We obtained a prenatal molecular diagnosis during the first trimester in a Japanese woman whose first child (the proband) had been a compound heterozygote for infantile hypophosphatasia. We examined chorionic villus DNA samples obtained at 10 weeks of gestation for the base substitutions detected in the proband DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and PCR–allele‐specific oligonucleotide (ASO) analysis. The genotype of the fetus was the same as that of the proband. The same mobility shift patterns of single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) bands were observed in the fetus and the proband. This molecular approach to prenatal diagnosis appears to be more accurate than the enzymatic method and also more accurate and more rapid than the conventional RFLP method.

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We present a case of polymyositis (PM) following intrauterine fetal death. The first presentation of PM in the patient was during postpartum. The patient was referred to our hospital because of a fever of unknown cause 13 d after delivery of dead fetus at 32 weeks' gestation. PM was diagnosed based on the increased serum creatine phosphokinase level, typical electromyogram findings and characteristic muscle biopsy findings.

Our patient positioning protocol appears to have prevented laparoscopic colectomy-related IPNI. Future studies are warranted to confirm the relationship between patient positioning and IPNI and, if necessary, to further refine the protocol to ensure prevention of IPNI during laparoscopic colorectal surgery.

CT tractography is a simple and useful examination. a non‐ionic contrast agent was compression‐injected into the stab wound and CT tractography was performed.