. This study assessed short- and long-term outcomes in 441 patients who received ABO-incompatible living donor kidney transplants between January 1989 and December 2001. We compared our results with historical data from 1055 recipients of living kidney transplantation. Overall patient survival rates 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 years after ABO-incompatible transplantation were 93%, 89%, 87%, 85%, and 84%, respectively. Corresponding overall graft survival rates were 84%, 80%, 71%, 65%, and 59%. After ABO-incompatible transplantation, graft survival rates were significantly higher in patients 29 years or younger than in those 30 years or older and in patients who received anticoagulation therapy than in those who did not receive such therapy. There were no significant differences between A-incompatible and B-incompatible recipients with respect to clinical outcomes. The graft survival rate at 1 year in the historical controls was slightly but not significantly higher than that in our recipients of ABO-incompatible transplants. We conclude that long-term outcome in recipients of ABO-incompatible living kidneys is excellent. Transplantation of ABO-incompatible kidneys from living donors is a radical, but effective treatment for end-stage renal disease.

In order to evaluate the activation or inhibition of the later phases of classical complement cascade in renal allograft presenting with acute rejection, particularly with C4d deposition on the peritubular capillary (PTC), we observed the expression of CD59 and C5b-9 on the PTC. Subjective cases were divided into two groups, an acute rejection group, of 4 males and 6 females, and a normal donor group, of 5 males and 5 females. Renal biopsies were performed at the onset of acute rejection and at the transplant operation, before reperfusion. C4d deposition on PTC was found in three of 10 cases (30%) with biopsy proven acute rejection, whereas CD59 on PTC was positively expressed in all of the rejection cases. Although C5b-9 was not observed on PTC in the acute rejection group, it was intensively deposited on the tubular basement membrane (TBM) in five cases, including the three with positive C4d on PTC. In the normal donor group, CD59 on PTC was intensively observed, whereas C5b-9 was weakly expressed on TBM. CD59, a complement regulatory factor, works as an inhibitory factor against the formation of C5b-9, a membrane attack complex. From our data, we noted the dissociation between the depositions of C4d and C5b-9 on PTC. The substantially expressed CD59 on PTC may affect this dissociation between C4d and C5b-9 on PTC. The intensive deposition of C5b-9 on TBM in acute rejection cases may suggest an independent immunological injury attacking tubular cells.

Nitric oxide (NO) has been suggested to have polar roles in carcinogenesis with both antitumor and tumor promoting activity, and the status of NO synthase (NOS) in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has not yet been completely elucidated.We investigated the expression and induction of inducible NOS (iNOS) in RCC specimens and cell lines, respectively.Although the expression of iNOS was not observed in primary lesions or in metastatic sites, it was found in 6 cases of 11 tumor thrombi. The cause-specific survival rate of patients with iNOS-positive tumor thrombi was lower than that of patients with iNOS-negative tumor thrombi, showing borderline significance. iNOS-mRNA and protein were expressed in A498 and A704 RCC cells under hypoxic conditions.iNOS is suggested to be a significant molecule for RCC to acquire not only hypoxic adaptation but also the ability to invade into veins and form tumor thrombi.

Seventeen patients were given lower dose and intermittent oral administration of estramustine phosphate (6 mg/kg/day) and etoposide (30 mg/m2/day) for 7 days. Then administration was discontinued for 7 days. This administration cycle was repeated. Therapy was continued until evidence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurred. Fifteen of the 17 patients were finally evaluated for PSA response. Overall, the pretreatment PSA levels were lowered at least 50% from baseline in 7 (47%) of the 15 patients. The median survival was 65 weeks. Five of the 17 patients complained of anorexia or nausea during the treatment, but none of them showed over grade 2 anorexia, none requiring transfusion or hospitalization. None of the patients showed edema, deep venous thrombosis, thrombocytopenia, anemia or myocardial infarction. Because of its rare and mild adverse effects, this intermittent administration of oral estramustine and oral etoposide may be a useful and secure regimen for hormone refractory prostate cancer.

Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) are considered to be a primary target for injury in allograft rejection. However, the relationship between serum antibody activity to ECs and rejection episodes has not been examined extensively in renal transplantation. Twenty-two renal transplant recipients were included in this study. Serum antibody activity to vascular endothelial cells (AECA) was measured using a cellular enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in which human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human glomerular endothelial cells (HGEC) were preincubated with TNF-alpha used as target cells. Serum samples were obtained just before transplantation and once a week during the immediate 1-3-month post-transplantation period. There was a significant correlation between the presence of AECA against HGEC and rejection episodes (P0.05). Patients with multi-episodes of rejection showed significantly higher frequencies of AECA than patients with mono-episodic rejection (P0.0005). It should be noted that patients suffering from multi-episodes of rejection revealed higher AECA titres before transplantation. These findings imply that the HGEC-ELISA could be used as a prospective, informative test to identify patients with a higher risk of acute rejection in renal transplantation.

The T1 and T2 of kidneys in 5 normal volunteers and 27 patients with renal tumors were evaluated preoperatively using a magnetic resonance imager with a 0.1 T resistive electromagnet, and the T1 and T2 of the renal tumors were compared with the pathological findings: (i) the T1 and T2 of the normal renal medulla were longer than those of the normal renal cortex and psoas muscle; (ii) both T1 and T2 of renal pelvic cancer (RPC) were shorter than those of renal cell cancer (RCC, p0.05); (iii) the T2 values of RPC were significantly shorter than those of renal medulla (p0.01); (iv) the T1 and T2 of the normal renal cortex of subjects50 years old were shorter than those of subjectsor = 50 years old (p0.05 and p0.01, respectively). These findings suggest that preoperative evaluation of the pathological findings of renal tumors may be possible by calculating the relaxation time using MRI under low magnetic field.

An experimental reconstruction of the urinary bladder using specially designed bovine cross linked atelocollagen sponge was performed after partial cystectomy in 12 male rabbits. Bladder reconstruction with hybrid type biomaterials using both atelocollage sponge and cultured autologous cells were performed in 5 rabbits (the 1st group). The autologous cells were collected from the mucosa and muscular layer of the urinary bladder and were seeded on the atelocollagen sponge before reconstruction. Reconstruction using atelocollagen sponge without autologous cells were performed in the other 7 rabbits (the 2nd group). In 9 of these 12 rabbits, atelocollagen sponge was successfully implanted in the native urinary bladder. Histopathological findings revealed that seeded autologous cells and growth of surrounding host cells could be seen similarly in the atelocollagen sponge but these could not be differentiated by these could not be differentiated by routine histopathological techniques. In conclusion, these results showed a possibility of construction of artificial urinary tract using both atelocollagen sponge and autologous cells.

31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of the in situ rat kidney was performed by a surface coil method, and the effects of ischemia and furosemide infusion were assessed. 31P NMR spectra of the kidney subjected to 30 min of ischemia returned completely to the pre-ischemic level after 60 min of reperfusion. But the 31P NMR spectra after 60 min of ischemia did not recover, even after 120 min of reperfusion. Levels of beta-ATP and inorganic phosphate (Pi) decreased and the chemical shift of Pi increased after intravenous infusion of furosemide. This increase in chemical shift might signal an alkalotic change in intracellular pH. Furosemide infusion prior to ischemia is thought to protect the kidney from injury induced by 60 min of warm ischemia. The chemical shift of Pi returned to the pre-ischemic level earlier than beta-ATP and Pi. In conclusion, according to the findings of 31P NMR spectroscopy, furosemide infusion prior to ischemia may be effective in protecting the kidney against ischemic injury. But the change in Pi peak and the causes of the dissociation of Pi and beta-ATP should be examined further.

The effect of double Malecot type polyurethane intraurethral catheter (IUC) was examined in 17 benign prostatic hypertrophy patients who were unfit for operation and suffered from urinary retention. Patients were aged 68 to 90 (mean 80.5) years old and the causes of IUC insertion were cardiac, cerebrovascular, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, diabetes mellitus and aging. IUC was selected among three types (55, 60, 65 mm) according to the length of prostatic urethra. Insertion of IUC was carried out easily under fluoroscopic guidance without endoscopy. All patients could void by themselves just after insertion of IUC and the longest indwelling period was 10 months. The length of IUC need not be longer than that of prostatic urethra and patients with normal or hypertonic bladder could void better than those with atonic bladder. Urinary tract infection did not get worse in any patients with indwelling IUC. Double Malecot type polyurethane IUC is a safe and an effective alternative method in place of urethral balloon catheter for inoperable prostatic hypertrophy patients in urinary retention.