• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.255-262
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• 2006

$\underline{Purpose}$: To evaluate the pathological prognostic factors related to local recurrence after radical surgery and adjuvant radiation therapy in advanced rectal cancer. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: Fifty-four patients with advanced rectal cancer who were treated with radical surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy between February 1993 and December 2001 were enrolled in this study. Among these patients, 14 patients experienced local recurrence. Tissue specimens of the patients were obtained to determine pathologic parameters such as histological grade, depth of invasion, venous invasion, lymphatic invasion, neural invasion and immunohistopathological analysis for expression of p53, Ki-67, c-erb, ezrin, c-met, phosphorylated S6 kinase, S100A4, and HIF-1 alpha. The correlation of these parameters with the tumor response to radiotherapy was statistically analyzed using the chi-square test, multivariate analysis, and the hierarchical clustering method. $\underline{Results}$: In univariate analysis, the histological tumor grade, venous invasion, invasion depth of the tumor and the over expression of c-met and HIF-1 alpha were accompanied with radioresistance that was found to be statistically significant. In multivariate analysis, venous invasion, invasion depth of tumor and over expression of c-met were also accompanied with radioresistance that was found to be statistically significant. By analysis with hierarchical clustering, the invasion depth of the tumor, and the over expression of c-met and HIF-1 alpha were factors found to be related to local recurrence. Whereas 71.4% of patients with local recurrence had 2 or more these factors, only 27.5% of patients without local recurrence had 2 or more of these factors. $\underline{Conclusion}$: In advanced rectal cancer patients treated by radical surgery and adjuvant chemo-radiation therapy, the poor prognostic factors found to be related to local recurrence were HIF-1 alpha positive, c-met positive, and an invasion depth more than 5.5 mm. A prospective study is necessary to confirm whether these factors would be useful clinical parameters to measure and predict a radio-resistance group of patients.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2006

Purpose: Various minimally invasive surgical techniques, such as an endoscopic mucosal resection and a laparoscopic gastrectomy, are becoming common practice for some cases of early gastric cancer (EGC) defined in terms of the depth of invasion being limited to the mucosa or submucosa. However, there are rare cases of early gastric cancer with massive lymph-node metastasis. Materials and Methods: From 6 university hospitals of Korea, 2,772 EGC cases were resected during the various period of analysis (1,432 cases of mucosal cancer and 1,340 of submucosal cancer). Results: As control data, we used the data from a single institute, CHA University Hospital. There were nine cases of early gastric cancer (9/2,772, 0.32%) with N3 lymph node metastasis defined by more than 15 lymph nodes being metastasized according to the UICC-TNM classification (pT1N3, stage IV). Two cases were mucosal cancer (2/1,432, 0.1 4%), and seven cases were submucosal cancer (7/1,340, 0.52%). Metastasized lymph nodes varied in number from 18 to 52. There were three male and six female patients with a mean age of 57. This is a totally reversed sex ratio compared to the usual gastric cancer or EGC. Among the total of 9 EGC patients, there were 5 who had superficial spreading carcinomas with surface areas larger than $25\;cm^2$. This is a significantly higher proportion compared to the general EGC population. When we compared the tumor size according to the LN status, the N3 group was definitely larger than the other groups. 78% of the pT1N3 cases showed lymphatic invasion, which is very high compared to the 4.7% in general EGC cases. Among the 9 cases, 6 patients had too short a follow-up period to evaluate the correct prognosis, but there was one patient with a non-curative resection and two patients with early recurrence. Although the sample size is small and the follow-up period is short, we can expect a very poor prognosis when we consider the common prognosis of EGC that is widely known and accepted. Conclusion: From these results, we can a conclude that the risk factors for pT1N3 gastric cancer are female patients, submucosal invasion, larger tumor size, and lymphatic invasion. However rare, the existence of pT1N3 gastric cancer needs to be taken into consideration, especially during the diagnosis. Furthermore, minimally invasive treatment for EGC needs to be chosen with great precaution. Since the prognosis of pT1N3 gastric cancer is expected to be poor, aggressive adjuvant chemotherapy may be necessary. (J Korean Gastric Cancer Assoc 2006;6:109-113)

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2010

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to investigate needs and satisfaction on the medical services of cancer patients in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. Methods: Total 174 cancer patients, who visited at the clinic of Jeju National University Hospital, submitted informed consent and participated in this study from July 13 to July 30, 2009. Self questionnaire was used and data were analyzed with Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Mann-Whitney U test, ANOVA, and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Participants expressed the needs of most economical support (3.38 out of 4), followed by counseling of treatment plan (3.22), information of disease (3.07), and disease management except cancer (2.97). Participants were satisfied most with religious counseling (3.41), followed by nursing service support (3.39), employment counseling (3.26), and counseling for family or interpersonal relationships (3.26). The satisfaction of economical support was the lowest (1.98). Satisfaction of men was higher than women, and needs in patients who were living with children was the highest. Patients who were living alone or with children showed the lowest satisfaction about the medical services. There were no significant differences in the general characteristics, however, participants who were older than 60 years of age or had higher income showed lower needs and higher satisfaction. There were no significant differences in the medical characteristics, however, thyroid cancer patients and patients who were treated with radiation therapy or transarterial embolization showed low satisfaction. Conclusion: Cancer patients seemed to need more economical support, information of treatment or disease, and symptom management. Furthermore, there were various needs about the services, depending on family formation or economical support of patients. Therefore, it is certain that patients who were suffering from other cancers, except the 5 major cancers, needed more services. In conclusion, continuous and systemic policy to consider patient's characteristics and needs are needed in community as well as health care system.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.164-170
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• 2006

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: This study identified the result of postoperative radiation therapy and the prognostic factors to affect survival rates in cancer patients. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: One hundred and thirty three patients with cervical cancer who were treated with postoperative radiation therapy following surgery at our institution between June 1985 and November 2002 were retrospectively analyzed. One hundred and thirteen patients had stage IB disease, and 20 patients had stage IIA disease. Histological examination revealed 118 squamous cell carcinoma patients and 15 adenocarcinoma patients. Sixty seven patients were noted to have stromal invasion greater than 10 mm, and 45 patients were noted to have stromal Invasion 10 mm or less. Positive lymphovascular invasion was found in 24 patients, and positive pelvic lymph nodes were noted in 39 patients. Positive vaginal resection margin was documented in 8 patients. All of the patients were treated with external beam radiation therapy to encompass whole pelvis and primary surgical tumor bed. Intracavitary radiation therapy was added to 19 patients who had positive or close surgical margins. $\underline{Results}$: Actuarial overall and disease-free survival rates for entire group of the patients were 88% and 84% at 5 years, respectively. Five-year disease-free survival rates for patients with stromal invasion greater than 10 mm and 10 mm or less were 76% and 97%, respectively (p<0.05). Also there was a significantly lower survival in patients with positive pelvic lymph nodes compared with patients with negative pelvic lymph nodes (p<0.05). However, lymphovascular invasion, positive vaginal resection margins were not statistically significant prognostic factors. Addition of neoadjuvant chemotherapy or type of surgery did not affect disease-free survival. $\underline{Conclusion}$: Postoperative radiation therapy appears to achieve satisfactory local control with limited morbidity in cervical cancer patients with high pathologic risk factors. Distant metastasis was a dominant failure pattern to affect survival in cervical cancer patients after radical surgery and radiation and more effective systemic treatment should be investigated in these high-risk patients.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.725-731
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• 2009

Background: Lobectomy and more extended anatomic resection are regarded as standard treatment for stage Ia non-small cell lung cancer, but approximately 15~40% of patients suffer from treatment failures such as cancer recurrence or death. The authors analyzed types and causes of treatment failures in surgically treated cases of stage Ia non small cell lung cancer. Material and Method: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 156 patients who had undergone complete resection for stage Ia NSCLC between Jan 1992 and Aug 2005. Patients were divided into two different treatment failure groups: cancer-related deaths and non-cancer-related deaths. Risk factors were analyzed in each group by the Kaplan-Meyer survival method and the Cox proportional hazard model. Result: Among the 156 patients, 93 were males; the mean age was 61. The median follow-up period was 33.8 months. The 5 year survival rate was 87.6%. Microscopic lympho-vascular permeation was reported in 10 patients. Recurrence was reported in 19 patients and 12 patients died due to recurrent lung cancer. Noncancer related deaths occurred in 16 patients. Risk factors for cancer recurrence and cancer related death were microscopic lympho-vascular permeation (HR=6.81, p=0.007, HR=7.81, p<0.001); for non-cancer related death, risk factors were pneumonectomy (HR=25.92, p=0.001) and postoperative cardiopulmonary complications (HR=29.67, p=0.002). Conclusion: After complete resection of stage Ia non small cell lung cancer patients, mortality includes not only cancer related deaths but also cancer unrelated deaths. Adjuvant chemotherapy is advised for patients who show microscopic lympho-vascular permeation, which is a risk factor for recurrence and for cancer related death. Patients who had pneumonectomy or who suffered from cardiac or respiratory complications need meticulous care in order to reduce comorbidity-induced death.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.785-795
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• 1997

Background : Tumor markers have been used in diagnosis, predicting the extent of disease, monitoring recurrence after therapy and prediction of prognosis. But the utility of markers in lung cancer has been limited by low sensitivity and specificity. TPA-M is recently developed marker using combined monoclonal antibody of Cytokeratin 8, 18, and 19. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of new tumor marker, TPA-M by comparing the estabilished markers SCC, CEA, Cyfra21-1 in lung cancer. Method : An immunoradiometric assay of serum CEA, sec, Cyfra21-1, and TPA-M was performed in 49 pathologically confirmed lung cancer patients who visited Keimyung University Hospital from April 1996 to August 1996, and 29 benign lung diseases. Commercially available kits, Ab bead CEA (Eiken) to CEA, SCC RIA BEAD (DAINABOT) to SCC, CA2H (TFB) to Cyfra2H. and TPA-M (DAIICHI) to TPA-M were used for this study. Results : The mean serum values of lung cancer group and control group were $10.05{\pm}38.39{\mu}/L$, $1.59{\pm}0.94{\mu}/L$ in CEA, $3.04{\pm}5.79{\mu}/L$, $1.58{\pm}2.85{\mu}/L$ in SCC, $8.27{\pm}11.96{\mu}/L$, $1.77{\pm}2.72{\mu}/L$ in Cyfra21-1, and $132.02{\pm}209.35\;U/L$, $45.86{\pm}75.86\;U/L$ in TPA-M respectively. Serum values of Cyfra21-1 and TPA-M in lung cancer group were higher than control group (p<0.05). Using cutoff value recommended by the manufactures, that is $2.5{\mu}/L$ in CEA, $3.0{\mu}/L$ in Cyfra21-1, 70.0 U/L in TPA-M, and $2.0{\mu}/L$ in SCC, sensitivity and specificity of lung cancer were 33.3%, 78.6% in CEA, 50.0%, 89.7% in Cyfra21-1, 52.3%, 89.7% in TPA-M, 23.8%, 89.3% in SCC. Sensitivity and specificity of nonsmall cell lung cancer were 36.1%, 78.1% in CEA, 50.1%, 89.7% in Cyfra21-1, 53.1%, 89.7% in TPA-M, 33.8%, 89.3% in SCC. Sensitivity and specificity of small cell lung cancer were 25.0%, 78.5% in CEA, 50.0%, 89.6% in Cyfra21-1, 50.0%, 89.6% in TPA-M, 0%, 89.2% in SCC. Cutoff value according to ROC(Receiver operating characteristics) curve was $1.25{\mu}/L$ in CEA, $1.5{\mu}/L$ in Cyfra2-1, 35 U/L in TPA-M, $0.6{\mu}/L$ in SCC. With this cutoff value, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and kappa index of Cyfra21-1 and TPA-M were better than CEA and SCC. SCC only was related with statistic significance to TNM stages, dividing to operable stages(TNM stage I to IIIA) and inoperable stages (IIIB and IV) (p<0.05). But no tumor markers showed any correlation with significance with tumor size(p>0.05). Conclusion : Serum TPA-M and Cyfra21-1 shows higher sensitivity and specificity than CEA and SCC in overall lung cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer those were confirmed pathologically. SCC has higher specificity in nonsmall cell lung cancer. And the level of serum sec are signiticantly related with TNM staging.