We conducted a prospective study of 226 eyes with nontraumatic rhegmatogenous retinal detachment; we examined patient characteristics as well as changes in axial length and corneal curvature induced by scleral buckling surgery. Eyes with a round hole in lattice degeneration were characterized by axial length that was longer than that of eyes with retinal tears with and without lattice degeneration. Sex and age also correlated significantly with axial length. Surgically induced changes in axial length depended upon the procedures performed, but the retinal detachment surgery primarily caused a change in the refractive status.

We conducted a short-term prospective study of 125 eyes with retinal detachment to examine changes of corneal astigmatism about 2 weeks after scleral buckling surgery, using a vector method on 2-fold-angle rectangular coordinates.Segmental buckles of one to less than two quadrants produced significantly greater changes in astigmatism (1.65 ± 0.97 dptr) than those of less than one quadrant (0.88 ± 0.75 dptr) and those spanning two quadrants or more (1.09 ± 0.38 dptr) (p = 0.0005, Kruskal-wallis test; n = 73). The amplitude of differential vectors after explant buckling surgery (1.33 ± 0.89 dptr, n = 24) was significantly greater than after implant buckling surgery (0.65 ± 0.45 dptr, n = 15) (p = 0.009, Mann-Whitney U-test) with buckles of one quadrant or less. Differential vectors tended to direct toward the buckles. There was no obvious directional tendency in the case of encircling procedures (n = 52).

TS-1 is an oral anticancer agent comprising three components: two biochemical modulators of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and tegafur (FT), a prodrug of 5-FU. TS-1 displays potent anti-tumor activity by maintaining effective 5-FU concentrations in serum for a prolonged period. FT is gradually converted to 5-FU in vivo via 5'-hydroxylation mediated by cytochrome P450s. As a result, genetic polymorphisms can cause wide individual differences in serum concentration of 5-FU after administration of TS-1, requiring monitoring of serum concentration of 5-FU for each patient. Chemotherapy with TS-1 plays a major role in the treatment of oral cancer. In cases where a patient with oral cancer shows dysphagia, TS-1 may need to be tube-administered. Although tube administration by the simple suspension method has been recommended from a biosafety perspective, particularly for anti-cancer agents, its efficacy remains unclear. We established a simple high-performance liquid chromatography method for simultaneous determination of FT and 5-FU levels at clinical sites by modifying a method reported in the literature.1) Unlike the original method, this simplified method does not require extraction procedures to separate FT and 5-FU, and requires only 250 µl of serum. Using this method, we compared FT concentrations in the sera of oral cancer patients administered TS-1 orally or via a tube-assisted simple suspension method. No significant differences in FT concentrations were apparent between these two modes of administration. TS-1 treatment by tube administration using the simple suspension method thus seems useful for patients with dysphagia as an alternative to oral dosage.