• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.217-222
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• 1999

Purpose : To evaluate prognostic factors and survival rates of the patients who received radiation therapy for locally recurrent uterine cervical cancer after curative surgery. Materials and Methods : Between October 1983 and July 1990, fifty three patients who received radiation therapy for locally recurrent cervical cancer after curative surgery at the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea were analysed retrospectively. Age at diagnosis ranged from 33 to 69 years (median 53 years). Pathological analysis showed that forty five ($84.9\%$) patients had squamous cell carcinoma, seven ($13.2\%$) patients had adenocarcinoma, and one (1.9%) patient had adenosquamous cell carcinoma. The interval between hysterectomy and tumor recurrence ranged from 2 months to 25 years (mean 34.4 months). The recurrent sites were vaginal stump in 41 patients ($77.4\%$) and pelvic side wall in 12 patients ($22.6\%$). Recurrent tumor size was devided into two groups : less than 3 cm in 43 patients ($81.1\%$) and more than 3 cm in 10 patients ($18.9\%$). External beam irradiation of whole pelvis was done first up to 46.8 Gy to 50.4 Gy in 5 weeks to 6 weeks, followed by either external beam boost to the recurrent site in 18 patients ($34\%$) or intracavitary irradiation in 24 patients ($45.3\%$). Total dose of radiation ranged from 46.8 Gy to 111 Gy (median 70.2 Gy). Follow up period ranged from 2 to 153 months with a median of 35 months. Results : Overall response rate was $66\%$ (35/53). Among them, six patients ($17.1\%$) relapsed between 7 months and 116 months after radiation therapy (mean 47.7 months), Therefore overall recurrence rate was $45.3\%$. Overall five-year actuarial survival rate was $78.9\%$ and distant failure rate was $10\%$ (5/50). The significant prognostic factors affecting survival rate were interval between primary surgery and tumor recurrence (p=0.0055), recurrent tumor size (p=0.0039), and initial response to radiation therapy (p=0.0428). Complications were observed in 10 ($20/%$) patients, which included mild to moderate lower gastrointestinal, genitourinary, or skin manifestations. One patient died of pulmonary embolism just after intracavitary irradiation. Conclustion : Radiation therapy is the effective treatment for the patients with locally recurrent cervical cancer after curative surgery. These results suggest that interval between primary surgery and tumor recurrence, recurrent tumor size, and initial response to radiation therapy were significant prognostic factors for recurrent cervical cancer.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.379-390
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• 1997

Background : It has long been suggested that neutrophils and their products are implicated as the central mediators of the acute lung injuries. Contrary to the dominant role of neutrophils in ARDS, many cases of ARDS has occurred in the setting of severe neutropenia without pulmonary neutrophil infiltration. Therefore it is certain that effector cell(s) other than neutrophil play an important role in the pathogenesis of ARDS. This experiment was performed to define the mechanism of ARDS in the setting of neutropenia, 1) by comparing the severity of endotoxin-induced lung injury, 2) by measurement of hydrogen peroxide production and cytokine concentration in the bronchoalveolar lavage cells and fluids obtained from different rats with and without cyclophosphamide-pretreatment. Method : The male Sprague-Dawleys were divided into the normal control (NC)-, endotoxin (ETX)-, and cyclophosphamide (CPA)-group in which neutropenia was induced by injecting cyclophosphamide intraperitoneally. Acute lung injury was evoked by injecting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) into a tail vein. The bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed at 3 and 6 hour after administration of LPS to measure the change of cell counts and concentrations of protein and cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Hydrogen peroxide (HPO) production from BAL cells was measured at 6 hour after LPS administration by phenol red microassay with and without zymosan stimulation. Results : The results were as follows. A change of leukocyte counts in the peripheral blood after treatment with CPA : More than 95% of total leukocytes and neutrophils were reduced after CPA administration, resulting in severe neutropenia. A change of BAL cells : In the ETX-group, the number of total cells (p < 0.01) and of macrophage and neutrophil (p < 0.05) were increased at 3 and 6 hour after LPS administration compared to those of NC-group. In the CPA-group, the number of total leukocyte and macrophage were not changed after LPS administration, but neutrophil counts were significantly reduced and it took part in less than 0.1% of total BAL cells (p < 0.01 vs NC-group). BAL cells in this group were almost all macrophages (99.7%). A change of protein concentration in the BALF : In the ETX-group, protein concentration was increased at 3 hour and was more increased at 6 hour after LPS administration (p < 0.05 and < 0.01 vs NC-group, respectively). In the CPA-group, it was also significantly elevated at 3 hour after LPS administration (p < 0.05 vs NC-group), but the value was statistically not different from that of ETX-group. The value measured at 6 hour after LPS administration in the CPA-group became lower than that of ETX-group (p < 0.05), but showed still a higher value compared to that of NC-group (p < 0.05). A change of cytokine concentration in the BALF : TNF -alpha and IL-6 were elevated in the ETX - and CPA-group compared to those of NC-group at both time intervals. There was no statistical difference in the values of both cytokines between the ETX- and CPA-groups. Measurement of hydrogen peroxide production from BAL cells : There was no intergroup difference of HPO production from resting cells. HPO production after incubation with opsonized zymosan was significantly elevated in all groups. The percent increment of HPO production was highest in the ETX-group (89.0%, p < 0.0008 vs NC-group), and was 42.85 in the CPA-group (p = 0.003 vs NC-group ). Conclusion : Acute lung injury in the setting of neutropenia might be caused by functional activation of resident alveolar macrophages.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.349-359
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• 1997

Background : The signal pathways and their precise roles for acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by endotoxin (ETX) has not been established. Since there has been several in vitro experiments suggesting that activation of protein kinase C (PKC) pathway may be responsible for endotoxin-induced inflammatory reaction, we performed in vivo experiments in the rats with the hypothesis that PKC-inhibition can effectively prevent endotoxin-induced acute lung injury. Methods : We studied the role of PKC in ETX-induced ALI using PKC inhibitor (staurosporine, STP) in the rat Specific pathogen free male Sprague-Dawley weighted from 165 to 270g were used for the study. Animals were divided into the normal control (NC)-, vehicle control (VC)-, ETX-, PMA (phorbolmyristateacetate)-, STP+PMA-, and STP+ETX-group. PMA (50mg/kg) or ETX (7mg/kg) was instilled through polyethylen catheter after aseptic tracheostomy with and without STP (0.2mg/kg)-pretreatment STP was injected via tail vein 30min before intratracheal injection (IT) of PMA or ETX. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was done 3-or 6-hrs after IT of PMA or ETX respectively, to measure protein concentration, total and differential cell counts. Results : The results were as follows. The protein concentrations in BALF in the PMA- and ETX-group were very higher than that of VC-group (p<0.001). When animals were pretreated with STP, the %reduction of the protein concentration in BALF was $64.8{\pm}8.5$ and $30.4{\pm}2.5%$ in the STP+PMA- and STP+ETX-group, respectively (p = 0.028). There was no difference in the total cell counts between the PMA-and VC-group (p = 0.26). However the ETX-group showed markedly increased total cell counts as compared to the VC- (p = 0.003) and PMA-group (p = 0.0027), respectively. The total cell counts in BALF were not changed after pretreatment with STP compared to the PMA- (p = 0.22) and ETX-group (p = 0.46). The percentage of PMN, but not alveolar macrophage, was significantly elevated in the PMA-, and ETX-group. Especially in the ETX-group, the percentage of PMN was 17 times higher than that of PMA (p < 0.001). The differential cell counts was not different between the PMA and STP+PMA On the contrary the STP+ETX-group showed decreased percentage of PMN (p = 0.016). There was no significant relationship between the protein concentration and the total or differential cell counts in each group. Conclusion : Pretreatment with PKC-inhibitor (staurosporine) partially but significantly inhibited ETX-induced ALI.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.79-92
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• 2007

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: For the first time, a nationwide survey in the Republic of Korea was conducted to determine the basic parameters for the treatment of esophageal cancer and to offer a solid cooperative system for the Korean Pattern of Care Study database. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: During $1998{\sim}1999$, biopsy-confirmed 246 esophageal cancer patients that received radiotherapy were enrolled from 23 different institutions in South Korea. Random sampling was based on power allocation method. Patient parameters and specific information regarding tumor characteristics and treatment methods were collected and registered through the web based PCS system. The data was analyzed by the use of the Chi-squared test. $\underline{Results}$: The median age of the collected patients was 62 years. The male to female ratio was about 91 to 9 with an absolute male predominance. The performance status ranged from ECOG 0 to 1 in 82.5% of the patients. Diagnostic procedures included an esophagogram (228 patients, 92.7%), endoscopy (226 patients, 91.9%), and a chest CT scan (238 patients, 96.7%). Squamous cell carcinoma was diagnosed in 96.3% of the patients; mid-thoracic esophageal cancer was most prevalent (110 patients, 44.7%) and 135 patients presented with clinical stage III disease. Fifty seven patients received radiotherapy alone and 37 patients received surgery with adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy. Half of the patients (123 patients) received chemotherapy together with RT and 70 patients (56.9%) received it as concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The most frequently used chemotherapeutic agent was a combination of cisplatin and 5-FU. Most patients received radiotherapy either with 6 MV (116 patients, 47.2%) or with 10 MV photons (87 patients, 35.4%). Radiotherapy was delivered through a conventional AP-PA field for 206 patients (83.7%) without using a CT plan and the median delivered dose was 3,600 cGy. The median total dose of postoperative radiotherapy was 5,040 cGy while for the non-operative patients the median total dose was 5,970 cGy. Thirty-four patients received intraluminal brachytherapy with high dose rate Iridium-192. Brachytherapy was delivered with a median dose of 300 cGy in each fraction and was typically delivered $3{\sim}4\;times$. The most frequently encountered complication during the radiotherapy treatment was esophagitis in 155 patients (63.0%). $\underline{Conclusion}$: For the evaluation and treatment of esophageal cancer patients at radiation facilities in Korea, this study will provide guidelines and benchmark data for the solid cooperative systems of the Korean PCS. Although some differences were noted between institutions, there was no major difference in the treatment modalities and RT techniques.