Published papers

肝細胞癌の病因としB型肝炎ウイルス(HBV)、C型肝炎ウイルス(HCV)、非アルコール性脂肪性肝炎(NASH)は重要で、HBVおよびHCVは肝細胞癌の病因の約85%を占める。また、NASH患者の10〜29%は10年で肝硬変に至るとされ、NASHによる肝硬変から肝細胞癌が発生する頻度は4〜27%と報告されている。HBV、HCV、NASHにおける発癌機構について概説した。

IgA腎症は幅広い臨床像を有し、これらの予後を予測するために、数々の組織学的分類が提唱されてきた。2008年、厚生労働省進行性腎障害研究班IgA腎症分科会があらたな病理組織分類を提案する一方、2009年、国際IgA腎症ネットワーク(International IgA Nephropathy Network)およびRenal Pathology Societyのワーキンググループより、いわゆるオックスフォード分類が発表されるに至り、その相違がわが国において混乱を招く危険性を帯びてきた。本稿ではそれぞれの分類の特徴を述べ、両者を比較検討することにより、双方の組織分類の問題点について考察する。(著者抄録)

＜Point＞慢性腎臓病(CKD)患者の生検の意義は,疾患の層別化にある.CKD患者の生検の多くは慢性・硬化性病変を伴っているが,これらは非特異的な所見である.硬化性病変が進行した症例では,しばしば病因の特定が困難であるが,これを可能な限り同定するために,標本作製にも慎重さと工夫が求められる.(著者抄録)

Accurate staging of liver fibrosis is crucial to guide therapeutic decisions for patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Digital image analysis has emerged as a promising tool for quantitative assessment of fibrosis in chronic liver diseases. We sought to determine the relationship of histologic fibrosis stage with fiber amounts quantified in liver biopsy specimens for the better understanding of NAFLD progression. We measured area ratios of collagen and elastin fibers in Elastica van Gieson-stained biopsy tissues from 289 patients with NAFLD from four hospitals using an automated computational method and examined their correlations with Brunt's fibrosis stage. As a secondary analysis, we performed multivariable logistic regression analysis to assess the associations of the combined area ratios of collagen and elastin with noninvasive fibrosis markers. The combined fiber area ratios correlated strongly with Brunt's stage (Spearman correlation coefficient, 0.78; P < 0.0001), but this relationship was nonlinear (P = 0.007) with striking differences between stage 4 (median area ratios, 12.3%) and stages 0-3 (2.1%, 2.8%, 4.3%, and 4.8%, respectively). Elastin accumulation was common in areas of thick bridging fibrosis and thickened venous walls but not in areas of perisinusoidal fibrosis. The highest tertile of the combined fiber area ratios was associated with the fibrosis-4 index and serum type IV collagen 7s domain (7s collagen) levels, whereas the upper two tertiles of the fiber amounts significantly associated with body mass index, aspartate aminotransferase, and 7s collagen in the multivariable analysis. Conclusion: Quantitative fibrosis assessment reveals a nonlinear relationship between fibrosis stage and fiber amount, with a marked difference between stage 4 and stage 3 and much smaller differences among stages 0-3, suggesting a heterogeneity in disease severity within NAFLD-related cirrhosis. (Hepatology Communications 2018;2:58-68).

© 2019, Springer Nature America, Inc. Background: Tumor contact length (TCL) is defined as the extent of contact between prostate cancer and the prostatic capsule, and its predictive value for microscopic extraprostatic extension (EPE) has been reported. However, the impact of the zonal origin (anterior or posterior tumor) of the tumor on the diagnosis of EPE is controversial. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 233 consecutive patients who underwent preoperative MRI and radical prostatectomy. We designated their tumors as anterior or posterior, and evaluated the correlation between the TCL measured by MRI and microscopic EPE in the radical prostatectomy specimen. Then, we created the predicted probability curves for EPE versus TCL for anterior and posterior prostate cancer. Results: There were 109 patients (47%) with an anterior tumor and 124 patients (53%) with a posterior tumor. Postoperative pathological analysis confirmed pT3 in 18 patients (17%) with an anterior tumor and in 53 patients (43%) with a posterior tumor. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the zonal origin of the tumor was an independent predictive factor for EPE. We developed separate probability curves of EPE versus TCL for anterior and posterior prostate cancer, which revealed that anterior tumors were less likely to invade the extraprostatic tissues. Among patients whose TCL was 10–20 mm, 9/32 patients (28%) with an anterior tumor had EPE compared with 24/45 patients (53%) with a posterior tumor (p = 0.036). The decision curve of this EPE predictive model had high clinical efficacy. Conclusions: Our results indicate that anterior tumors have more favorable pathological characteristics than posterior tumors with the same TCL measured by MRI. We constructed two separate predicted probability curves for EPE after discriminating anterior and posterior tumors, which will be useful for decision making in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical value of prostate specific antigen velocity (PSAV) in predicting the extraprostatic extension of clinically localized prostate cancer. METHODS: One hundred and three patients who underwent radical prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer were included in the analysis. The correlation between preoperative parameters, including PSA-based parameters, clinical stage, and histological biopsy findings, and the pathological findings were analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify a significant set of independent predictors for the local extent of the disease. RESULTS: Sixty-four (60.2%) patients had organ confined prostate cancer and 39 (39.8%) patients had extraprostatic cancer. The biopsy Gleason score, PSA, PSA density, PSA density of the transition zone, and PSAV were significantly higher in the patients with extraprostatic cancer than in those with organ confined cancer. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the biopsy Gleason score, endorectal magnetic resonance imaging findings, and PSAV were significant predictors of extraprostatic cancer (P < 0.01). Probability curves for extraprostatic cancer were generated using these three preoperative parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of PSAV, endorectal magnetic resonance imaging findings, and biopsy Gleason score can provide additional information for selecting appropriate candidates for radical prostatectomy.