• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2017

Background: To evaluate whether DM affects the SUVmax of metastatic lesions on ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT and whether the SUVmax can influence the prognosis of metastatic PDAC patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 86 patients with metastatic PDAC who underwent PET/CT before treatment. The SUVmax of primary and metastatic lesions and the ratios of the SUVmax were measured. Long-term survival was evaluated using clinical parameters. Results: The mean SUVmax of primary lesion was lower in the DM group than in the non-DM group (4.74 vs. 5.96, p=0.009). The SUVmax for all metastatic lesions, except those in the lung, were lower in the DM group than in the non-DM group, and these differences were statistically significant in the lymph nodes and peritoneum. In the 35 patients with hepatic metastasis, higher ratios of the liver SUVmax significantly correlated with shorter OS (HR, 2.625; p=0.013). Conclusion: DM can influence the lower SUVmax of metastatic lesions as well as primary lesions. The SUVmax ratio of hepatic metastasis could influence on prognosis in metastatic PDAC patients.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 2023

Backgrounds/Aims: Timing of resection for synchronous colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) has been debated for decades. The aim of the present study was to assess the feasibility of simultaneous resection of CRLM in terms of major complications and develop a prediction model for safe resections. Methods: A retrospective single-center study of synchronous, resectable CRLM, operated between 2013 and 2021 was conducted. Upper limit of 95% confidence interval (CI) of major complications (≥ grade IIIA) was set at 40% as the safety threshold. Logistic regression was used to determine predictors of morbidity. Prediction model was internally validated by bootstrap estimates, Harrell's C-index, and correlation of predicted and observed estimates. Results: Ninety-two patients were operated. Of them, 41.3% had rectal cancers. Major hepatectomy (≥ 4 segments) was performed for 25 patients (27.2%). Major complications occurred in 20 patients (21.7%, 95% CI: 13.8%-31.5%). Predictors of complications were the presence of comorbidities and major hepatectomy (area under the ROC curve: 0.692). Unacceptable level of morbidity (≥ 40%) was encountered in patients with comorbidities who underwent major hepatectomy. Conclusions: Simultaneous bowel and CRLM resection appear to be safe. However, caution should be exercised when combining major liver resections with bowel resection in patients with comorbid conditions.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.14-24
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• 2024

This study aims to assess the quality and performance of predictive models for colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRCLM). A systematic review was performed to identify relevant studies from various databases. Studies that described or validated predictive models for CRCLM were included. The methodological quality of the predictive models was assessed. Model performance was evaluated by the reported area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Of the 117 articles screened, seven studies comprising 14 predictive models were included. The distribution of included predictive models was as follows: radiomics (n = 3), logistic regression (n = 3), Cox regression (n = 2), nomogram (n = 3), support vector machine (SVM, n = 2), random forest (n = 2), and convolutional neural network (CNN, n = 2). Age, sex, carcinoembryonic antigen, and tumor staging (T and N stage) were the most frequently used clinicopathological predictors for CRCLM. The mean AUCs ranged from 0.697 to 0.870, with 86% of the models demonstrating clear discriminative ability (AUC > 0.70). A hybrid approach combining clinical and radiomic features with SVM provided the best performance, achieving an AUC of 0.870. The overall risk of bias was identified as high in 71% of the included studies. This review highlights the potential of predictive modeling to accurately predict the occurrence of CRCLM. Integrating clinicopathological and radiomic features with machine learning algorithms demonstrates superior predictive capabilities.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.138-143
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• 2022

Backgrounds/Aims: Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is a standard surgical procedure for patients with periampullary cancer. During the follow-up period after PD, recurrence can be observed in various places with different prognosis. The aim of this study was to clarify the pattern of recurrence and factors affecting the survival of patients with periampullary cancer. Methods: Overall, 88 patients who received PD for distal common bile duct cancer or ampulla of Vater cancer were finally included and their clinical characteristics were analyzed. Patients were divided into three groups: recurrence-free (RF) group, an isolated locoregional recurrence (LR) group, and a distant metastasis (DM) group. Prognostic factors affecting recurrence in each group were analyzed and a survival analysis was performed. Results: Perineural invasion (PNI), T stage, and lymphovascular invasion (LVI) were significant risk factors for LR and PNI, lymph node metastasis, LVI, and T stage were associated with DM group compared to RF group in univariate analysis, respectively. N stage and PNI were significant risk factors (p = 0.046, p = 0.041) in overall survival of the LR and the DM groups. There was no significant difference in 5-year overall survival between the LR and DM groups. Conclusions: T stage was a significant risk factor of LR, while PNI was a significant risk factor of DM. There was no significant difference in overall survival depending on the site of recurrence.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2005

Solid pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas in children is a tumor with low malignant potentiality. and is rarely associated with distant metastasis. A 13-year-old girl was hospitalized because of abdominal pain of one week duration. Abdominal CT revealed not only a $12{\times}6cm$ sized mass at the pancreatic body and tail but also a 1cm sized mass in left lobe of the liver. The patient underwent a near-total pancreatectomy and tumorectomy of the liver. A solid pseudopapillary tumor with liver metastasis was confirmed by pathology. She has undergone 13 courses of chemotherapy and has been well for 13 monthswithout any sign of recurrence.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.123-135
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• 2024

Although gemcitabine-based regimens are widely used as an effective treatment for pancreatic cancer, acquired resistance to gemcitabine has become an increasingly common problem. Therefore, a novel therapeutic strategy to treat gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer is urgently required. Piceamycin has been reported to exhibit antiproliferative activity against various cancer cells; however, its underlying molecular mechanism for anticancer activity in pancreatic cancer cells remains unexplored. Therefore, the present study evaluated the antiproliferation activity of piceamycin in a gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cell line and patient-derived pancreatic cancer organoids. Piceamycin effectively inhibited the proliferation and suppressed the expression of alpha-actinin-4, a gene that plays a pivotal role in tumorigenesis and metastasis of various cancers, in gemcitabine-resistant cells. Long-term exposure to piceamycin induced cell cycle arrest at the G₀/G₁ phase and caused apoptosis. Piceamycin also inhibited the invasion and migration of gemcitabine-resistant cells by modulating focal adhesion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition biomarkers. Moreover, the combination of piceamycin and gemcitabine exhibited a synergistic antiproliferative activity in gemcitabine-resistant cells. Piceamycin also effectively inhibited patient-derived pancreatic cancer organoid growth and induced apoptosis in the organoids. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that piceamycin may be an effective agent for overcoming gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.719-724
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• 2012

This study aimed to investigate the clinical significance of expression and amplification of decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) in pancreatic carcinomas (PC). mRNA expression was detected by PQ-PCR, and amplification was determined. DcR3 protein expression was detected by immunohistochemistry and ELISA. Correlations between DcR3 expression and clinical pathological factors were analyzed. The relative amount of DcR3 in PC tissues and non-cancerous tissues showed a statistically significant difference, 21 cases displaying more than two fold DcR3 amplification, while no such amplification was found in normal pancreatic tissues. DcR3 positive cell staining was located in the cytoplasm. The positive rate of DcR3 in PC and non-cancerous tissues showed a significant difference. DcR3 mRNA expression was correlated with clinical staging, size of the tumor, lymph node metastasis and histological staging, while protein expression was correlated with clinical data like tumor size. DcR3 gene amplification only correlated with tumor size. The level of DcR3 in serum of the PC resectable group before operation was $72.2{\pm}10.2$ pg/ml, showing a significant difference compared to gallbladder carcinoma group (GC) or pancreatic benign tumor (PBT) group (P < 0.01). In conclusion, DcR3 amplification is correlated with DcR3 expression in PC tissues, especially those clinical pathological factors which reflect tumor progression. Assessment of DcR3 level in sera of PC patients may be helpful for the early diagnosis and prognostic judgement.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate preliminarily for development of the Korean medicine clinical practice guideline (CPG) for pancreatic cancer through the analysis of existing CPGs. Methods: Through searching the medical database such as Pubmed, SCOPUS, CNKI, Google Scholar, etc. The global CPGs within recent three years were collected and analyzed. In particular, recommendations related to the Korean medicine or Chinese medicine were made primarily in the Guidelines of Diagnosis and Therapy in Oncology with Traditional Chinese Medicine. Results: The six CPGs were mentioned in this study. The academic societies and organizations developing the CPGs were located in China, Japan, Europe and America. The contents of the CPGs were the clinical questions and statements, surgical therapy, adjuvant therapy, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, palliative medicine, risk assessment, palliation and supportive care, follow-up and recurrence, Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging. In the Guidelines of Diagnosis and Therapy in Oncology with Traditional Chinese Medicine, the etiology, mechanisms, herbal drugs, Chinese medicine assessment, complication, syndrome differentiation (SD), Chinese medicine treatment were described. Conclusions: In order to develop the proper Korean medicine CPG for pancreatic cancer and to adapt the correct integrative treatment program on the pancreatic cancer, institutional arrangements for cooperation with Korean medical communities and standardization of SD should be performed.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.51-57
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• 2016

The epidemiology of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs) in Asia has been clarified through epidemiological studies, including one conducted in Japan, and subsequently another in South Korea. As endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) has become more widely accessible, endoscopic ultrasound-fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) has been performed in pancreatic tumors for which the clinical course was only monitored previously. This has enabled accurate diagnosis of pancreatic tumors based on the 2010 WHO classification; as a result, the number of patients with an accurate diagnosis has increased. Although surgery has been the standard therapy for PNENs, new treatment options have become available in Japan for the treatment of advanced or inoperable PNENs; of particular note is the recent introduction of molecular target drugs (such as everolimus and sunitinib) and streptozocin. Treatment for progressive PNENs needs to be selected for each patient with consideration of the performance status, degree of tumor differentiation, tumor mass, and proliferation rate. Somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-2 is expressed in many patients with neuroendocrine tumor. Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS), which can visualize SSTR-2 expression, has been approved in Japan. The SRS will be a useful diagnostic tool for locating neuroendocrine neoplasms, detecting distant metastasis, and evaluating therapy outcomes. In this manuscript, we review the latest diagnostic methods and treatments for PNENs.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2021

The incidence of small and asymptomatic pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (PNENs) has been increased due to the widespread use of high-resolution imaging techniques and endoscopic procedures in screening programmes. Most of PNENs are indolent neoplasms with slow-growing. However, sometimes, PNENs show local invasion or metastasis with poor prognosis. The management of small, nonfunctioning PNENs remain under debate. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend observation in selected cases of small PNENs less than 2 cm. Pancreatic surgeons are divided into two factions: "the hawks," who indicate the high risk of malignancy even in small PNENs and, therefore, the need for an aggressive surgical treatment, and the "the doves," who accepts the risk of malignancy in some ≤ 2 cm PNENs, advocate that the risk of overtreating many benign ≤ 2 cm PNENs would be much higher. As the pancreatic surgery remains a high-risk operation with a 28-30% morbidity and 1% mortality, the decision for small PNENs is challenging.