Enteral Vitamin B12 Supplementation Is Effective for Improving Anemia in Patients Who Underwent Total Gastrectomy

Background: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of enteral supplementation of vitamin B12 for vitamin B12 deficiency in patients who underwent total gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: The study enrolled 133 patients who underwent total gastrectomy for gastric cancer at Kochi Medical School. Clinical data were obtained to investigate associations between vitamin B12 supplementation and vitamin B12 levels. Vitamin B12 deficiency was defined as serum vitamin B12 less than 200 pg/mL. Baseline characteristics and changes in hematological variables, including vitamin B12 levels, were examined. Results: Vitamin B12 deficiency was present in 71.4% of the 133 patients. Vitamin B12 levels at 3, 6, and 12 months after enteral supplementation were 306 pg/mL, 294 pg/mL, and 367 pg/mL, respectively, which were all significantly higher than those before supplementation (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). The median red blood cell count at 3, 6, and 12 months after enteral supplementation were 380 × 104/mm3, 394 × 104/mm3, and 395 × 104/mm3, respectively, which were all significantly higher than those before supplementation (p = 0.020, p = 0.001, and p = 0.003, respectively). Vitamin B12 levels at 3, 6, and 12 months after supplementation were significantly higher in patients supplemented enterally than those supplemented parenterally (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). Conclusions: Vitamin B12 deficiency was found in 71.4% of postoperative patients who underwent total gastrectomy for gastric cancer, and enteral vitamin B12 supplements might be effective to improve anemia in these patients.

Fuzzified Evaluation of Cardiotocography Data for Real Medical Data

Level evaluation system in cardiotocography (CTG) taken in the real medical practice is constructed for the use of e-learning materials. The system consists of 3 parts, preprocessing for FHR by particle filter, extraction process of deceleration information, and level evaluation. The extraction and evaluation processes are executed by fuzzy inference. To check the effectiveness of the proposed system, level evaluation experiments are executed for the real CTG data extracted from records at the Kochi Medical School hospital. The experimental results show that the extracted CTG features are suitable for the material, and that the calculated level of the patients with abnormal pH value is evaluated as abnormal situations. The proposed system can provide the possible data for the materials for evaluation learning of real CTG.

Algorithm for Estimation of Thyroid Gland Size in Ultrasonography Images for Extracting Abnormal Thyroid in Medical Practice

Measurement algorithm for the size of the thyroid gland in ultrasonography (US) images has been proposed on the basis of the position of the neighboring regions in order to objectively evaluate target organs for medical screening and secondary use. The measurement algorithm extracts the operator’s notion about the setting information on the basis of a drawn mark in the US images for decreasing computational costs. The measurement experiments for real US images performed in Kochi Medical School Hospital showed that the proposed algorithm detects the neighboring regions for the all target US images and that the enlarged thyroid glands evaluated by the proposed algorithm have relation with other blood test results. The proposed algorithmcan assist the evaluation of US screening and medical data analysis on the basis of the quantitative value of the US images.