Niigata University of Health and Welfare

About: Niigata University of Health and Welfare is a education organization based out in Niigata, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Medicine & Isometric exercise. The organization has 523 authors who have published 996 publications receiving 10316 citations.

Rehabilitation Utilization by Cancer Patients with Pathology-Confirmed Leptomeningeal Disease Receiving Intrathecal Chemotherapy.

Abstract: The incidence of leptomeningeal disease (LMD) is believed to be increasing in part because of more effective chemotherapy treatments allowing cancer progression behind the blood-brain barrier. However, little has been published about the rehabilitation of this growing patient population. In this study, impairments and rehabilitation utilization by cytology-proven LMD patients receiving intrathecal chemotherapy at a cancer center are described. A total of 109 consecutive patients with pathology-confirmed LMD who received an intrathecal chemotherapy infusion from January 1, 2017, through October 31, 2017, were retrospectively reviewed. Of the 109 patients, 103 (95%) had impairments described in their medical record that could impact physical function, including 74 of 109 (68%) who had deconditioning or fatigue. Kaplan-Meier median survival from initial LMD diagnosis was 13.1 mos. The median number of hospital admissions and intrathecal chemotherapy administrations was both 8. Of the 109 patients, 43 (39%) had magnetic resonance imaging radiology interpreted LMD. Most LMD patients used rehabilitation services (95/109, 87%) and most were able to forego post-acute inpatient rehabilitation facilities (96/109, 88%). Additional research and education for rehabilitation professionals about this increasingly common syndrome are needed.

Is the evidence of the Supreme Court Ruling of gefitinib litigation in Japan scientific

Abstract: Background Plaintiffs of the gefitinib (Iressa) lawsuits in Japan started in 2004 were defeated in the Supreme Court in 2013 The Court judged it was not possible to foresee the outbreak of deaths caused by interstitial pneumonia due to gefitinib from death cases before approval of this drug Objective We attempted to verify validity of this judgment Methods We estimated the 95% confidence interval (CI) of the proportion of onset and death cases among 23 onset and 13 death cases occurring from "within 1 week" to "within 4 weeks" from clinical data before approval of this drug using data admitted to the Court Results For death cases, all of the upper limits of the 95% CI exceeded 50% within 1-4 weeks This fact suggested that the cases of acute interstitial pneumonia were included in the clinical trial before the approval of gefitinib Conclusion It was possible to foresee the outbreak of death cases after drug approval This conclusion showed the Court's ruling was not reasonable and was unscientific

Effect of Spinal Cord Stimulation on Gait in a Patient with Thalamic Pain

Abstract: Thalamic pain is a central neuropathic pain disorder which occurs after stroke. Its severe chronic pain is often intractable to pharmacotherapies and affects the patients’ activities of daily living (ADL) and quality of life (QOL). Recently, spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been reported to be effective in relieving the pain of thalamic pain; however, the effect of SCS on gait performance in patients is unknown. Therefore, we evaluated the gait performance before and after SCS in a case with thalamic pain. A 73-year-old male with thalamic pain participated in this study. We evaluated the gait of the patient two times: before SCS insertion and after 6 days of SCS. At the second evaluation, we measured the gait in three conditions: stimulation off, comfortable stimulation, and strong stimulation. SCS succeeded in improving the pain from 7 to 2 on an 11-point numerical rating scale. Step frequency and the velocity of gait tended to increase between pre- and poststimulation periods. There were no apparent differences in gait among the three stimulation conditions (off, comfortable, and strong) at the poststimulation period. SCS may be effective on gait in patients with thalamic pain.