[Case of portal venous gas and pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis occurring during chemotherapy for a castration-resistant prostate cancer].

Portal venous gas is a rare complication. We present a case of hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) and pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis (PCI) in a patient treated with docetaxel for prostate cancer. An 80-year-old man with castration-resistant prostate cancer received 5 cycles of docetaxel. Diarrhea and vomiting appeared on the 4th day of the 5th cycle. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan revealed HPVG and PCI. Since there were neither peritoneal irritation signs nor intestinal necrosis, we performed conservative management. The HPVG and PCI were no longer detected in the abdominal CT scan on the 18th day. Mucosal injury of the bowel wall by docetaxel might have caused HPVG and PCI. This case report is the first description of HPVG and PCI in a patient with castration-resistant prostate cancer in Japan.

[Effect of prophylactic intravesical instillation of pirarubicin to prevent recurrent bladder tumors following nephroureterectomy for upper urinary tract cancer].

We retrospectively evaluated 23 patients who had been administered pirarubicin by intravesical instillation once weekly for 5 weeks, after undergoing surgery for upper urinary tract cancer between May 2003 and October 2008. We compared their clinical records with those of 19 patients with upper urinary tract cancer subjected to nephroureterectomy between 1998 and 2008, and who did not receive intravesical instillation of pirarubicin. This prophylactic therapy was well tolerated and contributed to reduce the rate of bladder recurrence. The non-recurrence rate at 2 years was 87.0% in the instillation group and 68.4% in the non-instillation group (P＝0.0025). The overall analysis of the study population did not reveal any statistically significant risk factors of bladder recurrence.