Division and Department

Department of Thoracic Surgery


Yoshihiro MINAMIYA, M.D, Ph.D.

A Greeting from the Professor

We are dealing with surgery of the pulmonary, breast, thyroid, and parathyroid regions. In addition, esophageal surgery also falls under our domain of concern. Recently, as the frequency of carcinoma in the above regions has increased, the number of operations we perform has also gradually increased year by year.

We provide a unique educational system to teach the essential and attractive points of surgery to medical students, followed by instruction in precision surgical techniques, involving hands-on fundamental endoscopic surgery aiming for accreditation by the Japanese board of surgery for residents, in collaboration with various facilities in Akita Prefecture. We also provide opportunities for studying abroad, mainly in the USA, for further research and for obtaining the degree of medical doctor.

As for recent research activities, hyperthermia therapy and sentinel node navigation surgery using magnetic nano-particles are currently the main targets of our department. We have recently published many high quality papers, and have received several awards offered by surgical societies. We have also obtained a number of research grants from the national government for our projects.

Staff

Professor:
Yoshihiro MINAMIYA, M.D, Ph.D.

Associate Professor:
Kazuhiro IMAI, M.D, Ph.D.

Lecturers:
Yusuke SATO, M.D, Ph.D.
Shinogu TAKASHIMA, M.D, Ph.D.
Akiyuki WAKITA, M.D, Ph.D.
Kaori TERATA, M.D, Ph.D.

Research Areas

  1. Our main aim of research is the analysis of cancer metastasis, especially cancer cell migration into endothelial cells. Research areas of our department consist of the following three groups:
  2. cell biology group, which treats cancer metastasis and acute inflammation,
  3. molecular biology group, which is studying lung and esophageal cancer malignancies and mechanisms of micrometastasis using clinical specimens obtained from surgery,
  4. physiology group analyzing the mechanisms of body reactions following surgical injury.
  5. medicine-engineering collaboration group has been developing a rapid immunohistochemistry (rapid-IHC) method that makes use of an alternating current (AC) electric field to facilitate the antigen-antibody reaction by stirring the diluted solution on the sections without a stirrer through recurrent transformation of the microdroplet’s shape. (AC mixing). The resultant AC mixing achieves more stable staining and accurate diagnosis/molecular analysis by increasing the opportunity for contact between the antigen and antibody, irrespective of the antibody type. This rapid-IHC technique enables prompt, stable detection of target cells within frozen sections and can provide a surgeon with an intraoperative diagnosis within 20 min, as opposed to the 3-6 h required for conventional IHC.

Contact Information

Lecturer: Yusuke Sato, M.D, Ph.D.
1-1-1 Hondo, Akita, 010-8543 Japan
Phone: +81-18-834-6142
Fax: +81-18-836-2615
E-mail: yusuke@doc.med.akita-u.ac.jp

Most Recent Achievements

  1. Atari M, Imai K, Nanjo H, Wakamatsu Y, Takashima S, Kurihara N, Kuriyama S, Suzuki H, Demura R, Harata Y, Hiroshima Y, Sato Y, Nomura K, Minamiya Y. Rapid intraoperative Ki-67 immunohistochemistry for lung cancer using non-contact alternating current electric field mixing. Lung Cancer. 2022 Sep 17;173:75-82. doi: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2022.09.007. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36156324.
  2. Kameyama K, Imai K, Ishiyama K, Takashima S, Kuriyama S, Atari M, Ishii Y, Kobayashi A, Takahashi S, Kobayashi M, Harata Y, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Hashimoto M, Nomura K, Minamiya Y. New PET/CT criterion for predicting lymph node metastasis in resectable advanced (stage IB-III) lung cancer: The standard uptake values ratio of ipsilateral/contralateral hilar nodes. Thorac Cancer. 2022 Mar;13(5):708-715. doi: 10.1111/1759-7714.14302. Epub 2022 Jan 20. PMID: 35048499; PMCID: PMC8888156.
  3. Fujita H, Motoyama S, An J, Nagakai Y, Yamaguchi T, Koyota S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Imai K, Kuba K, Minamiya Y. Peritumoral CD16b positive-neutrophil accumulation strongly correlates with regional lymph node metastasis in thoracic esophageal squamous cell cancer. Surgery. 2022 Jun;171(6):1535-1542. doi: 10.1016/j.surg.2021.11.022. Epub 2022 Jan 6. PMID: 35000783.
  4. Sasamori R, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Nagaki Y, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Salvage Robotic-Assisted Thoracoscopic Esophagectomy after Definitive Chemoradiotherapy for Clinical T4b Esophageal Cancer: A Case Report. Ann Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2021 Dec 3. doi: 10.5761/atcs.cr.21-00175. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34866120.
  5. Kurihara N, Imai K, Takashima S, Nanjo H, Hiroshima Y, Ito S, Nomura K, Saito H, Minamiya Y. Stapler-lavage cytology using a new rapid immunocytochemistry for evaluating surgical margin status after pulmonary sublobar resection. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2022 Apr;70(4):359-365. doi: 10.1007/s11748-021-01733-y. Epub 2021 Nov 16. PMID: 34784004.
  6. Nagaki Y, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Fujita H, Sasaki Y, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Patterns and timing of recurrence in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus esophagectomy. BMC Cancer. 2021 Nov 9;21(1):1192. doi: 10.1186/s12885-021-08918-x. PMID: 34753448; PMCID: PMC8576899.
  7. Kuriyama S, Imai K, Ishiyama K, Takashima S, Atari M, Matsuo T, Ishii Y, Harata Y, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Nomura K, Hashimoto M, Minamiya Y. Using CT to evaluate mediastinal great vein invasion by thymic epithelial tumors: measurement of the interface between the tumor and neighboring structures. Eur Radiol. 2022 Mar;32(3):1891-1901. doi: 10.1007/s00330-021-08276-z. Epub 2021 Sep 23. PMID: 34554302.
  8. Nagaki Y, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Fujita H, Kemuriyama K, Sasaki Y, Imai K, Maeda E, Minamiya Y. PET-Uptake Reduction into Lymph Nodes After Neoadjuvant Therapy is Highly Predictive of Prognosis for Patients Who have Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with Chemoradiotherapy Plus Esophagectomy. Ann Surg Oncol. 2022 Feb;29(2):1336-1346. doi: 10.1245/s10434-021-10564-3. Epub 2021 Aug 5. PMID: 34355333.
  9. Nagaki Y, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Fujita H, Sasaki Y, Imai K, Minamiya Y. SUVmax reduction predicts long-term survival in patients of non-pCR both in the tumor and lymph nodes after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. World J Surg Oncol. 2021 Apr 9;19(1):105. doi: 10.1186/s12957-021-02208-3. PMID: 33836789; PMCID: PMC8035772.
  10. Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Nagaki Y, Fujita H, Sasamori R, Kemuriyama K, Takashima S, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Lower local recurrence rate after robot-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy than conventional thoracoscopic surgery for esophageal cancer. Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 24;11(1):6774. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-86420-x. PMID: 33762693; PMCID: PMC7990925.
  11. Sato Y, Motoyama S, Wada Y, Wakita A, Kawakita Y, Nagaki Y, Terata K, Imai K, Anbai A, Hashimoto M, Minamiya Y. Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy Followed by Esophagectomy with Three-Field Lymph Node Dissection for Thoracic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients with Clinical Stage III and with Supraclavicular Lymph Node Metastasis. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Feb 26;13(5):983. doi: 10.3390/cancers13050983. PMID: 33652817; PMCID: PMC7956374.
  12. Matsuo T, Imai K, Nanjo H, Takashima S, Hiroshima Y, Atari M, Kuriyama S, Ishii Y, Wakamatsu Y, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Matsumura Y, Suzuki H, Nomura K, Minamiya Y. Harmonization across programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) assays for lung cancer by immunohistochemistry using noncontact alternating current electric field mixing. Thorac Cancer. 2021 Apr;12(8):1187-1194. doi: 10.1111/1759-7714.13893. Epub 2021 Mar 2. PMID: 33650770; PMCID: PMC8046066.
  13. Motoyama S, Maeda E, Iijima K, Sato Y, Koizumi S, Wakita A, Nagaki Y, Fujita H, Yoneya T, Imai K, Terata K, Minamiya Y, Higashi T. Does Esophagectomy Provide a Survival Advantage to Patients Aged 80 Years or Older? Analyzing 5066 Patients in the National Database of Hospital-based Cancer Registries in Japan. Ann Surg. 2022 Jul 1;276(1):e16-e23. doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000004437. Epub 2020 Dec 29. PMID: 33630469.
  14. Watanabe SN, Imai K, Nanjo H, Wakamatsu Y, Kimura Y, Katayose Y, Kamata S, Terata K, Takahashi E, Ibonai A, Yamaguchi A, Konno H, Yatsuyanagi M, Kudo C, Takashima S, Akagami Y, Nakamura R, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Nomura K, Minamiya Y. Rapid HER2 cytologic fluorescence in situ hybridization for breast cancer using noncontact alternating current electric field mixing. Cancer Med. 2021 Jan;10(2):586-594. doi: 10.1002/cam4.3626. Epub 2020 Dec 6. PMID: 33280268; PMCID: PMC7877363.
  15. Wakita A, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Nagaki Y, Fujita H, Terata K, Imai K, Maeda E, Minamiya Y. IGF2BP3 Expression Correlates With Poor Prognosis in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. J Surg Res. 2021 Mar;259:137-144. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2020.10.024. Epub 2020 Dec 3. PMID: 33279839.
  16. Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Nagaki Y, Fujita H, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Approaches to resection of recurrent solitary mediastinal lymph nodes after esophagectomy. Esophagus. 2021 Jul;18(3):700-703. doi: 10.1007/s10388-020-00800-2. Epub 2020 Nov 20. PMID: 33216243.
  17. Imai K, Nanjo H, Takashima S, Hiroshima Y, Atari M, Matsuo T, Kuriyama S, Ishii Y, Wakamatsu Y, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Saito H, Nomura K, Minamiya Y. Intraoperative diagnosis of lymph node metastasis during segmentectomy for non-small cell lung cancer by rapid immunohistochemistry using noncontact alternating current electric field mixing. Thorac Cancer. 2020 Dec;11(12):3547-3554. doi: 10.1111/1759-7714.13699. Epub 2020 Oct 19. PMID: 33075198; PMCID: PMC7705915.
  18. Wakita A, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Nagaki Y, Fujita H, Terata K, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Verification of the Optimal Interval Before Esophagectomy After Preoperative Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Thoracic Esophageal Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2021 Apr;28(4):2101-2110. doi: 10.1245/s10434-020-09206-x. Epub 2020 Oct 13. PMID: 33051740.
  19. Takashima S, Imai K, Atari M, Matsuo T, Nakayama K, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Shibata H, Nomura K, Minamiya Y. Clinical benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin and gemcitabine in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a single-center retrospective study. World J Surg Oncol. 2020 Oct 8;18(1):263. doi: 10.1186/s12957-020-02041-0. PMID: 33032626; PMCID: PMC7545843.
  20. Kawakita Y, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Nagaki Y, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Prognostic Significance of Combined Platelet Distribution Width and C-Reactive Protein Score in Esophageal Cancer. Anticancer Res. 2020 Oct;40(10):5715-5725. doi: 10.21873/anticanres.14586. PMID: 32988897.
  21. Sato Y, Motoyama S, Wakita A, Kawakita Y, Nagaki Y, Terata K, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Comparison of the incidences of anastomotic leakage when PDSII or LACLON are used in esophago-gastric conduit handsewn anastomosis after esophagectomy. Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 24;10(1):15616. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72619-x. PMID: 32973231; PMCID: PMC7518418.
  22. Nomura Y, Tamura D, Horie M, Sato M, Sasaki S, Yamamoto Y, Kudo-Asabe Y, Umakoshi M, Koyama K, Makino K, Takashima S, Imai K, Minamiya Y, Munakata S, Yachida S, Terada Y, Goto A, Maeda D. Detection of MEAF6-PHF1 translocation in an endometrial stromal nodule. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2020 Aug 20. doi: 10.1002/gcc.22892. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32820570.
  23. Terata K, Imai K, Wakita A, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Minamiya Y. Surgical therapy for breast cancer liver metastases. Transl Cancer Res. 2020 Aug;9(8):5053-5062. doi: 10.21037/tcr-20-1598. PMID: 35117871; PMCID: PMC8797688.
  24. Terata K, Yamaguchi A, Ibonai A, Imai K, Wakita A, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Minamiya Y. Loco-regional therapy for isolated locoregional lymph node recurrence of breast cancer: focusing on surgical treatment with combined therapy. Transl Cancer Res. 2020 Aug;9(8):5038-5043. doi: 10.21037/tcr-20-1690a. PMID: 35117869; PMCID: PMC8798282.
  25. Wakita A, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Kawakita Y, Nagaki Y, Terata K, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Evaluation of metastatic lymph nodes in cN0 thoracic esophageal cancer patients with inconsistent pathological lymph node diagnosis. World J Surg Oncol. 2020 May 29;18(1):111. doi: 10.1186/s12957-020-01880-1. PMID: 32471425; PMCID: PMC7260803.
  26. Nagaki Y, Motoyama S, Yamaguchi T, Hoshizaki M, Sato Y, Sato T, Koizumi Y, Wakita A, Kawakita Y, Imai K, Nanjo H, Watanabe H, Imai Y, Minamiya Y, Kuba K. m6 A demethylase ALKBH5 promotes proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma associated with poor prognosis. Genes Cells. 2020 Aug;25(8):547-561. doi: 10.1111/gtc.12792. Epub 2020 Jul 1. PMID: 32449584.
  27. Sato Y, Motoyama S, Wakita A, Kawakita Y, Liu J, Nagaki Y, Nanjo H, Ito S, Terata K, Imai K, Minamiya Y. High TLR4 expression predicts a poor prognosis after esophagectomy for advanced thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Esophagus. 2020 Oct;17(4):408-416. doi: 10.1007/s10388-020-00732-x. Epub 2020 Mar 13. PMID: 32170544.
  28. Imai K, Takashima S, Fujishima S, Matsuo T, Watanabe SN, Nanjo H, Akagami Y, Nakamura R, Terata K, Wakita A, Sato Y, Motoyama S, Minamiya Y. Development of a Novel One-Step Automated Rapid in situ Hybridization for Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase Rearrangement Using Non-Contact Alternating-Current Electric-Field Mixing. Pathobiology. 2020;87(1):45-50. doi: 10.1159/000505631. Epub 2020 Feb 5. PMID: 32023616.
  29. Kawakita Y, Motoyama S, Sato Y, Wakita A, Nagaki Y, Imai K, Minamiya Y. Decreases in the Psoas Muscle Index Correlate More Strongly with Survival than Other Prognostic Markers in Esophageal Cancer After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy Plus Esophagectomy. World J Surg. 2020 May;44(5):1559-1568. doi: 10.1007/s00268-019-05344-w. PMID: 31907570.

2020-2022 (for 2 years)

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