About the Authors

Yuji Miyamoto

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Yoshifumi Baba

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Yasuo Sakamoto

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Mayuko Ohuchi

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Ryuma Tokunaga

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Junji Kurashige

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Yukiharu Hiyoshi

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Shiro Iwagami

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Naoya Yoshida

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Masayuki Watanabe

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Cancer Institute Hospital of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan

Hideo Baba

hdobaba@kumamoto-u.ac.jp

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: YM HB. Performed the experiments: YM YB YS JK YH SI NY MW. Analyzed the data: YM YB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YM YB HB. Wrote the paper: YM YB HB. Collected the clinical data: MO RT.