We developed the first nomogram that can accurately predict postoperative hypertension cure in patients with primary aldosteronism. This nomogram can help clinicians calculate the probability of postoperative hypertension cure in patients with primary aldosteronism and objectively inform them of their hypertension outcome before laparoscopic adrenalectomy.

Background.Prodrug-activator gene therapy with Toca 511, a tumor-selective retroviral replicating vector (RRV) encoding yeast cytosine deaminase, is being evaluated in recurrent high-grade glioma patients. Nonlytic retroviral infection leads to permanent integration of RRV into the cancer cell genome, converting infected cancer cell and progeny into stable vector producer cells, enabling ongoing transduction and viral persistence within tumors. Cytosine deaminase in infected tumor cells converts the antifungal prodrug 5-fluorocytosine into the anticancer drug 5-fluorouracil, mediating local tumor destruction without significant systemic adverse effects.Methods.Here we investigated mechanisms underlying the therapeutic efficacy of this approach in orthotopic brain tumor models, employing both human glioma xenografts in immunodeficient hosts and syngeneic murine gliomas in immunocompetent hosts.Results.In both models, a single injection of replicating vector followed by prodrug administration achieved long-term survival benefit. In the immunodeficient model, tumors recurred repeatedly, but bioluminescence imaging of tumors enabled tailored scheduling of multicycle prodrug administration, continued control of disease burden, and long-term survival. In the immunocompetent model, complete loss of tumor signal was observed after only 1–2 cycles of prodrug, followed by long-term survival without recurrence for >300 days despite discontinuation of prodrug. Long-term survivors rejected challenge with uninfected glioma cells, indicating immunological responses against native tumor antigens, and immune cell depletion showed a critical role for CD4+ T cells.Conclusion.These results support dual mechanisms of action contributing to the efficacy of RRV-mediated prodrug-activator gene therapy: long-term tumor control by prodrug conversion-mediated cytoreduction, and induction of antitumor immunity.

Abstract:Our objective was to determine the incidence of inguinal hernia (IH) after surgery for prostatic diseases. Medical records of 395 patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP; n = 155), open simple prostatectomy (OP; n = 35), or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP; n = 205) at the Chibaken Saiseikai Narashino Hospital from April 2000 to March 2007 were retrospectively evaluated. The incidence of IH was 23.9% in the RRP group, 18.9% in the OP group, and 2% in the TURP group. Overall, 91.9% in the RRP and 83.3% in the OP group developed an IH within 2 years postoperatively. The laterality of IH after open surgery was mainly on the right side. Subclinical IH were seen in 25% of RRP cases. The existence of subclinical IH was the only significant risk factor for postoperative IH in this analysis. Furthermore, OP and RRP procedures significantly increased the risk of postoperative IH compared with TURP. The hernia-free ratios were significantly lower after RRP and OP than after TURP (vs RRP: P < 0.001; vs OP: P < 0.001). Our findings confirm that a lower abdominal incision itself is associated with postoperative IH in patients undergoing prostate surgery. Attention must be paid to pre-existing subclinical IH through careful preoperative assessment. Patients should be followed for more than 2 years due to the high incidence of postoperative IH.