• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.304-314
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• 2016

This study was conducted to understand the meaning and nature of the compassion fatigue experiences among nurses working in oncology wards. The participants in this study were 11 nurses who worked for at least 6 months in oncology wards. The data were collected using in-depth interviews and analyzed using the phenomenological method by Giorgi. Six categories of the meaning of compassion fatigue were derived as follows; physically difficulty, emotion is control of patient's condition, collapsing in front of cancer patients, reminding of patient-related memory, finding a changed attitude, and searching for how to recover.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.380-384
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• 2017

Massive chylous leakage is a rare postoperative complication that can prolong hospital stay and cause secondary morbidities. Conservative management strategies are the treatment of choice; however, radiation therapy (RT) can be used as an alternative for cases that are refractory to conservative treatment. Herein, we report a 69-year-old female patient who suffered from massive chylous leakage after subtotal gastrectomy. Due to persistent massive chylous leakage, she was scheduled to undergo low-dose RT. Radiation was delivered with a daily dose of 1 Gy, using an anterior-posterior and posterior-anterior beam arrangement. The clinical target volume encompassed the entire lymph node area of the D2 dissection. RT was completed at the total dose of 8 Gy because the amount of chylous leakage declined rapidly. Percutaneous drainage tube was removed after 3 days of RT. The patient did not complain of any symptoms related to massive chylous leakage 2 years after the completion of RT.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4715-4718
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• 2015

Background: Patient delay can contribute to a poor outcome in the management of head and neck cancers (HNC). The main objective of the present study was to investigate the factors associated with patient delay in our population. Materials and Methods: Patients with cancers of the head and neck attending a regional cancer center of North East India were consecutively interviewed during the period from June 2014 to November 2014. The participation of patients was voluntary. The questionnaire included information on age, gender, residential status, educational qualification, monthly family income, any family history of cancer, and history of prior awareness on cancer from television (TV) program and awareness program. Results: Of 311 (n) patients, with an age range of 14-88 years (mean 55.4 years), 81.7% were males and 18.3% females (M:F=4.4). The overall median delay was 90 days (range=7 days-365 days), in illiterate patients the median delay was 90 days and 60 days in literate patients (P=0.002), the median delay in patients who had watched cancer awareness program on TV was 60 days and in patients who were unaware about cancer information from TV program had a median delay of 90 days (p=0.00021) and delay of <10 weeks was seen in 139 (44.6%) patients, a delay of 10-20 weeks in 98 (31.5%) patients, and a delay of 20-30 weeks in 63 (20.2%) patients. Conclusions: Education and awareness had a significant impact in reduction of median patient delay in our HNC cases.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.120-127
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• 2019

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the dosimetric performance of Mobius3D by comparison with an aSi-based electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and Octavius 4D, which are conventionally used for patient-specific prescription dose verification. Methods: The study was conducted using nine patients who were treated by volumetric modulated arc therapy. To evaluate the feasibility of Mobius3D for prescription dose verification, we compared the QA results of Mobius3D to an aSi-based EPID and the Octavius 4D dose verification methods. The first was the comparison of the Mobius3D verification phantom dose, and the second was to gamma index analysis. Results: The percentage differences between the calculated point dose and measurements from a PTW31010 ion chamber were 1.6%±1.3%, 2.0%±0.8%, and 1.2%±1.2%, using collapsed cone convolution, an analytical anisotropic algorithm, and the AcurosXB algorithm respectively. The average difference was found to be 1.6%±0.3%. Additionally, in the case of using the PTW31014 ion chamber, the corresponding results were 2.0%±1.4%, 2.4%±2.1%, and 1.6%±2.5%, showing an average agreement within 2.0%±0.3%. Considering all the criteria, the Mobius3D result showed that the percentage dose difference from the EPID was within 0.46%±0.34% on average, and the percentage dose difference from Octavius 4D was within 3.14%±2.85% on average. Conclusions: We conclude that Mobius3D can be used interchangeably with phantom-based dosimetry systems, which are commonly used as patient-specific prescription dose verification tools, especially under the conditions of 3%/3 mm and 95% pass rate.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.533-540
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• 2011

In this case, we report a case of Soeumin rectal cancer patient who was mistreated with herb medication. This patient was 72 years old female diagnosed rectal cancer stage IV with multiple liver, lung, and LN metastases. She administered our cancer center in Sep. 2011 for cancer treatment, we diagnosed this patient as Taeyangin at first, and treated with Mihuedungsikjang-tang. After 1 week, she complained upper abdominal discomfort, severe abdominal pain, nausea and sweating. Considering several symptoms and conditions, the change of symptoms seemed to a adverse events caused by mistreatment. We re-diagnosed this patient as Soeumin, and treated with Soeumin herbal medication, Baekhaoleejung-tang(白何烏理中湯) and Hyangsayangyi-tang(香砂養胃湯). Several symptoms including abdominal pain were improved 2 weeks later. Therefore, we report this case as a reference that Soeumin misdiagnosed as Taeyangin and the improvement of adverse symptoms.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7321-7326
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• 2014

Background: Sexual health and function frequently are overlooked by healthcare professionals despite being identified as an essential aspect of patient care. Patients with cancer have identified sexuality issues as being of equal importance to other quality-of-life issues. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the views and attitudes of oncology nurses caring for cancer patients regarding sexual counseling. Participants and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the web site of the Turkish Oncology Nurses Association. With the participation of 87 nurses from oncology departments, the study determined that most nurses do not evaluate and counsel patients regarding their sexual problems and many difficulties prevent them from focussing on sexual health. The most important reasons for ignoring sexual counseling were the absence of routine regarding sexual counseling in oncology departments, the belief that the patient may become ashamed and the nurses' self-evaluation that they have insufficient skills and education to counsel in this subject. Conclusions: The most important variables in sexual evaluation and counseling are long years of service in the profession and a postgraduate degree.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4859-4862
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• 2015

Background: Fatigue, stress and pain are common symptoms among cancer patients, affecting the quality of life. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of distant Reiki on pain, anxiety and fatigue in oncology patients. Materials and Methods: Participants in the control group received usual medical and nursing care during their stay. The intervention group received usual care plus five distant Reiki sessions, one each night for 30 min. A face to face interview was performed and patient personal and illness related characteristics were evaluated using the Patient Characteristics form. Pain, stress and fatigue were evaluated according to a numeric rating scale. Results: The experimental group was predominantly composed of women (71.4%), married individuals (40%), and primary school graduates (40%). The control group was predominantly male (72.7%), married (60%), and primary school graduates (60%). The control group demonstrated greater levels of pain (p=0.002), stress (p=0.001) and fatigue (p=0.001). The Reiki group pain score (p <0.0001), stress score (p <0.001) and fatigue score were also significantly lower. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that Reiki may d ecreasepain, anxiety and fatigue in oncology patients.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.262-265
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• 2014

Tamoxifen and radiotherapy are used in breast cancer treatment worldwide. Radiation recall dermatitis (RRD), induced by tamoxifen, has been rarely reported. Herein, we report a RRD case induced by tamoxifen. A 47-year-old woman had a right quadrantectomy and an axillary lymph node dissection due to breast cancer. The tumor was staged pT2N0; it was hormone receptor positive, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative. The patient received adjuvant chemotherapy followed by tamoxifen and radiotherapy. After 22 months of tamoxifen, the patient developed a localized heating sensation, tenderness, edema, and redness at the irradiated area of the right breast. The symptoms improved within 1 week without treatment. Three weeks later, however, the patient developed similar symptoms in the same area of the breast. She continued tamoxifen before and during dermatitis, and symptoms resolved within 1 week.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.258-266
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• 2015

The modern radiotherapy technique which delivers a large amount of dose to patients asks to confirm the positions of patients or tumors more accurately by using X-ray projection images of high-definition. However, a rapid increase in patient's exposure and image information for CT image acquisition may be additional burden on the patient. In this study, by introducing structural similarity (SSIM) index that can effectively extract the structural information of the image, we analyze the differences between daily acquired x-ray images of a patient to verify the accuracy of patient positioning. First, for simulating a moving target, the spherical computational phantoms changing the sizes and positions were created to acquire projected images. Differences between the images were automatically detected and analyzed by extracting their SSIM values. In addition, as a clinical test, differences between daily acquired x-ray images of a patient for 12 days were detected in the same way. As a result, we confirmed that the SSIM index was changed in the range of 0.85~1 (0.006~1 when a region of interest (ROI) was applied) as the sizes or positions of the phantom changed. The SSIM was more sensitive to the change of the phantom when the ROI was limited to the phantom itself. In the clinical test, the daily change of patient positions was 0.799~0.853 in SSIM values, those well described differences among images. Therefore, we expect that SSIM index can provide an objective and quantitative technique to verify the patient position using simple x-ray images, instead of time and cost intensive three-dimensional x-ray images.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2967-2970
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• 2015

Many patients with few cerebral metastases receive radiosurgery alone. The goal of this study was to create a tool to estimate the survival of such patients. To identify characteristics associated with survival, nine variables including radiosurgery dose, age, gender, Eastern cooperative oncology group performance score (ECOG-PS), primary tumor type, number/size of cerebral metastases, location of cerebral metastases, extra-cerebral metastases and time between cancer diagnosis and radiosurgery were analyzed in 214 patients. On multivariate analysis, age (p=0.03), ECOG-PS (p=0.02) and extra-cerebral metastases (p<0.01) had significant impacts on survival. Scoring points for each patient were obtained from 12-month survival rates (in %) related to the significant variables divided by 10. Addition of the scoring points of the three variables resulted in a patient's total predictive score. Two groups were designed, A (10-14 points) and B (16-17 points). Twelve-month survival rates were 33% and 77%, respectively (p<0.001). Median survival times were 8 and 20 months, respectively. Because most patients of group A died from extra-cerebral disease and/or new cerebral lesions, early systemic treatment and additional WBI should be considered. As cause of death in group B was mostly new cerebral metastases, additional WBI appears even more important for this group.