Publications by authors named "Kazuko Watanabe"

A 73-year-old male presented with an abnormal chest x-ray revealing ground-glass opacity (GGO) in the left lower lung field, accompanied by elevated KL-6, SP-D, and GM-CSF antibody levels, indicative of autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP). Initial bronchoalveolar lavage and transbronchial lung biopsy revealed only nonspecific findings. During a CT-guided needle aspiration biopsy (CT-NAB), real-time imaging showed that GGO gradually moved and shifted with positional changes.

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Advance care planning (ACP) is important to determine the wishes of patients before they lose decision-making capacity. However, Japanese people are often reluctant to have end-of-life discussions. This study aims to develop and categorize an end-of-life preference list in the Japanese context to encourage dialog about ACP for healthcare providers and patients.

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A 30-year-old nulligravida was referred under suspicion of large subserosal myoma. T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging revealed multilobulated solid mass in the left lower abdomen measuring 16 cm in longitudinal diameter. The ovarian surface was covered with a marked T2-hypointense thick rim called "black garland sign," forming multiple nodular masses ranging from 1 to 5 cm in diameter in some portions of the bilateral ovaries.

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating motor disease with limited treatment options. A domestic fungal extract library was screened using three assays related to the pathophysiology of ALS with the aim of developing a novel ALS drug. 2(3H)-dihydrofuranolactones 1 and 2, and five known compounds 3-7 were isolated from Pleosporales sp.

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Background: Hormonally active ovarian tumors include a variety of pathologies such as sex-cord-stromal tumors, germ cell tumors, tumors with neuroendocrine differentiation, and tumors with functioning stroma. In addition, although the precise mechanism is unknown, epithelial ovarian cancers can be associated with elevated serum estrogen levels on rare occasions.

Case: A 56-year-old postmenopausal woman (gravida 3, para 3) with a history of hyperlipidemia was referred due to the discovery of a heterogenous right adnexal mass after presenting to her physician with genital bleeding and nipple discharge associated with breast tension.

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Background: Some patients with minor cognitive impairment can revert to normal cognition if intervention is implemented early. Dance video games as multi-task training have shown beneficial effects on cognitive and physical functions in older adults.

Aims: This study aimed to elucidate the effects of dance video game training on cognitive functions and prefrontal cortex activity in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment.

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A 32-year-old woman with no previous disease history was presented with worsening right-lower abdominal pain, which lasted for 4 days. On magnetic resonance imaging, a solid mass measuring 48 mm in longitudinal diameter connected with a tortuous structure that appeared to be a fallopian tube was identified in the right-lower abdomen. Because the right ovary was identified at a slightly distant location, isolated fallopian tube torsion with heterogeneous mass was suspected.

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In a 53-year-old woman who had a surgical diagnosis of grade 3 endometrioid carcinoma (pT1aN0M0, FIGO 1A), adjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin was initiated. However, after the completion of fourth cycle, the patient refused to continue the treatment. At 12 months after surgery, local recurrence was noted near the left posterior portion of the vaginal stump.

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Comprehensive genetic panel testing generally requires that the analyzed tissues have a percent tumor nuclei (%TN) content of 20% or more to achieve assay performance comparable to the validated specifications. Pathologists play a crucial role in ensuring that the optimal results are achieved by accurately assigning %TN content of the available specimens and selecting the best material to submit for sequencing. This study addresses the issues in evaluating %TN, such as intraobserver variability, and examines whether focused training and feedback can improve pathologist performance.

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Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma (PPC) is resistant to anticancer drug treatment, outcomes are poor, and no standard therapy has been established. High PD-L1 expression has been found in PPCs, suggesting the possible efficacy of an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) in cancer immunotherapy; however, this approach requires further investigation through case accumulation. Herein, we report a case of rapid recurrence and progression of PPC early after surgery in a 70-year-old male ex-smoker.

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A 41-year-old woman (gravida 2, para 1) underwent elective termination of pregnancy at approximately 7 weeks of gestation. At 1 month after the elective abortion, she was referred due to abnormal results in a cervical cytological examination. Transvaginal ultrasonography showed a heterogeneous mass of 16 mm in diameter in the left adnexal region.

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Chronic expanding hematoma (CEH) is a rare disease that can develop in any region of the body, but it most frequently develops in the thorax. When intrathoracic CEH is left untreated, gradually expanding hematoma can be life-threatening, leading to respiratory failure or hemoptysis. We encountered an 89-year-old man with cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival.

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Study Objective: To examine whether peritoneal washings during laparoscopic-assisted myomectomy with in-bag manual tissue extraction can contain spilled leiomyoma cell sheets.

Design: Retrospective observational study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).

Setting: Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Diagnostic Pathology at a general hospital.

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A 45-year-old multipara woman was referred due to the rapid enlargement of an asymptomatic pelvic mass that was detected during a regular check up. She had undergone laparoscopic-assisted myomectomy 15 years previously. At the time, the uncontained extraction of an intraligamental myoma with electric power morcellation had been performed.

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A 53-year-old obese woman was referred because of sudden onset of dyspnea and chronic vaginal bleeding. In addition to severe anemia, multiple pulmonary emboli were identified. Pelvic imaging showed an irregular-shaped mass in the region of the endocervix extending to the lower uterine segment.

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Sudden death due to massive hemoptysis during management of tuberculosis occurs in a considerable number of patients. However, when massive airway hemorrhage occurs in a patient in whom tuberculosis has not been confirmed and a blood is not apparent externally on the face/body, it is difficult to immediately identify the cause of death as airway obstruction by tuberculous bleeding in the airway. We encountered an 83-year-old Japanese woman with her medical history included treatment of tuberculosis in her 20s who was in cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival (CPAOA), and the cause of sudden death could not initially be identified.

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A 63-year-old woman presented with abnormal vaginal bleeding. Her disease history was significant, and included advanced lung adenocarcinoma with a deletion mutation in exon 19 of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, which was managed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy, followed by molecular targeted therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for a two-year period. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed the enlargement of a previously suspicious myoma node, with peripheral enhancement.

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Article Synopsis
  • Promoting advance care planning in regional areas is crucial, and the EFIELD program was designed to educate Advance Care Planning Facilitators but faced challenges in implementation.
  • Research aimed to assess the feasibility of a condensed one-day program, documenting the process and evaluating effectiveness across seven local hospitals.
  • Key findings revealed that simplifying content helped trainers be more effective, and local groups supported the initiative, indicating that a shorter, one-day program is a viable option in regional settings.
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Background: Gynandroblastoma is an extremely rare ovarian sex cord tumor with malignant potential.

Case: An 18-year-old adolescent experienced intermittent vaginal bleeding. A year later, a right adnexal mass with a heterogeneous imaging appearance was identified.

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Study Objective: To evaluate the safety and feasibility of in-bag manual extraction for the retrieval of excised myomas through a suprapubic mini-laparotomic incision in 2-port laparoscopic-assisted myomectomy.

Design: Retrospective comparative study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).

Setting: Departments of obstetrics and gynecology and diagnostic pathology at a general hospital.

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The patient experienced chest pain for about 7 months, but a diagnosis could not be made until after death. He was diagnosed with malignant sarcomatoid pleural mesothelioma on autopsy. In this case report, difficult aspects of the diagnosis are discussed.

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We encountered a case of localized IgG4-cholecystitis mimicking gallbladder cancer with focal/segmental type1 autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP). In this case, we were unable to exclude a diagnosis of gallbladder cancer and thus performed radical cholecystectomy. Type1 AIP is often associated with gallbladder lesions, accompanied by generally diffuse, circumferential thickening of the gallbladder wall.

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