Internal Medicine
Online ISSN : 1349-7235
Print ISSN : 0918-2918
ISSN-L : 0918-2918
Volume 55, Issue 5
Displaying 1-30 of 30 articles from this issue
EDITORIAL
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
  • Shigemasa Tani, Toshio Kushiro, Atsuhiko Takahashi, Hirofumi Kawamata, ...
    2016 Volume 55 Issue 5 Pages 427-435
    Published: 2016
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2016
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Objective A direct renin inhibitor, aliskiren, has a longer stable antihypertensive effect compared with other renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors.
    Methods This study was a 6-month, single-center, open trial conducted between December 2010 and November 2011 to assess the antihypertensive effect of adding aliskiren (300 mg) to the treatment of essential hypertension patients whose target blood pressure (BP) had not been achieved and to assess whether it was possible to reduce the amount of antihypertensive drugs used.
    Results The results showed an overall improvement in the target BP achievement rate of 60% for clinic BP and 52% for home BP measurements (75 cases total). The mean number of drugs before treatment with aliskiren was 3.28±1.52, whereas at the end of the six months the mean number of drugs prescribed other than aliskiren was 2.85±1.72 (p<0.0001). Moreover, no worsening of the renal function was observed in patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease (CKD) who were being treated with other RAAS inhibitors in combination to aliskiren.
    Conclusion These results showed that when aliskiren was added to the treatment of poorly controlled hypertension, the BP achievement rate increased, and it was possible to reduce the amount of antihypertensive drugs used in combination with aliskiren. Moreover, as a result of careful monitoring of the renal function or decreasing the amounts of drugs used in combination, no worsening of the renal function was observed even in the cases complicated by diabetes or CKD being treated with other RAAS inhibitors.
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  • Takahiro Haga, Mizuki Fukuoka, Mizuo Morita, Kohei Cho, Koichiro Tatsu ...
    2016 Volume 55 Issue 5 Pages 437-441
    Published: 2016
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2016
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Objective We herein assessed the utility of computed tomography (CT) for the diagnosis and ascertainment of the severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in the elderly.
    Methods The utility of CT compared with chest radiography (CR) for the diagnosis of CAP was prospectively studied among elderly inpatients with clinical symptoms and signs indicative of CAP at the Department of Respiratory Medicine in Nissan Tamagawa Hospital during the one-year period from January 2013 to December 2013. Additionally, we evaluated whether the findings of CT were useful as predictive factors related to the mortality rate associated with CAP.
    Results One hundred and forty-two patients, 65 years of age or older, were surveyed upon hospital admission for suspected CAP. Of the 142 patients included, 127 (89.4%) had pneumonic infiltration diagnosed by CT, however, CR could not recognize pneumonic infiltration in 9.4% (12/127) of these patients. In 127 CAP-positive patients, bilateral pneumonic infiltration was more frequently detected by CT in non-survivors than survivors (79.0% vs. 53.7%; p <0.05). By a multivariable analysis to determine the prognostic factors related to mortality from CAP, oxygen desaturation showed the greatest odds ratio among the other predictive factors, followed by comorbid neoplastic disease, blood urea nitrogen ≥21 mg/dL, male gender, and bilateral pneumonic infiltration diagnosed by CT.
    Conclusion We herein demonstrated that CT was superior to CR for diagnosing and evaluating the severity of CAP in elderly patients.
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  • Masashi Bando, Hiroyoshi Yamauchi, Takashi Ogura, Hiroyuki Taniguchi, ...
    2016 Volume 55 Issue 5 Pages 443-448
    Published: 2016
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2016
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Objective Long-term effects of pirfenidone have been poorly understood to date. This study investigated the clinical efficacy and safety of long-term pirfenidone use for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in clinical practice.
    Methods This survey study was a retrospective observational study. A survey was used to collect clinical information on IPF cases that were treated with pirfenidone. This survey sheet came from physicians belonging to the Diffuse Lung Diseases Research Group.
    Results 502 patients at 22 institutes received pirfeidone treatment. Of the 502 cases, pirfenidone treatment was terminated in under one year in 186 cases (37.1%); adverse effect was the most frequent reason for termination. The pirfenidone treatment lasted for two years or longer in 111 cases (22.1%). The mean change in the forced vital capacity (FVC) was -30±224 (SD) mL in the first year of treatment, -158±258 mL in the second year, and -201±367 mL in the third year. FVC improved by 10% or more in the first year in 10 (14.7%) of 68 cases, and showed a change of ±10% in 47 (69.1%) cases. It showed a change of ±10% in the second and third years in 61.7% and 62.5% of the patients, respectively.
    Conclusion The FVC improved in only a small percentage of patients who received pirfenidone treatment for a long period of time. However, a decrease in the FVC was prevented for three years in over half of the cases.
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  • Kazunori Nanri, Misaki Okuma, Saki Sato, Makoto Yoneda, Takeshi Taguch ...
    2016 Volume 55 Issue 5 Pages 449-454
    Published: 2016
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2016
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Objective Autoimmune cerebellar ataxias were recently reported to be treatable. However, the proportion of patients with cortical cerebellar atrophy of unknown etiology with autoimmune-associated cerebellar ataxia and the actual effectiveness of immunotherapy in these diseases remain unknown.
    Methods We measured the level of autoantibodies (including anti-gliadin antibody, anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibody, and anti-thyroid antibody) in 58 Japanese patients with cerebellar ataxia, excluding those with multiple system atrophy, hereditary spinocerebellar ataxia, cancer, or those who were receiving phenytoin, and the efficacy of immunotherapy was assessed.
    Results Thirty-one of 58 (53%) patients were positive for anti-GAD antibody, anti-gliadin antibody, or anti-thyroid antibody. Seven of the 12 anti-gliadin antibody-positive patients, three of the four anti-GAD antibody-positive patients, and three of the six anti-thyroid antibody-positive patients responded well to immunotherapy, indicating that 59% of patients with ataxia-associated antibody-positive cerebellar ataxia undergoing immunotherapy responded well.
    Conclusion Some patients with cerebellar ataxia have autoimmune conditions and diagnosing autoimmune cerebellar ataxia is therefore an important component in the care of patients with this disease entity.
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  • Meltem Sezis Demirci, Gonca Karabulut, Ozkan Gungor, Aygul Celtik, Erc ...
    2016 Volume 55 Issue 5 Pages 455-459
    Published: 2016
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2016
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Objective Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a common chronic autoimmune disease that primarily affects the salivary and lacrimal glands. Arterial stiffness is one of the earliest detectable manifestations of adverse structural and functional changes within the vessel wall. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between arterial stiffness and pSS.
    Methods In this study, 75 female patients with pSS who fulfilled the American European Consensus Criteria for Sjögren's syndrome, were included. A total of 68 age-, sex- and body mass index-matched subjects were recruited as the control population. Arterial stiffness was assessed by measurement of the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV).
    Results The mean age of the patients was 54.0±9.3 years and the median duration of the disease was 10 years. Compared with the control subjects, patients with pSS had a higher mean PWV (8.2±1.5 m/s vs. 7.5±1.4 m/s; p=0.01). Correlation analysis showed that the PWV was positively correlated with age, body mass index, serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and C-reactive protein levels, blood pressure, mean arterial pressure (MAP), pulse pressure and left ventricular mass index. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that arterial stiffness was associated with age, MAP and LDL levels in pSS patients.
    Conclusion Although patients with pSS appear to have increased arterial stiffness, risk factors associated with arterial stiffness in these patients are similar to the general population. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that a higher PWV in pSS patients is caused, not by pSS itself, but by the use of steroids, hypertension and dyslipidemia.
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  • Masanobu Horikoshi, Shigeko Inokuma, Yasuo Kijima, Mika Kobuna, Yoko M ...
    2016 Volume 55 Issue 5 Pages 461-466
    Published: 2016
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2016
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Objective To devise an effective method to assess the peripheral circulation using an infrared thermographic analysis.
    Methods Sequential measurements of the skin temperature before and after cold-water immersion of the hands were analyzed by a thermographic examination in healthy controls and patients diagnosed to have Raynaud phenomenon (RP). The skin temperatures of the dorsum of all fingernail folds and the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints were measured at baseline. Then the hands were immersed in 10°C water for 10 s, and the skin temperatures were measured at 0, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 min after immersion. The mean temperature, recovery rate and disparity (coefficient of variation) of the nail fold temperatures were calculated. The distal-dorsal difference (DDD) was calculated by subtracting the mean MCP temperature from the mean nail fold temperature. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to compare these parameters in terms of their capability to differentiate patients with RP.
    Results Thirty-one RP patients and 25 controls were included in the study. The baseline nail fold temperature was significantly lower in RP patients than in the controls. The RP patients had a lower recovery rate, lower DDD and higher disparity than the controls. The disparity and DDD were negatively correlated (r=-0.63, p<0.01), whereas the recovery rate and DDD were positively correlated (r=0.91, p<0.01). The ROC curve analysis revealed that the disparity in nail fold temperature effectively differentiated RP patients from controls (area under the curve: recovery rate 0.72; disparity 0.88; DDD 0.79).
    Conclusion The temperature disparity between fingers is a useful thermographic parameter for evaluating disturbed peripheral circulation in patients with Raynaud phenomenon.
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  • Kazuhiko Higashioka, Hiroaki Niiro, Kenji Yoshida, Kensuke Oryoji, Kaz ...
    2016 Volume 55 Issue 5 Pages 467-471
    Published: 2016
    Released on J-STAGE: March 01, 2016
    JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS
    Objective Low-dose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is commonly used to prevent pneumocystis pneumonia in daily practice. Previous reports have shown a relationship between high- or standard-dose of TMP-SMX and hyperkalemia, however it remains unclear whether this is true for low-dose TMP-SMX. In this study we sought to determine the risk factors for hyperkalemia associated with low-dose TMP-SMX.
    Methods In this retrospective cohort study, 186 consecutive adult patients who received TMP-SMX as prophylaxis for pneumocystis pneumonia from January 2014 to January 2015 were evaluated. Data on the patients' age, gender, baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), baseline serum potassium, maximum serum potassium, duration reaching the maximal serum potassium level, dosage, and concomitant use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi)/angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), β-blockers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and potassium-sparing diuretics were retrospectively collected. Hyperkalemia was defined as a serum potassium level ≥5 mEq/L. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed.
    Results The median age of the patients was 66 years and 51.1% were men. Hyperkalemia associated with low-dose TMP-SMX was observed in 32 patients (17.2%). The median duration to reach the maximal serum potassium level was 12 days. The multivariate logistic regression analysis identified renal insufficiency to be a major risk factor for hyperkalemia associated with low-dose TMP-SMX (eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, adjusted OR 4.62). Moreover, in the subpopulation of patients with renal insufficiency, ACEi/ARB use was considered to be a major risk factor for hyperkalemia (adjusted OR 3.96).
    Conclusion Renal insufficiency in concert with ACEi/ARB use is a major risk factor for hyperkalemia induced by low-dose TMP-SMX.
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