The characteristics of spinal epidural cavernous hemangioma without primary origin in the vertebral bone were evaluated in 54 patients including our new case. The 36 male and 18 female patients were aged 5 to 78 years (mean 47 years). Most lesions were in the thoracic spine (80%) and on the dorsal side of the spinal cord (93%). The clinical course was mostly slowly progressive, with myelopathy in 33% at onset and 83% at admission. The lesion appeared isointense to the spinal cord on T 1 weighted imaging, and isointense or slightly hypointense to the cerebrospinal fluid on T 2 weighted imaging. Lesion without hemorrhage showed prominent homogeneous enhancement after administration of gadoliniumdiethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid because of the sinusoidal channel structure. Heter ogeneous enhancement was caused by hematoma and/or posthemorrhagic degeneration. The differen tial diagnosis of this disease includes metastatic tumor, Ewing's sarcoma, chordoma, eosinophilic granuloma, sarcoidosis, lipoma, hypertrophy of the posterior longitudinal ligament or the ligamentum flavum, meningioma, and neurinoma. The relationships between clinical course and surgery or outcome suggest that early diagnosis and total removal of the lesion before massive lesional bleeding occurs are necessary for a good outcome.

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The effects of preoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) were retrospectively evaluated in patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 227 patients who underwent hepatectomy for HCC were studied (146 underwent preoperative TACE and 81 did not). We compared operative outcome, mortality, and disease-free survival between TACE and non-TACE groups. We also compared the pattern of recurrence and postrecurrence survival between subgroups according to staging. Of the 227 patients, 105 with tumor stage I-II were assigned to group A (group A/TACE, n = 69; group A/non-TACE, n = 36), and the remaining 122 with tumor stage III-IV were assigned to group B (group B/TACE, n =77; group B/non-TACE, n =45). Complete necrosis was found to be more frequent in the TACE group ( p < 0.01). Operating time, blood loss, and mortality did not differ between those who did and did not undergo preoperative TACE. TACE did not significantly improve disease-free survival within either the entire TACE group or group A/TACE. In contrast, in group B/TACE the disease-free survival rates were significantly higher than in group B/non-TACE. Furthermore, both extrahepatic metastasis and diffuse intrahepatic metastasis were significantly more frequent in group B/non-TACE than in group B/TACE. The preoperative TACE also improved the postrecurrence survival in group B. We speculate that preoperative TACE reduced tumor recurrence and that it might confer a survival advantage after surgery, particularly in patients with advanced HCC. In addition, it is expected that this procedure may improve the pattern of tumor recurrence when it does occur.

We describe herein our technique of performing extensive resection of the liver by blunt dissection in combination with excision using a harmonic scalpel. A ball coagulator was inserted at 3-cm intervals along the proposed cutting line in the liver, and the liver parenchyma between these holes was then cut using coagulation shears. Regardless of the condition of the liver, good coagulation and cutting were achieved using the harmonic scalpel without vascular occlusion when dividing the shallow layer of the liver, and no complications in association with the harmonic scalpel, such as postoperative bleeding, bile leakage, or abscess formation at the cut margins, occurred. In the deep layer below the main trunk of the hepatic vein, blunt dissection was used, since it was difficult to achieve sufficient control of bleeding from large vessels using the harmonic scalpel alone. Therefore, when used in combination with other techniques, the harmonic scalpel appears to be an effective device for liver surgery that minimizes bleeding and decreases the vascular clamping time.

Granulomatous lobular mastitis could be categorized into IgG4-related and non-IgG4-related granulomatous lobular mastitis. IgG4 immunohistochemistry serum IgG4 might be useful for diagnosis of IgG4-related granulomatous lobular mastitis and could help to avoid overtreatment such as wide excision.