Functional CT using nonionic contrast material can measure GFR normalized to renal volume and is an accurate alternative to conventional methods of renal function evaluation.

No abstract

No abstract

Retrospective analysis was carried out to evaluate the prognostic value of urinary cytology in bladder tumor patients. All of the 170 patients (107 superficial (less than T2), 60 advanced (greater than T1) and 3 unknown (TX)), who were followed after their first occurrence, had histologically diagnosed transitional cell tumors. Recurrence rate for superficial cases was higher (p less than 0.05) when urinary cytology, either before or after the initial treatment, was positive than when negative. Patients with positive urinary cytology before the initial treatment proved to show poor prognosis compared to those with negative cytology (p less than 0.01), and many of the positive cases were with advanced cancer. Urinary cytology seemed to be indicative of the neoplastic potential of bladder tumor.

Multivariable analysis (quantification method I and II) was used to investigate the relationship between survival rates and prognostic factors. The items studied were age, stage, pathological differentiation, gait disturbance, acid phosphatase and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). The data were available for 353 patients for all items. The significance of each item was evaluated in all patients-group, subgroup stratified by their cause of death, and subgroup stratified by their stage. The significance of age and gait disturbance which represent the general condition was proven in all patients, non-cancer death group and stage ABC group. In the cancer death group, stage D group was the most significant as prognostic factor. ESR was the most significant in the stage D group and the significance was gradually increased with the observation time.