We report the successful management of stage III colon cancer in an elderly patient who received an adjuvant chemotherapy regimen of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CAPOX) with the Japanese kampo medicine ninjin'yoeito (NYT). A 75-year-old woman with a medical history of hypertension presented at another institution with fecal occult blood, and a colonoscopy that showed a type II tumor in the sigmoid colon. She was referred to our hospital for tumor resection, where colonoscopy confirmed the location of the type II tumor in the sigmoid colon. Histopathology of the biopsy specimen indicated a moderately differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma. Enhanced computed tomography of the thorax and abdomen indicated thickening of the sigmoid colon wall. Regional lymph node metastasis was suspected, but distant metastasis was not indicated. A blood examination revealed an elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) concentration (32.7 ng/ml). Following a diagnosis of cancer of the sigmoid colon, clinical stage IIIb [cT4a, N1b, M0], a laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy was performed without complications. The postoperative histopathological examination revealed a moderately differentiated to mucinous adenocarcinoma. Three of 16 retrieved lymph nodes contained malignant cells. The final tumor classification was Stage IIIb [pT4a, pN1b, M0]. The patient recovered uneventfully, and was discharged 10 days after surgery with a recommendation for adjuvant chemotherapy with CAPOX starting 4 weeks after surgery. The patient also received 7.5 g of NYT daily throughout the adjuvant chemotherapy course. She did not report any loss of appetite, general fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, neutropenia, or febrile neutropenia. During a 1-year postoperative follow-up, she has not experienced any recurrence. We conclude that NYT might be useful for reducing the adverse effects of anticancer therapy, particularly in elderly patients.

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We aimed to develop the deep learning (DL) predictive model for postoperative early recurrence (within 2 years) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) imaging. This study included 543 patients who underwent initial hepatectomy for HCC and were randomly classified into training, validation, and test datasets at a ratio of 8:1:1. Several clinical variables and arterial CECT images were used to create predictive models for early recurrence. Artificial intelligence models were implemented using convolutional neural networks and multilayer perceptron as a classifier. Furthermore, the Youden index was used to discriminate between high- and low-risk groups. The importance values of each explanatory variable for early recurrence were calculated using permutation importance. The DL predictive model for postoperative early recurrence was developed with the area under the curve values of 0.71 (test datasets) and 0.73 (validation datasets). Postoperative early recurrence incidences in the high- and low-risk groups were 73% and 30%, respectively (p = 0.0057). Permutation importance demonstrated that among the explanatory variables, the variable with the highest importance value was CECT imaging analysis. We developed a DL model to predict postoperative early HCC recurrence. DL-based analysis is effective for determining the treatment strategies in patients with HCC.

Introduction: Laparoscopic surgery is widely used for the treatment of colorectal cancer. But anastomotic leakage is one of the most serious complications following laparoscopic low anterior resection (LAR) for rectal cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether transanal drainage tube placement can reduce anastomotic leakage and avoid re-operation after laparoscopic LAR. Methods: Retrospective assessment was performed on 143 patients with rectal cancers who underwent laparoscopic LAR between April 2009 and March 2016. A diverting stoma was not created in all 143 patients. A transanal drainage tube was placed after anastomosis using a double stapling technique, in 90 patients (group TT). In group TT, a 24 Fr. Silicon catheter was inserted into the anus and was placed approximately 20-25 cm in the descending colon. Another 53 patients were operated on without a transanal drainage tube (group NTT). Clinicopathological and operative variables, the frequencies of anastomotic leakage and re-operation after leakage were investigated. Results: Between the two groups (Group TT and NTT), age, gender, body mass index, tumor size, Dukes' stage, the number of Liniar stapler firings for rectal transaction, and the rate of left colic artery preservation were comparable. Intra-operative blood loss and operation time decreased group TT from group NTT (p < 0.05). The frequency of leakage was 2.8% (2/69) in group TT and was 13.2% (7/53) in group NTT. The rate of leakage was significantly lower in group TT (p = 0.03). Furthermore, the re-operation rate for symptomatic anastomotic leakage was 0% (0/2) in group TT, while in contrast it was 28.5% (2/7) in group NTT. The rate of re-operation was lower in group TT than group NTT (p = 0.07) and all cases with symptomatic leakage in

Background Mucinous cystic neoplasm of the liver (MCN-L) is a rare cystic tumor as defined by the 2010 World Health Organization classification. MCN-L usually does not communicate with or grow into the bile duct. Herein, we present a rare case of MCN-L with a polypoid nodule protruding into the bile duct. Case presentation A 69-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for elevated serum liver enzyme levels and obstructive jaundice. The patient also complained of abdominal pain in the right hypochondriac region. Abdominal ultrasonography showed a cystic lesion in segment 4 (S4) of the liver. Computed tomography revealed a 4-cm multilocular cystic lesion with a thick wall and multiple septal formations, showing a cyst-in-cyst appearance in S4. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography showed a contrast defect between the left hepatic duct and the common bile duct, which was suspected to be a nodular lesion in the bile duct. Bile cytology and biopsy of the nodular lesion showed no malignant findings. Based on these findings, the differential diagnosis in this patient included intraductal papillary neoplasm of the bile duct and MCN-L, which had malignant potential. The patient underwent left hemihepatectomy, including caudate lobe excision with bile duct resection and right hepatocholangiojejunostomy. Macroscopic findings showed a 40 × 29 mm multilocular cystic lesion with a polypoid nodule that protruded into the left intrahepatic bile duct. As an ovarian-like stroma was observed in both cystic and polypoid lesions microscopically, the histopathological diagnosis was MCN-L. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged 24 days after surgery. The patient is currently alive without recurrence 22 months after the surgery. Conclusion Although MCN-L rarely communicates with the bile duct, it is necessary to consider that MCN-L could grow into the bile duct, occasionally causing obstructive jaundice.