• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2018

Purpose: Local recurrence is a common failure pattern in adenocarcinoma of the cecum. This study aimed to investigate the potential role of adjuvant radiation therapy on oncologic outcomes of patients with adenocarcinoma of the cecum. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out at three large tertiary university hospitals. We analyzed the characteristics, prognostic factors, and survival of 162 patients with adenocarcinoma of the cecum that were treated and followed up between 2000 and 2013. All the patients had undergone a right hemicolectomy and received chemotherapy with (n = 48) or without (n = 114) adjuvant radiation therapy. Results: The subjects were 65 females and 97 males with a median age of 56 years (range, 17 to 90 years) at diagnosis. The 5-year local control (LC), disease free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) rates were 72.7%, 57.2%, and 62.6% respectively. In a multivariate analysis, age, tumor stage, node stage, and adjuvant radiation therapy were determined to be independent prognostic factors. Age more than 55 years (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06-0.32; p = 0.003), T4 stage (HR = 6.8; 95% CI, 3.07-15.36; p < 0.001), node positive disease (HR = 4.2; 95% CI, 1.94-9.13; p < 0.001), and the absence of adjuvant radiation therapy (HR = 3.0; 95% CI, 1.39-6.46; p = 0.005) had a negative influence on OS. Conclusion: Adjuvant radiation therapy significantly improves DFS and OS in patients with adenocarcinoma of the cecum.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7813-7818
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• 2015

Background: Radiotherapy plays an important role as adjuvant treatment in locally advanced breast cancer and in those patients who have undergone breast-conserving surgery. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of adjuvant radiation on oncologic outcomes in elderly women with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, we reviewed and analyzed the characteristics, treatment outcome and survival of elderly women (aged ${\geq}60years$) with breast cancer who were treated and followed-up between 1993 and 2014. The median follow up for the surviving patients was 38 (range 3-207) months. Results: One hundred and seventy-eight patients with a median age of 74 (range 60-95) years were enrolled in the study. Of the total, 60 patients received postoperative adjuvant radiation (radiation group) and the remaining 118 did not (control group). Patients in the radiation group were significantly younger than those in the control group (P value=0.004). In addition, patients in radiation group had higher node stage (P value<0.001) and disease stage (P=0.003) and tended to have higher tumor grade (P=0.031) and received more frequent (P value<0.001) adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared to those in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference between two groups regarding the local control, disease-free survival and overall survival rates. Conclusions: In this study, we did not find a prognostic impact for adjuvant radiation on oncologic outcomes in elderly women with breast cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.65-69
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• 2008

Surgery is the only curative modality for the treatment of gastric cancer. There has been no drastic improvement in the treatment of gastric cancer with chemotherapy. Clinical trials have attempted to demonstrate the benefit of the preoperative chemotherapy for gastric cancer. The benefit of the use of preoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy has been demonstrated for other solid cancers such as breast cancer, esophageal cancer and rectal cancer. Despite the rationale of the use of preoperative chemotherapy for patients with gastric cancer, the evidence of positive results with the use of preoperative chemotherapy has not been clear. Recently the British Medical Research Council Adjuvant Gastric Cancer Infusional Chemotherapy (MAGIC) study demonstrated the survival benefit of preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy. However, this study had several problems with the use of a heterogeneous population of patients, the method of surgery and the use of perioperative chemotherapy. Further studies with new drugs are warranted to determine the role of pre-operative chemotherapy for patients with gastric cancer.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.313-322
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• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify over time the changes of cancer symptom, depression and quality of life (QOL) among people who had stomach or colorectal cancer. Methods: Of the 74 participants recruited, 67 participated in the study. Participants were asked to complete three instruments at three different time. The instruments were the M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory-Gastrointestinal Cancer Module, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General. The questionnaires were administered before chemotherapy, toward the end of chemotherapy, and six months after the completion of adjuvant therapy. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and repeated measure ANOVA. Results: At the immediately after chemotherapy point, the most frequent symptom was lack of appetite, followed by fatigue and problem with remembering things. The mean score for depression was 8.27 with a prevalence of 31.3%. The mean score for quality of life was 61.88 out of 135. Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant increase in cancer symptom (F=23.22, p<.001) and depression (F=35.29, p<.001) after chemotherapy. However, improvement was observed 6 months after the completion of chemotherapy. QOL (F=33.73, p<.001) also showed similar patterns as observed with cancer symptom and depression. Cancer symptom was the strongest predictor of QoL at pre-chemotherapy point. but depression was the strongest predictor at immediately after chemotherapy point. Conclusion: Chemotherapy is highly associated with cancer symptom, depression and QOL in patients with cancer. The nursing intervention is needed to relieve depression as well as cancer symptoms to improve QOL in patients undergoing chemotherapy from baseline to follow-up.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.3891-3893
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• 2014

Background: Most patients with endometrial cancer have stage I disease. Adjuvant therapy in stage IB (formerly IC) endometrial cancer is controversial, treatment options including observation or brachytherapy/radiotherapy in grade 1-3 patients with or without chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to assess the outcomes of our patients with stage IB endometrioid endometrial cancer. Materials and Methods: Sixty two patients with stage IB endometrial cancer and endometrioid histology were retrospectively evaluated. All patients were initially treated surgically by the same surgeon with comprehensive staging, i.e. total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salphingooopherectomy, bilateral pelvic and paraaortic lymph node dissection and omentectomy. Adjuvant radiotherapy was discussed with patients and utilized by those who accepted. Adjuvant chemotherapy was not given to any of the patients. Results: Median age was 62 (range, 42-95). Ninety percent of the patients had grade 1-2 disease. Thirteen patients (21%) received intra vaginal brachytherapy (IVBT) and one received whole pelvic radiotherapy (WPRT). Median follow-up time was 46 months (range, 9-77 months). Three patients experienced recurrence (4.8%), two of them died on follow-up and one was still alive at last visit. Two patients with recurrence had FIGO grade 2 tumors and one had a grade 3 tumor. Two patients (3.2%) died without evidence of recurrent disease. Relapse free survival at 5 years was 94.4% and overall survival was 93.1%. Conclusions: Patients with stage IB disease in our study demonstrated relatively low recurrence rates although the majority of them received no adjuvant treatment. Surgery alone may be sufficient for most patients with this stage of endometrial cancer.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.610-614
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• 2009

Background: Several trials have reported on whether adjuvant chemotherapy for resected stage IB non-small cell lung cancer is needed. The aim of our study was to investigate prognostic factors for recurrence to help identify patients who should receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Material and Method: We reviewed the cases of 48 stage IB non-small cell lung cancer patients between 1997 and 2006. Disease-free survival and overall survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis was performed with the log rank test and multivariate analysis was done using Cox's proportional hazard model. Result: The median follow-up time was 48 months. The overall survival rate was 55.9%, and the disease-free survival rate was 48.6%. Of 8 variables, two factors, visceral pleural invasion and Iymphovascular invasion, were prognostic factors of disease-free survival (univariate analysis). Visceral pleural invasion was a significant prognostic factor in multivariate analysis, and overall survival in com-pared one or more variable such as visceral pleural invasion or, and lymphovascular invasion with the other variables. Conclusion: Visceral pleural invasion was identified as a poor prognostic factor and it may help select which patients will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in addition to more comprehensive follow-up.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1471-1477
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• 2015

Background: Adding taxanes to adjuvant antracycline and cyclophosphamide (AC) in combination may provide significant improvement in node-positive and high risk node-negative breast cancer (BC) patients. However, the optimal dose and the role of dose-dense (DD) chemotherapy have yet to be determined. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of a DD paclitaxel (P)-AC combination with conventional weekly P-AC or docetaxel D-AC combinations in patients with node-positive breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Newly diagnosed 280 node-positive BC patients diagnosed from 1998 to 2013 in three clinics were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic and medical data were collected from the medical charts. Patients were categorized to 3 groups according to treatment arms: arm A, ddAC-P; arm B, weekly P and AC combination; and arm C; T and AC combination. Adjuvant trastuzumab was added for HER2-positive patients. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was carried out for disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The log-rank test was used to examine the statistical significance of the differences observed between the groups. Two-sided P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Of the total of 280 patients, 101 were in arm A, 114 in arm B and 65 in arm C.The median ages were 49, 50 and 46, respectively (p=0.11). Median follow-up was 39 (3-193) months. Stage, lymphovascular and perineural invasion, receptor patern, and menopausal status were similar in the 3 treatment arms, but HER2 positivity was significantly lower in arm A, compared to arms B and C (25.7%, 53.1%, 41.5% in arms A, B and C, respectively; p<0.001). Also grade 3 tumors were significantly less frequent in treatment arm A compared to arm B and C (27.3%, 56.8% and 49.2%, respectively, p=0.01). Afterunivariate and multivariate analysis were performed, 3-year DFS rates were 89%, 81%, and 75%, respectively (p=0.12) and three year OS rates were 96.6%, 89%, and 75% (p=0.62). Conclusions: In this study, no significant difference was found between adjuvant dose dense and conventional taxane treatment regimens.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.271-276
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• 2016

Pregnancy-associated gastric cancer is extremely rare. In many cases, it is diagnosed at an advanced stage because the symptoms during pregnancy are generally overlooked. We report three cases of gastric cancer during pregnancy with various outcomes. The first case included a patient with stage IV gastric cancer who received palliative chemotherapy. This patient had a preterm birth and died 7 months after diagnosis. The second case received neoadjuvant chemotherapy during pregnancy and a total gastrectomy was performed after delivery. She then received adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. This patient developed pulmonary metastasis and died of recurrence 41 months after surgery. In the third case, a distal subtotal gastrectomy was performed at week 14 of pregnancy, with no complications. The patient received adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. She is currently without recurrence 14 months after surgery. In patients with pregnancy-associated gastric cancer, treatment decisions are predominantly influenced by clinical stage and gestational age at diagnosis.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.448-451
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• 2010

Primary central nervous system (CNS) sarcomas are exceedingly rare, and, to the best of our knowledge, there has not yet been a report of intramedullary sarcoma. Here, we report a primary intradural intramedullary sarcoma of the spinal cord in a four-year-old boy who presented with low back pain and a radiculopathy involving both lower extremities. The tumor showed significant enhancement on magnetic resonance (MR) images due to its extreme vascularity. Gross total tumor removal was performed with microelectrical pulse recording, and the patient also received adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy. After the operation, the patient's sensory deficits were improved. Because CNS dissemination is common, entire neuraxis evaluation is essential, although there was no evidence of dissemination in this case. The prognosis of primary CNS sarcoma is poor due to infiltrative nature and early CNS dissemination is common, and the treatment of choice is radical surgical resection. Adjuvant therapy is also beneficial with radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.32-42
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• 1998

(Backgrounds) This study was performed to evaluate the usefulness of red ginseng ex rant as adjuvant therapeutic agent improving immune function in immune compromizing gas-trointestinal carcinoma patient. (Material and Methods) We were treated 72 patients with two groups after we were undertaken the curative resection for gastrointestinal carcinoma; 1) only chemotherapy and immunotherapy (control group) 2) chemotherapy and immunotherapy with 4500 mg (15 tablets) red ginseng for 6 months (study group). For investigating the immunologic alternations alongside the numerical changes in peripheral blood Iymphocyte and their subsets in the gastrolntestinal carcinoma patients, Iymphocyte surface markers were determined by monoclonal antibodies on the preoperative day, postoperative 1 months, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and 18 months in 40 controls and 32 red ginseng groups In gastrointestinal carcinoma patients which was recruited at Korea diversity Hospital from March, 1995 to January, 1997. The patient was measured and compared in both groups with the body weight, total protein and albumin, blood hematocrit and hemoglobin, total leukocyte, lymphocyte and lymphocyte subsets count in peripheral blood through planed schedules. (Couclusion) This data suggests that red ginseng may be useful as a adjuvant therapeutic agent for improving the immune function after curative operation for immune compromizing gastrointestinal carcinoma patients. Key words : Ginseng, Immunity, Gastrointestlnal carcinoma patients.