• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.557-561
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• 2007

Purpose: Malignant melanoma is a fatal tumor arising in the melanocytic systems of the skin. The incidence of malignant melanoma, formerly considered a rare tumor in Korea, is observed to increase. The aim of this study is to analyze the clinical and histopathological pattern of malignant melanoma in one institute. Methods: Thirty patients with ages ranging from 33 to 80 years, diagnosed as malignant melanoma at our skin tumor department, were enrolled in a retrospective study over a 6 year period(2000. 9-2006. 7). The analyzed data included age, sex, location, duration before diagnosis, clinical type, level of invasion, and stage. Results: The cases were identified and analyzed by clinical and histopathologic study. The male to female ratio was 1:1.7. Lower extremities(especially, feet) were favored sites. The majority of cases were acral lentiginous melanoma(40%), followed by nodular melanoma (36.7%), superficial spreading melanoma(20%) in this study. Clark level IV was predominant in histopathologic study. There was merely narrow gap among each stage by AJCC. Conclusion: The clinicopathological characteristic of melanoma in our patients is quite different with that in the West. In this retrospective study, primary lesions of the foot were predominant with melanoma, and a high percentage of these were classified pathologically as acral lentiginous melanomas. Patients had a more advanced stage of disease at first presentation and a more deeply invasive primary lesion than Western patients. These suggest that malignant melanoma has a worse prognosis in our patients than in the West. So, further organized prospective studies are needed to approach the prudent and accurate diagnosis and management of melanoma in Korea.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7309-7313
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• 2015

Background: The organ preservation approach of choice for the treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancers is concurrent chemoradiation with three weekly high doses of cisplatin. Although this is an efficacious treatment policy, it has high acute systemic and mucosal toxicities, which lead to frequent treatment breaks and increased overall treatment time. Hence, the current study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiation using 40 mg/m2 weekly cisplatin. Materials and Methods: This is a single institutional retrospective study including the data of 266 locally advanced head and neck cancer patients who were treated with concurrent chemoradiation using 40 mg/m2 weekly cisplatin from January 2012 to January 2014. A p-value of < 0.05 was taken to be significant statistically for all purposes in the study. Results: The mean age of the study patients was 48.8 years. Some 36.1% of the patients had oral cavity primary tumors. The mean overall treatment time was 57.2 days. With a mean follow up of 15.2 months for all study patients and 17.5 months for survivors, 3 year local control, locoregional control and disease free survival were seen in 62.8%, 42.8% and 42.1% of the study patients. Primary tumor site, nodal stage of disease, AJCC stage of the disease and number of cycles of weekly cisplatin demonstrated statistically significant correlations with 3 year local control, locoregional control and disease free survival. Conclusions: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with moderate dose weekly cisplatin is an efficacious treatment regime for locally advanced head and neck cancers with tolerable toxicity which can be used in developing countries with limited resources.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.294-300
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• 2015

Purpose: To evaluate survival rates and prognostic factors related to treatment outcomes after bladder preserving therapy including transurethral resection of bladder tumor, radiotherapy (RT) with or without concurrent chemotherapy in bladder cancer with a curative intent. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively studied 50 bladder cancer patients treated with bladder-preserving therapy at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center from January 1999 to December 2010. Age ranged from 46 to 89 years (median, 71.5 years). Bladder cancer was the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage II, III, and IV in 9, 27, and 14 patients, respectively. Thirty patients were treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) and 20 patients with RT alone. Nine patients received chemotherapy prior to CCRT or RT alone. Radiation was delivered with a four-field box technique (median, 63 Gy; range, 48.6 to 70.2 Gy). The follow-up periods ranged from 2 to 169 months (median, 34 months). Results: Thirty patients (60%) showed complete response and 13 (26%) a partial response. All patients could have their own bladder preserved. Five-year overall survival (OS) rate was 37.2%, and the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 30.2%. In multivariate analysis, tumor grade and CCRT were statistically significant in OS. Conclusion: Tumor grade was a significant prognostic factor related to OS. CCRT is also considered to improve survival outcomes. Further multi-institutional studies are needed to elucidate the impact of RT in bladder cancer.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.145-152
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• 1995

A retrospective analysis was performed to ascertain the relationship between the treatment modalities and their treatment results. From July 1980 to June 1993, 115 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the maxillary sinus were: treated at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Yonsei Cancer Center, Yonsei University. There were 88 men and 27 women with median age of 57 years. According to AJCC TNM system of 1992. eight patients of T2, 54 patients of T3 and 53 patients of T4 were available, respectively. Cervical lymph node metastases at diagnosis was observed in 11 patients. 87 patients were treated with radiotherapy and 28 patients were treated with combination of surgery and radiotherapy. The overall 5 year survival rate was 32 %, patients that were treated with radiotherapy alone had a 5 year survival rate 24.3 % and patients who were treated with combination of surgery and radiation therapy had a 5 year survival rate of 52.8 % (p<0.05). Combination of surgery and radiotherapy resulted in a better treatment modality for squamous cell carcinoma of the maxillary sinus. Improved radiotherapy technique and development of multimodality treatment are needed to improve the local control and the survival rate in patients with advanced maxillary sinus carcinoma.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.299-305
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• 2009

Purpose: Recently, the incidence of malignant melanoma has been steadily increasing. Malignant melanoma is already known to have poorer prognosis than other primary skin cancers. Despite the poor prognosis, it is relatively less known to the public so that a number of patients visit hospital carrying advanced stage tumor. Yet, extensive study about malignant melanoma is currently insufficient, and specific guidelines and statistical figures in Korea are almost inexistent. Therefore, authors reviewed patients with malignant melanoma who have visited our hospital for last 14 years. Methods: Between January 1994 and January 2008, 62 patients were diagnosed with malignant melanoma at our hospital. A retrospective study was performed with data from patients' charts and biopsy results. Annual incidence, mean age of onset, gender, tumor location, tumor thickness, pathologic ulceration, clinicopathologic subtype, and clinical AJCC stage were evaluated. Analysis of factors associated with survival were performed using the Cox proportional hazard model. Kaplan - Meier method was used to generate survival curves. Results: Clinicopathologic features of 62 patients (32 male, 30 female) with average age of 57 years were evaluated. Most lesions were found in lower limb, and the most common subtype was acral lentiginous melanoma. We could also find that age, tumor thickness, and clinical stage were the only significant prognostic factors. Conclusion: Clinicopathologic features of malignant melanoma were analyzed in this study, but the result is not ready to be generalized because the number of cases is too small. Further study must be performed to report clinical guidelines for prognosis and treatment for malignant melanoma patients in Korea.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.156-161
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• 2001

배경: 식도암의 절제술에 있어 식도 위 문합술은 중대한 합병증, 즉 문합부 누출, 양성협착, 종양의 재발 등을 유발한다. 수술 후 재원기간동안 환자가 느끼는 주관적인 증상과 합병증이 식도와 위장관의 문합부 위치에 따라 달라질 수 있으므로 서로간에 비교분석할 필요가 있겠다. 대상 및 방법: 1995년 1월부터 1999년 5월까지 식도암 근치술로 식도 위 문합술을 시행 받은 55명의 환자를 대상으로 문합위치에 따라 경부문합한 23명의 환자와 흉부문합을 한 32명의 환자를 비교 분석하였다. 절제술 후 AJCC분류에 따라 I기 5명, II기 27명, III기 23명으로 판정되었으며, 종양이 상흉부에 위치한 경우 3명, 중흉부 34명, 하흉부 18명이었다. 조직학적으로 55명의 환자 2명의 선암을 제외하고 53명이 편평상피세포암이었다. 55명 전원이 남자였으며 평균연령은 경부문합의 경우 59세였고, 흉부문합은 55세였다. 경부 문합의 경우 1명의 staple봉합을 제외하고 나머지 22명이 수봉합을 하였으며, 흉부문합술의 경우는 9명이 수봉합, 23명이 staple봉합을 하였다. 결과: 수술 후 사망자는 경부문합 1명, 흉부문합 2명이었다. 경부 문합환자의 경우 23명 중 15명에서 호흡기, 소화기등의 합병증 46례가 발생하였고, 흉부 문합환자의 경우 32명중 13명에서 합병증 37례가 발생하였다. 경부문합환자는 중등도 혹은 심한 연하곤란을 나타내는 경우가 11명에서 있었으며, 흉부문합환자는 2명에서 나타났다. 또한 수술 후 20일 이후까지 재원한 경우는 경부문합환자 18명, 흉부문합환자는 13명이었다. 결론: 식도암에서 식도 위 문합술의 경우 호흡기, 소화기, 감염등의 합병증이 발생하였으며, 특히 호흡기 합병증에 의한 사망률이 높았다. 문합부 누출은 staple봉합보다 수봉합에서, 흉부문합보다 경부문합에서 빈도가 높았다. 경부문합의 경우 문합부 누출률이 높고, 연하곤란을 많이 호소하며 재원기간이 의미있게 길었다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2541-2546
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• 2014

Background: Primary hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma (PHNEC) is rarer than extrahepatic gastrointestinal neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC). It is difficult to make a correct diagnosis and poses a challenge for management. Materials and Methods: Ten PHNEC patients were admitted to our hospital from June 2006 to June 2011. Laboratory tests and imaging scans were performed for diagnosis and exclusion of extrahepatic NEC. All patients were AFP - and CA199-. Seven patients had solid tumors with cystic changes on ultrasonography, CT and/or MRI. For the initial treatment, four patients received combined-therapy and six monotherapy. Considering overall treatment, six patients received combined-therapy and four patients monotherapy. Staging criteria of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC, AJCC 7th edition) were used to differentiate the stage of all patients: 3 patients were stage I, 2 stageII, 4 patients stageIII and 1 stageIV. All patients were followed up and clinical data were gathered. Results: The median follow-up duration was 38.5 months. The 1-year, 2-year, 3-year and 6-year disease-free survival was 80.0%, 46.2% and 46.2% and 0% respectively. The overall survival rates were 100%, 67.1%, 67.1% and 33.6% respectively. Patients in early-stages (I/II) had similar disease-free and overall survival as those in advanced-stages (III/IV). Patients with monotherapy had significant shorter disease-free and overall survival than the patients with combination-therapy. Conclusions: PHNEC has a unique specificity during its occurrence and development. The staging criteria of PHC might not be suitable for the PHENT. More convenient and effective features need to be found in imaging and laboratory detection. Surgical resection, TACE, chemotherapy and radiofrequency ablation should be performed in combination and actively for patients with PHNEC or recurrence to get the best effectiveness; they might extend the disease-free and overall survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9459-9465
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• 2014

Background: Structural maintenance of chromosomes 4 (SMC-4) is a chromosomal ATPase which plays an important role in regulate chromosome assembly and segregation. However, the role of SMC-4 in the incidence of malignancies, especially colorectal cancer is still poorly understood. Materials and Methods: We here used quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis to examine SMC-4 mRNA and protein levels in primary colorectal cancer and paired normal colonic mucosa. SMC-4 clinicopathological significance was assessed by immunohistochemical staining in a tissue microarray (TMA) in which 118 cases of primary colorectal cancer were paired with noncancerous tissue. The biological function of SMC-4 knockdown was measured by CCK8 and plate colony formation assays. Fluorescence detection has been used to detect cell cycling and apoptosis. Results: SMC-4 expression was significantly higher in colorectal cancer and associated with T stage, N stage, AJCC stage and differentiation. Knockdown of SMC-4 expression significantly suppressed the proliferation of cancer cells and degraded its malignant degree. Conclusions: Our clinical and experimental data suggest that SMC-4 may contribute to the progression of colorectal carcinogenesis. Our study provides a new therapeutic target for colorectal cancer treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.329-332
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• 2013

Background: The study aimed to determine the incidence of K-ras and BRAF mutations in colorectal cancers (CRCs) in Thai patients and evaluate association with clinicopathological parameters including treatment outcomes in terms of event free survival (EFS). Materials and Methods: Two-hundred colorectal cancer specimens were collected for studies of K-Ras codon 12, 13 and 61, and BRAF codon 600 by polymerase chain reaction and direct nucleotide sequencing. Results: The overall incidence of K-Ras mutations in our patients was 23%. K-ras mutation frequencies in CRC stages (AJCC) I, II, III and IV were 6.7%, 16.1%, 23.3% and 26.6%, respectively (p-value>0.05). The three most common mutation forms were G12D, G12V and G13D. K-Ras mutation status was associated with poorer EFS in stage I-III CRCs (p-value 0.03). Conclusions: The study found a lower mutation frequency of K-Ras and BRAF compared to reports involving other ethnic groups. However, K-Ras mutations did have a negative prognostic value in early-stage CRCs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7981-7984
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• 2014

Purpose: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening with fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) has been associated with a reduction in CRC incidence and CRC-related mortality. However, a conventional FOBT requires stool collection and handling, which may be inconvenient for participants. The EZ-Detect$^{TM}$ (Siam Pharmaceutical Thailand) is a FDA-approved chromogen-substrate based FOBT which is basically a self-checked FOBT (no stool handling required). This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of EZ-Detect for CRC detection. Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand between November 2013 and May 2014. Some 96 patients with histologically-proven CRC and 101 patients with normal colonoscopic findings were invited to perform self-checked FOBT according to the manufacturer's instructions. Results were compared with endoscopic and pathologic findings. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for CRC detection were calculated. Results: The present study revealed the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of this self-checked FOBT for CRC detection to be 41% (95% CI: 31-51), 97% (95% CI: 92-99), 93% (95% CI: 81-98) and 63% (95% CI: 55-70), respectively. The overall accuracy of the self-checked FOBT for identifying CRC was 70%. The sensitivity for CRC detection based on 7th AJCC staging was 29% for stage I, 32% for stage II and 50% for stage III/IV (P=0.19). The sensitivity was 33% for proximal colon and 42% for distal colon and rectal cancer (P=0.76). Notably, none of nine infiltrative lesions gave a positive FOBT. Conclusions: The self-checked FOBT had an acceptable accuracy of CRC detection except for infiltrative tumors. This home-administrated or 'DIY' do-it-yourself FOBT could be considered as one non-invasive and convenient tool for CRC screening.