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We report two cases of young women with a solid pseudo-papillary tumor of the pancreas which having cystic and hemorrhagic components with marked calcification on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed abnormally increased accumulation of F- 18 fluorodeoxyglucose in the pancreas tail tumors, especially in the non-calcified solid portion of the tumors. These patients underwent elective resection of the masses and distal pancreatectomy and were diagnosed with solid pseudo-papillary tumors by histopathological analysis. There was no evidence of distant metastasis on follow-up after surgery and they showed no histopathological findings suggesting malignancy. These cases suggest that solid pseudo-papillary tumor may show high uptake of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose.

Purpose To determine the role of proton therapy in patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Methods and materials Between 1983 and 1991, 25 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix (stages IIB–IVA) were treated with a curative intent by external photon irradiation to the pelvis, followed by proton irradiation to the primary tumor, delivering a median total tumor dose of 86 Gy (range 71 Gy/26 Fr–101 Gy/46 Fr), and were followed for a median period of 139 months (range 11–184 months). Results Ten-year overall survival rates for stages IIB and IIIB/IVA patients were 89% and 40%, respectively. Five-year local control rates for stages IIB and IIIB/IVA patients were 100% and 61%, respectively. Four percent of patients experienced severe (Grade 4 or more) late complications in the intestine or urinary bladder at 5 years. Conclusions External photon and proton therapy is effective for those who are not eligible for intracavitary irradiation, and who otherwise have a poor prognosis. The results show that tumor control, survival, and morbidity are similar to those after conventional therapy.

To evaluate clinical results of proton beam therapy for patients with skull base chordoma.Thirteen patients with skull base chordoma who were treated with proton beams with or without X-rays at the University of Tsukuba between 1989 and 2000 were retrospectively reviewed. A median total tumor dose of 72.0 Gy (range, 63.0-95.0 Gy) was delivered. The patients were followed for a median period of 69.3 months (range, 14.6-123.4 months).The 5-year local control rate was 46.0%. Cause-specific, overall, and disease-free survival rates at 5 years were 72.2%, 66.7%, and 42.2%, respectively. The local control rate was higher, without statistical significance, for those with preoperative tumors30 mL. Partial or subtotal tumor removal did not yield better local control rates than for patients who underwent biopsy only as the latest surgery.Proton beam therapy is effective for patients with skull base chordoma, especially for those with small tumors. For a patient with a tumor of30 mL with no prior treatment, biopsy without tumor removal seems to be appropriate before proton beam therapy.

Radiation hepatitis is clearly demonstrated by noncontrast and contrast enhanced CT following radiotherapy for liver diseases. Radiation hepatitis is dependent on dose distribution and is usually demonstrated as nonsegmental bandlike lesion after photon therapy. We report a case of focused, oval-shaped radiation hepatitis that was induced by photon therapy. The attenuation difference was localized in a high-dose area caused by Bragg-peak proton therapy. 17 refs., 2 figs.

To evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of proton therapy for head and neck cancers. From 1983 to 2000, 33 patients with head and neck malignancies but no history of surgical resection were treated with 250-MeV protons with or without X-ray irradiation. This study retrospectively evaluated local control, survival, and treatment sequelae of these patients. The median total target dose using protons with or without X-rays was 76 Gy (range: 42–99 Gy) and the median proton dose per fraction 2.8 Gy (range: 1.5–6.0 Gy). Overall 5-year survival and local control rates were 44% and 74%, respectively. One (3%) and six patients (18%) suffered from treatment-related acute and late toxicity > grade 3 (RTOG/EORTC acute and late radiation morbidity scoring criteria). One patient with a history of radiotherapy suffered from acute toxicity > grade 3. Proton therapy appeared to offer high local control rates with few toxicities relative to conventional radiotherapy. However, late toxicity was seen in areas where large radiation doses had been given.

Although it is documented that radiation can cause density or intensity changes on computed tomography or MR imaging in the irradiated hepatic parenchyma, few researchers have reported or understood the MR presentation of changes in hepatic parenchyma following radiotherapy in the patient with Budd-Chiari syndrome. The purpose of this study was to investigate the MR appearance of hepatic radiation injury in Budd-Chiari syndrome and to consider the underlying pathophysiology.The MR examinations of two patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome were compared with those of 11 patients without Budd-Chiari syndrome. The two groups, both of which suffered from hepatocellular carcinoma, underwent 50-72 Gy of proton-beam irradiation during a period of 14-43 days. Examinations including T1- and T2-weighted imaging, superparamagnetic iron oxide-enhanced imaging, and dynamic study were performed 3-10 weeks after the end of irradiation.Radiation-induced hepatic injury was observed as a low-intensity area on T2-weighted images and on delayed phase images of dynamic study in the Budd-Chiari patients, and as iso- or high-intensity areas on both images in the patients without Budd-Chiari syndrome. US-guided needle biopsy from the irradiated area in one patient with Budd-Chiari syndrome revealed mostly necrotic tissue and fibrous tissue.These MR features of hepatic radiation injury in Budd-Chiari syndrome were considered to be due to severe hepatic fibrosis.

High-performance laminated sputtered Sendust (LSS) video heads with high abrasion resistance have been realized by using a newly developed CaO-TiO/sub 2/-NiO ceramic substrate. For acceptable head abrasion for practical use of 15 mu m, head life is more than 1000 h at more than 20 m/s relative tape-head speed. Low magnetostriction Sendust films provide high reproduce voltage for the head. The LSS head, with CaO-TiO/sub 2/-NiO substrate, has sufficient performance for use as high-definition television (HDTV) video tape recorder (VTR) heads. >

BodyMap is a collection of site-directed 3′ expressed sequence tags (ESTs) (gene signatures, GSs) that contains the transcript compositions of various human tissues and was the first systematic effort to acquire gene expression data. For the construction of BodyMap, cDNA libraries were made, preserving abundance information and histologic resolutions of tissue mRNAs. By sequencing 164,000 randomly selected clones, 88,587 GSs that represent chromosomally coded transcripts have been collected from 51 human organs and tissues. They were clustered into 18,722 independent 3′ termini from transcripts, and more than 3000 of these were not found among ESTs assembled in UniGene (Build 75). Assessment of the prevalence of polyadenylation signals and comparison with GenBank cDNAs indicated that there was no significant contamination by internally primed cDNAs or genomic fragments but that there was a relatively high incidence (12%) of alternative polyadenylation sites. We evaluated the sensitivity and resolution of expression information in BodyMap by in silico Northern hybridization and selection of tissue-specific gene probes. BodyMap is a unique resource for estimation of the absolute abundance of transcripts and selection of gene probes for efficient hybridization-based gene expression profiling. [BodyMap data are available at http://bodymap.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp.]

The objective of this study was to describe magnetic resonance (MR) findings with a 1.5T imager for hepatic parenchymal changes after proton beam radiotherapy. Thirty-two patients who received proton radiotherapy with doses of 50-87 Gy underwent MR imaging 1-75 months (mean 22 months) after the start of irradiation. Axial T(2), T(1)-weighted imaging, and a dynamic study after a gadolinium injection were performed. The irradiated areas showed hypointense in T(1)-weighted images, hyperintense in T(2)-weighted images, and intense and prolonged enhancement on the dynamic study (maximum relative enhancement 441.8%+/-263.3 vs. surrounding liver 145.6%+/-67.7, p0.0001). T(2) values of the irradiated areas were 50.6 to 65.8 msec greater than in the surrounding liver (p0.005). The values increased with time, being significantly greater 13 months or longer after the beginning of the therapy than after a period of less than 3 months (p0.05). Pathologic examinations (n = 3) indicated that the irradiated areas were composed of collapsed lobules with hepatic small vein occlusions, and rich extracellular matrices which retained extracellular fluid. MR imaging can demonstrate hepatic parenchymal changes after proton beam radiotherapy, and show the changes are irreversible.

Background: A prospective study was performed to investigate combined treatment with intra-arterial chemotherapy and radiation therapy for bladder preservation in locally invasive bladder cancer. Methods: Patients with invasive bladder cancer, stage T2–3N0M0, were included in the study. Intra-arterial chemotherapy was performed with three injections of methotrexate and cisplatin at 3-week intervals. Simultaneously, the patients underwent X-ray irradiation (40 Gy) of the small pelvic space. Where a post-treatment transurethral resection (TUR) biopsy showed no residual tumor, the tumor site was irradiated by a 30 Gy proton beam and the bladder was preserved. Where tumors remained, radical cystectomy was performed. Results: Between 1990 and 1996, 42 patients were treated according to this protocol. Post-treatment TUR biopsy and urine cytology showed no residual tumors in 39 of 42 cases (93%). The bladder was preserved in accordance with the study protocol in 36 cases. A median follow-up of 38 months showed 3-year non-recurrence in 72% of bladder-preserved patients and the rate of bladder preservation was 84%. The nine recurrences included eight cases of superficial bladder recurrence. One cancer death occurred among the bladder-preservation patients, giving 3-year survival and cause-specific survival rates of 84% and 100%, respectively. Although bladder function decreased slightly in compliance, bladder capacity was retained in almost all cases. Conclusions: This regimen is useful for bladder preservation in T2–3 locally invasive bladder cancer. Information from more cases and the results of more long-term observations are needed, as is an evaluation of appropriate subject selection and factors associated with quality of life issues, particularly regarding bladder function.

Background Proton-beam radiotherapy (PBT) has been shown to be effective to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as a nonsurgical local treatment option. However, HCC still remains as one of the most difficult cancers to be cured because of frequent recurrences. Thus, methods to inhibit the recurrence need to be explored. To prevent the HCC recurrence, we here report on a prospective phase I study of ‘in situ’ tumor vaccination using CalTUMP, a newly developed immunoadjuvant consisting of BCG extract bound to hydroxyapatite and microparticulated tuberculin, following local PBT for HCC. Methods Patients with locally advanced recurrent HCC, which had been heavily pretreated with various treatments, were enrolled. PBT was performed with the conventional method to the target HCC. Subsequently, CalTUMP was injected into the same irradiated-tumor three times at one-week intervals. Three dose-levels of CalTUMP (1/10, 1/3, and 1/1) were administered to 3 patients each. Vital signs, blood samples, ultrasound, and computed tomographic scans were monitored to evaluate the safety. Results Three intratumoral injections of CalTUMP following PBT (median dose: 72.6 GyE) were accomplished in 9 patients. Transient low-grade fever and minor laboratory changes were observed in 7 patients after CalTUMP injections. No other treatment-related adverse events were observed. Median progression-free survival was 6.0 months (range: 2.1-14.2) and 4 patients were progression-free for more than 1 year. Conclusions Intratumoral injection of CalTUMP following PBT was feasible and safe in patients with heavily pre-treated HCC. Further clinical studies to evaluate the efficacy of this in situ tumor vaccination are warranted.

Clearance of a parenchymal tumor following radiotherapy was determined by using follow-up CT scans of 18 hepatocellular carcinoma tumors treated with focused proton beams. Regression analysis of the daily decrement ( DD ) and the diameter ( D ) of a tumor mass in each CT observation interval, DD=a∗Db, showed that the exponent b was 3.0 or larger in early periods and 2.0 or smaller in late periods. This suggests that the clearance depends initially on the tumor volume, subsequently on the tumor surface area, and then it becomes much more moderate, possibly due to radiation damage to the parenchymal tissues.

median OS was 35 months (95% CI: 29,3-40,6). There were significant differents in PFS between patients who underwent surgery of metastases versus non-operated (p = 0.001) by Log-Rank test. Conclusions: Neoadyuvant RCT is feasible approach for metastatic rectal cancer, offering good outcomes in-field tumor control, survival and low toxicity profile. Further investigation is warranted in order to define their integration into the multimodality treatment in this patient population.

Fifteen patients with esophageal carcinoma (superficial, six cases; advanced, nine cases) were treated with 250 MeV proton beam irradiation with or without external x-ray irradiation (12 MV linear accelerator) from October, 1985, to May, 1991. Eleven patients were initially treated with x-ray at doses of 16.2-50.4 (mean 42.5) Gy, followed by proton beam at doses of 30.0-52.9 (mean 37.6) Gy. The other four patients were treated with proton beams alone at total doses of 75.0-88.5 (mean 81.4) Gy. The mean total dose for the 15 patients was 80.4 Gy. As a result, the primary tumor lesions of all 15 patients disappeared and complete responses were obtained. Approximately four to five months later, nine of the 15 patients developed esophageal ulcer formations at the circumferences of their primary lesions. The ulcerations were healed, however, by conservative management. There was no evidence of local recurrence throughout the observations on six cases of superficial carcinoma. Among nine advanced carcinoma patients, three relapsed into esophageal carcinoma. Recurrences were observed eight, 16 and 44 months, respectively, after the treatment. Ten of the 15 patients died, but eight died of other diseases. Three of four cases at autopsy did not show any cancer cells in irradiated primary lesions. Four of the 15 patients lived for over five years. The results suggest that a high dose of irradiation delivered by a well-defined proton field could result in improved local control and long-term survival in esophageal carcinoma without undue risk of injury to primary and adjacent organs.

The radiation tolerance of the liver was investigated in 12 patients, 11 of them with liver cirrhosis, treated for hepatocellular carcinoma by partial liver irradiation with doses between 50 and 77 Gy. The tolerance was assessed by the complication probability (Lyman's model), which concerned the injured tissue itself, and by a prediction score used for postsurgical liver failure, which concerned the preserved functional capacity, assuming that the > or = 30 Gy volume was equivalent to the resected volume. The prediction score corresponded better with the observed risk of fatal liver failure than the complication probability. The liver volume after radiotherapy correlated largely with the untreated volume and the low-dose volume. Thus the preserved functional capacity gives a better expression of the radiation tolerance than direct measures of the extent of injured tissue.

A laminated Fe-Ta-N video head for high frequency operation has been investigated at 18.5 m/s head tape speed with high coercivity (>1500 Oe) metal tapes. Compared with the same design laminated Sendust head, the Fe-Ta-N head shows more than 3 dB higher C/N, at least 1.5 dB superior recording capability in the range from 1 MHz up to 50 MHz, and higher reproducing capability in the high frequency range above 20 MHz. The head magnetization observation, using a scanning Kerr effect microscope (SKEM), revealed that the outstanding read/write characteristics result from permeability response for the Fe-Ta-N film in the high frequency region. The laminated Fe-Ta-N heads were found to be the best suited for high data transfer rate recording systems, especially for digital video cassette recorders. >

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is generally sensitive to chemoradiotherapy (CRT), but some cases are not. Using a retrospective analysis, we aimed to identify the predictors of the response by esophageal squamous cell carcinoma to definitive CRT.The intensities of expression of p53, Ki67, Bcl-2, Bax, cyclin D1, VEGF, CDC25B, and metallothionein (MT) were evaluated immunohistochemically in the biopsy specimens obtained before CRT, and the intensities of their expression were tested for correlations with the clinical effects of CRT.The esophageal squamous cell carcinomas with negative p53, positive CDC25B, and negative MT expression were found to be significantly more sensitive to CRT. In addition, p53 positivity and CDC25B positivity respond well to CRT.Esophageal squamous cell carcinomas with negative p53, positive CDC25B, and negative MT expressions respond well to CRT. Even with p53 positivity, if with CDC25B positivity, CRT can be expected.

We performed a numerical study of the two-dimensional pattern formation of InGaN driven by a phase separation using the cell dynamical system (CDS) approach to reveal the detailed nature of a self-assembled InGaN dot-like structure showing characteristic optical properties. We calculated two-dimensional pattern formations under various conditions. First, over a wide In compositional range (0

The read/write characteristics of a double-layered perpendicular magnetic recording medium were examined by using a combination of a single-pole-type write head and a magnetoresistive read head (SPT write / MR read), and a conventional merged ring type inductive / MR head (RT write / MR read). By differential equalization of the reproduced voltage, the STP/MR head combination had high density recording capability, compared with the RT/MR head. Bit error rate through PR(1) signal processing was evaluated for the SPT/MR head combination and the RT/MR head. It is clarified that bit error rate for the SPT/MR head combination and the RT/MR head. The bit error rate less than 10-6 at 3 Gb/inch2 was obtained for the SPT/MR head combination.

Subjects for recording densities of 10Gbt/in2 - 30Gb/in2 are discussed, for longitudinal and perpendicular recording. Read-write specifications are estimated for their high recording densities. Reproducing outputs above 1mVpp/μm for magnetic heads are required. Correlation between magnetic media properties and recording densities are calculated for 10 - 30 Gb/in2 densities. Noise characteristics subjects and thermal instabilities are discussed for longitudinal recording media and perpendicular recording media.

Background/Aims The liver has a tremendous ability to hypertrophy in compensation for acute parenchymal loss by surgical hepatectomy and possibly by radiotherapy. This ability, however, is impaired in the cirrhotic liver and therefore major hepatectomy is even precluded from a treatment of choice for hepatoma. Radiotherapy can be an alternative treatment of hepatoma and the ability to hypertrophy will be a major determinant of radiation tolerance. The aim of this study is to determine the ability of the cirrhotic liver to hypertrophy following radiotherapy. Materials and Methods Thirty-two series of CT scans of hepatoma patients with cirrhotic livers were used. These tumors were treated by proton beam radiotherapy of doses ranged from 72 to 84 Gy +/_ chemoembolization therapy. The tumors were selectively irradiated leaving most part of the non-tumorous liver intact. A minimum follow-up period was 12 months after initiation of radiotherapy. The total liver volume and the treated liver volume (recognized as an area of altered density after radiotherapy) were measured to examine a change of liver volume. Results The total liver volume decreased mostly over half a year after radiotherapy and then tended to increase moderately. The treated liver volume continued to decrease even 12 months after radiotherapy. This change of both liver volume was smaller in more severely cirrhotic livers, Conclusions The cirrhotic liver certainly hypertrophys in response to radiotherapy, although it occurs rather moderately and slowly.

局所進行非小細胞癌71例を対象として, 切除の根治性, 縦隔リンパ節転移部位数などの観点から術後照射の意義を検討した.39例に照射が行われたが, 39Gy以上照射されたものは30例であった. 相対的治癒切除例では局所再発率の低下, 遠隔成績の向上に照射が貢献しており, その再発様式から2ヶ所以上に縦隔リンパ節転移があった場合は, 鎖骨上窩も照射野に含める必要があると考えられた. しかし術後病巣遺残例では照射を企図あるいは完遂できなかったものが多く, 予後不良であった.