Naoji Mita

Impact of newly developed, next-generation artificial endocrine pancreas.

BACKGROUND Recent studies have shown that strict perioperative blood glucose management may reduce mortality and morbidity in critically ill adult patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy and efficacy of the intraoperative application of a newly developed, next-generation artificial endocrine pancreas (STG-55, Nikkiso Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). METHODS Twenty patients scheduled to undergo surgery were enrolled in this study. The STG-55 is designed to be more user-friendly than its conventional counterpart (STG-22) while maintaining the latters fundamental functions, such as a closed-loop system using algorithms for insulin and glucose infusion. After anesthetic induction, a 20G intravenous catheter was inserted into a peripheral forearm vein and connected to a continuous blood glucose monitor. The resultant 105 scores for paired blood glucose values were compared by Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS Stable blood glucose values were maintained automatically, and there were no complications related to use of the STG-55. A close correlation (r=0.96) was observed between continuous glucose measurements using the STG-55 and conventional intermittent glucose measurements. The difficulty of manipulation using this system was decreased by improved preparation procedures. CONCLUSION The glycemic control system using the STG-55 could provide an alternative way to achieve effective and safe perioperative glycemic control.

Novel blood sampling method of an artificial endocrine pancreas via the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit.

Abstract We tried to perform continuous blood glucose monitoring during cardiovascular surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass using an artificial endocrine pancreas (STG-22 or -55; Nikkiso, Tokyo, Japan); however, we often encountered problems during these procedures because insufficient blood was obtained for monitoring. Thus, we started performing the blood sampling via the venous side of the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit. As a result, continuous blood glucose monitoring using an artificial endocrine pancreas was proven to be stable and reliable during cardiovascular surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass.

Successful treatment of mixed (mainly cancer) pain by tramadol preparations

The patient, a 70-year-old Japanese woman diagnosed with parotid gland cancer, underwent wide excision and reconstruction (facial nerve ablation, nerve transposition). At 1 month after the surgery, she was brought to our hospitals pain medicine department because her postoperative pain and cancer-related pain were poorly controlled. She had already been prescribed a tramadol (37.5 mg)/acetaminophen (325 mg) combination tablet (5 tablets/day). However, in addition to the continuous pain in her face and lower limbs, she was troubled by a trigeminal neuralgia-like prominence ache. Because this pain could not be controlled by an increase to eight combination tablets per day, we switched her medication to a tramadol capsule. At 11 months post-surgery, we then switched her medication to an orally disintegrating tramadol tablet to improve medication adherence of the drug. From 14 months post-surgery, the patient also used a sustained-release tramadol preparation, and she was then able to sleep well. Her current regimen is an orally disintegrating sustained-release tablet combination (total 300 mg tramadol) per day, and she achieved sufficient pain relief. Because tramadol is not classified as a medical narcotic drug, it widely available and was shown here to be extremely useful for the treatment of our patients mixed (mainly cancer) pain. J. Med. Invest. 64: 311-312, August, 2017.