Breast cancer screening using digital breast tomosynthesis compared to digital mammography alone for Japanese women.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to confirm the position of DBT in breast cancer screening in Japan, to assess cancer detection rates, recall rates, positive predictive value (PPV), and to evaluate the type of mammographic findings of cancer with the use of digital mammography alone (2DDM) and combined with digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). METHODS: 11,894 examinations of the opportunistic breast cancer screening using only 2DDM and 2DDM plus DBT were performed from May 1, 2017 to March 31, 2019. The 11,894 women [3535 women who received DBT in addition to 2DDM (3D group) and 8359 who received 2DDM only (2D group)] participated in this study. The study was approved by the Institute's Ethics Committee and all participants provided written informed consent. RESULTS: The recall rate was 2.6% for the 3D group and 3.6% for the 2D group (p < 0.01). The cancer detection rate was 0.17% in both 3D and 2D groups (p = 0.978). The positive predictive value (PPV) was 6.5% for the 3D group and 4.7% for the 2D group (p = 0.484). The cause of the decrease in recall rate was due to a decrease in the finding of focal asymmetric density (FAD). CONCLUSION: The recall rate was improved by using DBT for breast cancer screening in Japanese women. Cancer detection rates were exactly the same in DBT and 2DDM groups, so only DBT non-inferiority could be verified. We have verified that breast cancer screening combined with DBT is useful even for Japanese women to reduce unnecessary further examination.

Pneumothorax caused by costal exostosis.

Exostosis occurs in the ribs either sporadically or as a manifestation of a genetic disorder known as hereditary multiple exostoses. Costal exostosis may cause chest pain and, on rare occasions, result in hemothorax, pneumothorax, hemopneumothorax, and diaphragmatic or pericardial laceration. We report a case of pneumothorax in a 16-year-old boy with exostosis in the right seventh and eighth ribs. He previously received a diagnosis of multiple exostoses and underwent costal resection. The lung and pleura were injured because of long-term friction between the exostoses and the visceral pleura.To the best of our knowledge, this is only the fourth report of pneumothorax caused by costal exostosis. Moreover, all previously reported cases of pneumothorax or hemopneumothorax caused by costal exostosis, including the present case, involved lower lobe injury.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) for lung cancers.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), a treatment for cancer, uses a photosensitizer and laser irradiation to produce reactive oxygen in cells. In Japan, the United States, and many other countries, PDT is a treatment option for stage 0 (TisN0M0) and stage I (T1N0M0) centrally located early stage lung cancer. PDT can preserve lung function, can be repeated, and can be combined with other therapeutic modalities such as chemotherapy. Recently, mono-l-aspartyl chlorine e6 (NPe6, Laserphyrin), a second-generation photosensitizer with lower photosensitivity than Photofrin (porfimer sodium), was approved by the Japanese government and a phase II clinical study using NPe6 with a new diode laser demonstrated an excellent antitumor effect and low skin photosensitivity. We expect PDT to be widely employed in many fields and the applications of PDT to be extended because of the decreasing cost of laser equipment and lower systemic photosensitivity induced by the photosensitizer. The purpose of this review is to introduce not only recent clinical trials of PDT for centrally located early lung cancer, but also new applications of PDT for cases of peripheral-type, early-stage lung cancers. We also discuss the applications of PDT for advanced lung cancer and combined therapy using PDT and other treatments for lung cancer.