Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University (東北医科薬科大学, Tōhoku ika yakka daigaku) is a private university in Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The Tohoku Pharmaceutical University (東北薬科大学, Tōhoku yakka daigaku) was established in 1949, based on the Tohoku Pharmaceutical College, which was established in 1939. In 1959, it became the first cancer research institute established at a private pharmaceutical university in Japan. In 1962 it became the first graduate school at the private pharmacy college. With the establishment of a Medical Department in 2015, the university became Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University (東北医科薬科大学, Tōhoku ika yakka daigaku)..
Lung transplantation is the definitive therapy for end-stage respiratory diseases. To expand the donor lung pool, ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) has been developed for the assessment of marginal donor lungs. However, current evaluation methods remain limited. This study aimed to develop non-invasive imaging and monitoring techniques for the quantitative and early assessment of pulmonary function during EVLP. Three novel approaches were established: (1) lung thermography during the initial reperfusion period to assess pulmonary function, (2) optical oxygen saturation (SaO₂) imaging to assess pulmonary oxygenation, and (3) real-time lung weight measurement as an early indicator of transplant suitability. Lung thermography revealed that lung surface temperature at 8 min after shunt closure was significantly lower in non-suitable cases than in suitable cases (25.1 ± 0.6 °C vs. 27.8 ± 1.2 °C, P < 0.01). Optical SaO₂ imaging demonstrated a strong correlation between lower lobe SaO₂ calculated from SaO₂ imaging and PaO2/FiO2 (P/F) ratio in the lower pulmonary vein (R = 0.855, P < 0.01), with SaO₂ being significantly lower in non-suitable cases. Real-time lung weight measurement showed that lung weight gain increased significantly after 40 min in non-suitable cases compared with suitable cases (51.6 ± 46.0 g vs. −8.8 ± 25.7 g, P < 0.01). These three approaches proved effective for the quantitative and early assessment of pulmonary function during EVLP. This review was created based on a translation of the Japanese review written in the Japanese Journal of Artificial Organs in 2024 (Vol. 53, No. 3, pp. 216–220).
Few studies have investigated the efficacy of immuno-oncology (IO) combinations at different metastatic sites in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We evaluated the differential efficacy of IO–IO and IO–tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) combinations by metastatic site in metastatic RCC (mRCC). This retrospective multicenter study by the JK-FOOT Study Group included 579 patients with intermediate- or poor-risk mRCC (per International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium criteria) treated with first-line IO combinations between September 2018 and December 2024. Metastatic sites were lymph nodes, lungs, bones, liver, brain, and others. The primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS); the secondary endpoint was objective response rate. Efficacy was compared between IO–IO and IO–TKI for each site. For lymph node (n = 36), lung (n = 132), or brain (n = 16) metastases, OS or PFS was not significantly different between IO–IO and IO–TKI. In bone metastases (n = 80), OS tended to favor IO–TKI (P = 0.053). In liver metastases (n = 22), OS was significantly longer with IO–TKI (P = 0.011). IO–TKI may be a more appropriate first-line option than IO–IO for mRCC with bone or liver metastases, while efficacy is similar for other sites.
