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Article History

Received: 7 May 2023

Accepted: 21 June 2023

First Online: 18 July 2023

Declarations

:

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the Japanese Ethical Guidelines for Clinical Studies. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Sendai Medical Center (approval no.: 21–5) and the Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine (approval no.: T2021-001).

: As the research plan was disclosed to the public on the Sendai Medical Center’s website, the Ethics Committee formally exempted us from the need to obtain patient’s informed consent. However, patients and their families reserved the right to be excluded from the study if they explicitly expressed their refusal.