Background: Recently, the frequency of patients who have glucose intolerance has been increasing in Japan. Glucose intolerance and insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia are thought to influence the progression of atherosclerosis. The present study examined glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, post-prandial hyperglycemia/hyperinsulinemia and coronary risk factors by using 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).
Patients and Methods: Coronary risk factors were examined and OGTT with measurement of plasma glucose and serum insulin was done to evaluate the glucose metabolism and insulin resistance in 263 patients who underwent coronary angiography; 202 subjects were diagnosed as having coronary heart disease (CHD) and 61 subjects were normal. We compared the two groups.
Results: The rate of having diabetes was significantly high in the CHD group. From the result of OGTT, 22.3% of CHD patients had diabetes mellitus and 36.6% had impaired glucose tolerance, thus the total glucose intolerance rate was 57.7% in the CHD group. No significant difference was noted in the homeostatic model assessment-R (HOMA-R), but glucose and insulin at 2 hours after OGTT were all significantly high in the CHD group.
Conclusion: The rate of glucose intolerance and the levels of post-prandial glucose and insulin were high in the CHD group. We concluded that the post-prandial hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia influenced the incidence of CHD.

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Objective: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) sometimes occurs with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). It is often difficult to differentiate between benign and malignant nodules in HT because HT varies greatly on ultrasonography. We aimed to characterize the ultrasonographic features of PTC with HT.
Patients and Methods: In this retrospective study, 2167 patient records (1897 women and 270 men) were examined for ultrasonographic features and thyroid autoantibodies between 1998 and 2002 at our university. Patients with Graves' disease, positive TSH receptor autoantibody (TRAb) or thyroid-stimulating antibody (TSAb) were excluded. PTC was diagnosed by pathological examination.
Results: Of the 1644 patients who were autoantibody negative (MCHA, TGHA, TgAb, TPOAb), 54 (3.3%) had PTC, while 29 (5.5%) of the 523 patients who were autoantibody positive had PTC. On ultrasonography, the frequency of dense calcification in patients with HT was significantly higher (P=0.0064) and frequency of psammoma bodies was less than PTC patients without HT (P<0.0001). On the other hand, PTC with HT had more irregular shapes and ill-defined edges of the borders with less hypoechogenecity and calcification than PTC without HT, but the difference was not significant.
Conclusion: The frequency of psammoma bodies in PTC with HT was less, while dense calcifications were greater than in those of PTC without HT. Any type of ultrasonographic calcification features may represent a risk for PTC.

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Objective: Cardiovascular complication is one of the serious complications in stem cell transplantation (SCT). We measured plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations in patients who received SCT to evaluate possible cardiac toxicity of the regimens employed in SCT.
Patients: Ten patients with allogeneic SCT and 5 patients with autologous SCT using myeloablative conditioning regimens were enrolled. The preparative chemotherapy for 8 patients with allogeneic SCT included cyclophosphamide (60 mg/kg i.v. for 2 days) and other drugs and that for autologous SCT included cyclophosphamide (50 mg/kg for 2 days) and other drugs. Total body irradiation (TBI) was employed only in the patients who received allogeneic SCT.
Method: Plasma BNP was measured using a radioimmunoassay for human BNP before and after SCT.
Results: In 13 of 15 patients, BNP levels were elevated after SCT. In patients who received a total body irradiation (TBI) of 13.2 Gy, BNP levels were higher than those without irradiation (p=0.01). The BNP level reached a peak within 6 months after SCT in most patients and fell thereafter. But 7 of the 15 patients (46.7%) had an abnormally high level of plasma BNP even after 6 months of SCT which suggests subclinical myocardial damage.
Conclusion: A rise in plasma BNP was frequently observed after SCT, and may be considered to represent cardiac damage caused by the preparative chemotherapy and/or total body irradiation. Since a rise was noted 6 months after SCT, long-term evaluation of cardiac function is important.

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Background: The most common treatment of myasthenia gravis is high-dose prednisolone administration and thymectomy. A well-known adverse effect of prednisolone is hyperglycemia, however, to date there is no such detailed report.
Patients and Methods: We treated 325 myasthenia gravis patients in a recent 35 years period, and found 11 patients with diabetes mellitus. We compared these 11 diabetic patients with previously-reported cases.
Results: These 11 patients did not have any antibody against β-cells in the pancreas such as anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody. In 10 of 11 patients diabetes mellitus was controlled with oral medications.
Conclusion: Myasthenic patients with diabetes mellitus could be classified into 2 groups, one group with positive organ-specific autoantibodies to many organs (with type 1 diabetes mellitus), and the other group with diabetes mellitus onset during prednisolone administration (with type 2 diabetes mellitus).

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Case 1 was a 43-year-old woman, who was diagnosed as having PBC. After one month, she was hospitalized owing to sudden temporary unconsciousness. She was diagnosed as having acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) by bone marrow examination. Chemotherapy was done, but she died after 6 months. Case 2 was a 54-year-old woman, who was diagnosed as having PBC with CREST syndrome. Seven years later, she was diagnosed as having acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) by bone marrow examination. Chemotherapy was continued, and her symptoms are at present, stable. To date, there have been no reports of PBC complicated by acute leukemia.

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We encountered a case of peritoneal dissemination of hepatocellular carcinoma, successfully treated with a combination therapy of interferon-alpha-2b and oral tegafur/uracil. A 67-year-old Japanese man who underwent a hepatectomy developed peritoneal dissemination. A combination therapy of subcutaneous interferon-alpha-2b and intravenous 5-fluorouracil was started. Four weeks later, he felt severe general fatigue and nausea, and intravenous 5-fluorouracil was replaced with oral tegafur/uracil. At 3 months after the initiation of chemotherapy, enhanced computed tomography showed markedly reduced peritoneal dissemination. A combination therapy of interferon-alpha-2b and oral tegafur/uracil is facile and may be effective for extrahepatic metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

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Infective endocarditis, a serious infection most commonly affecting rheumatic or prosthetic valves, generally occurs after bacteremia. Atopic dermatitis, a very common disease, carries a high prevalence of skin infections, particularly with Staphylococcus aureus. While cutaneous colonization by S. aureus represents an important source of bacteremia, few cases of infective endocarditis arising from the skin lesions of atopic dermatitis have been reported. We describe a patient with recurrent S. aureus prosthetic valve endocarditis developing in this manner.

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A 93 year-old hypertensive woman was found to have severe hypokalemia (as low as 1.3 mEq/L) and developed paralysis of the all extremities associated with metabolic alkalosis, hypoxemia, hypercapnea, extremely high levels of creatine phosphokinase (up to 9280 U/L), myoglobin and myoglobinuria compatible with rhabdomyolysis. Plasma renin activity and aldosterone levels were below normal. She was found to have been taking licorice-containing herbal medicines for the last 7 years. With the discontinuation of the licorice-containing medicines and administration of spironolactone together with intravenous and oral potassium supplement, her serum potassium level was normalized and her clinical symptoms and hypertension improved within 2 weeks.

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A 53-year-old postmenopausal woman, who had a family history of cryptogenic liver cirrhosis, was diagnosed with osteoporosis, and started on the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) raloxifene 60 mg/day orally. She developed marked liver dysfunction. Her body mass index (BMI) was 26.5. Her blood chemistry indicated AST 342 IU/L, ALT 356 IU/L, and hyaluronic acid 255 ng/mL. An oral glucose tolerance test showed impaired glucose tolerance with marked insulin resistance. Histologically, we diagnosed this case as having pre-cirrhotic nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This is the first histologically confirmed case of NASH that was aggravated by raloxifene.

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A 19-year-old woman who had decreased eight centimeters in stature was diagnosed as Cushing's disease with multiple spine compression fractures. At the age of 18, the patient had a complex fracture and gradually presented the features of Cushing's syndrome. Her plasma ACTH and cortisol levels were extremely high. Radiological findings and chemical markers for bone metabolism showed severe osteoporosis. Magnetic resonance imaging showed the presence of a pituitary microadenoma. After transsphenoidal surgery was performed, subsequently all endocrine data improved. This case indicates that Cushing's syndrome should be considered for severe osteoporotic juvenile patients.

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Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is a prototype of post-infectious autoimmune disease. A 76-year-old woman was treated for a renal abscess and developed muscle weakness in all four extremities, 18 days after the onset of infection. She was diagnosed with GBS on the basis of acute flaccid paralysis, hyporeflexia, nerve conduction studies (reduced amplitude of compound muscle action potentials), and high titers of IgG antibodies to GM1 and GalNAc-GD1a. GBS rarely occurs after sepsis and this case represents the first report of rapidly progressive GBS following Escherichia coli urosepsis.

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We report an instructive case of minocycline-induced eosinophilic pneumonia confirmed by re-challenge test, in which a preceding lymphocyte-stimulation test indicated acetaminophen as the etiologic agent. A 55-year-old woman developed high fever and lung infiltrates with pulmonary eosinophilia after exposure to minocycline, acetaminophen, theophylline and procaterol. All of the medicines were discontinued, resulting in prompt improvement. The lymphocyte stimulation tests provided a positive result for acetaminophen, but not for the other medicines; however, a negative result was given by a re-challenge test with acetaminophen. In contrast, symptoms and hypoxemia reappeared when minocycline was re-administered. We would like to emphasize that lymphocyte stimulation test results need to be carefully interpreted for individual drugs.

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Candida dubliniensis is rare and very similar to C. albicans. To date, detailed clinical reports on C. dubuliniensis recovered from an immunocompromised patient have not been described in Japan. A 71-year-old man with end-stage liver cirrhosis had been treated for suppurative omarthritis due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Anti-MRSA agents and broad-spectrum antimicrobials but no antifungal agents had been administrated. C. dubliniensis, isolated from the sputum, was eliminated by selective digestive decontamination and supportive therapy. This case emphasizes the need to recognize this emerging Candida sp., C. dubliniensis in cases of opportunistic infection.

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Primary malignant tumors of the pulmonary arteries occur infrequently. The clinical presentation and diagnostic imaging features of the tumor are usually nonspecific and correct diagnosis is often delayed. In this report, we present a case of pulmonary artery sarcoma. MRI and PET-CT were found to be useful for differentiating the tumor from a thromboembolism.

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A patient genetically diagnosed with X-linked agammaglobulinemia repeatedly developed bacteremia due to Campylobacter coli (C. coli) for one year and seven months in spite of immunoglobulin replacement therapy. Throughout the clinical course, C. coli with identical genetic patterns was repeatedly isolated from both blood and stool cultures, thus indicating that the patient had latent intestinal infection. The bacteremia was always accompanied by reactive arthritis. Since the immunoglobulin level was extremely low with severe B cell deficiency, the reactive arthritis must have been induced in a humoral immunity-independent manner. Adding oral minocycline following intravenous meropenem was very effective; the stool cultures became negative and the patient has been well for more than one year without relapse of bacteremia.

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Head and neck irradiation may lead to accelerated atherosclerosis over several years. Delayed stroke has been described after head and neck irradiation administered for a number of conditions. However, brain stem stroke has only rarely been associated with irradiation. We report a patient with medullary hemorrhagic infarction 6 years after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A 42-year-old normotensive Chinese male had rapid onset of vertigo, diplopia, ataxia, dysphagia, hypophonic dysarthria, hemiparesis, and respiratory distress. Cranial MR imaging 2 days after symptom onset showed medullary infarction, and cranial MR imaging 5 days after symptom onset showed medullary hemorrhage. He needed ventilatory support and died of bacterial pneumonia 1 month later. Other risk factors for stroke were absent. Hemorrhagic infarction in this patient was likely associated with the radiotherapy. Radiotherapy is the first choice of treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, however, it may induce fatal medullary hemorrhagic infarction.

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A 35-year-old homosexual man, who had already received sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and steroid therapy because of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia, was referred to our hospital. He was also diagnosed as having cytomegalovirus (CMV) co-infection, and started receiving intravenous gancyclovir for CMV infection on the 2nd day of admission into our hospital. He had to continue the steroid therapy because his respiratory condition did not improve. On the 10th hospitalization day, when 40 mg of prednisolone was administered, cardiopulmonary arrest suddenly occurred, and his laboratory data showed hyponatremia and hyperpotassemia. In spite of resuscitation, he died two days later. The postmortem examination revealed that he died of adrenal failure due to CMV infection. In general, CMV is thought to cause adrenalitis, but rarely leads to manifestations of adrenal insufficiency during the clinical course. It is important to be aware that grave adrenal failure due to CMV infection can develop even under steroid therapy.

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A 70-year-old woman suffering from HCV-related liver cirrhosis was admitted for abnormal bleeding. Laboratory findings included PT at 46.6 sec, APTT at >212 sec, factor V activity of <3%, and factor V inhibitor of 2 BU. Having experienced a persistent bleeding tendency for one month, the patient was started on prednisolone (0.8 mg/kg/day). Within a few days, the inhibitor became undetectable and clinical bleeding disappeared. Although clinical improvement was achieved, she died 6 months after the initial bleeding episode from the progression of a lung cancer. An autopsy revealed squamous cell carcinoma of the lung and hepatocellular carcinoma.

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After twelve months of low dose carbamazepine therapy (200 mg daily) for temporal lobe epilepsy, a 66-year-old woman presented to the hospital complaining of frequent episodes of sudden dizziness. Because Holter monitoring documented intermittent complete atrioventricular block, the patient was admitted to the hospital when the serum concentration of carbamazepine was 4 μg/mL. After discontinuation of carbamazepine, the patient returned to normal sinus rhythm.
The present case suggests that complete atrioventricular block may occur long after initiation of carbamazepine therapy in an older woman even if the daily dosage or the serum concentration of carbamazepine is low.

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We report a very rare case of granulocytic sarcoma (GS) with muscle and peripheral nerve extension but without bone marrow involvement. A 53-year-old woman presented with sciatic pain and diplopia. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed bilateral orbital and cauda equina region tumors. The blood cell count, and bone marrow histology and cytology were normal. The characteristic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytologic picture of CD14+, CD33+, CD4+, CD56+ and positive nonspecific erastase staining suggested the diagnosis of GS. The patient underwent intrathecal and systemic chemotherapy, as if she had acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This case emphasizes the value of CSF cytological examination and the use of an immunocytochemical marker.

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