• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.37-40
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• 2013

Background and Objectives : To assess the usefulness of computed tomography image before papillary thyroid cancer surgery, focus on confirmation of lateral cervical lymph node metastasis not detected by ultrasonography. Material and Methods : From January 2008 to May 2009, total 150 patients who had undergone thyroid surgery and been confirmed papillary thyroid cancer pathologically were enrolled. They had taken neck computed tomography following the ultrasonography. Results : Computed tomography had found suspicious metastatic lateral neck lesion in 13 patients. After the image study, lateral neck lymph node dissection had been included in their surgical plan. Of these, only 7 cases were confirmed pathologically lateral neck lymph node metastasis(positive predictive value=0.54). Taken as whole 150 patients, additionally 4.7% of patients confirmed lateral neck lymph node metastasis by preoperative computed tomography. Conclusion : If preoperative ultrasonography was performed precisely, additional benefits that could be achieved by computed tomography were not much.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.65-67
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• 2013

Osteomyelitis is an infection of bone or bone marrow, caused by pyogenic bacteria or mycobacterium. Osteomyelitis can be acute or chronic, inflammatory process of the bone and its structures. Chronic osteomyelitis will result in variable sclerosis and deformity of the affected bone. With an infection of the bone, the subsequent inflammatory response will elevate this overlying periosteum, leading to a loss of the nourishing vasculature, vascular thrombosis, and bone necrosis, resulting occasionally in formation of sequestra. These become areas that are more resistant to systemic antibiotic therapy due to lack of the normal Havesian canals that are blocked by scar tissue. At this aspect, not only systemic antibiotic therapy, but also surgical debridement maybe required to remove the affected bone and prevent disease propagation to adjacent areas. We experienced a patient who diagnosed tongue cancer and underwent wide partial glossectomy few years before, with an ulcerative lesion around right retromolar trigon. We diagnosed cancer recurrence because PET indicated hot uptake on mandible which was nearby previous tongue tumor site. The patient received hemiglossectomy via paramedian mandibulotomy, partial mandibulectomy and fibula osteocutaneous free flap reconstruction. But final diagnosis was mandible osteomyelitis on pathology report. Here, we present the case with a review of the related literatures.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.331-336
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• 1994

Purpose : To assess the effectiveness and problems of the primary radiation therapy and salvage surgery in a series of patients affected by T1-T2NO glottic cancers treated from 1985 to 1991 at the Pusan National University Hospital. Materials and Methods : From 8/85 to 12/91,34 patients affected by early glottic carcinoma histologically proven were treated with curative radiation therapy, Distribution of patients according to T stage was 30 for T1 and 4 for T2. Male to female ratio was 33:1. Age of patients ranged from 31 to 73 with mean age of 58 years. All of the patients were treated with radical radiation with total tumor dose of 63-75. 3Gy(median 68.2Gy), of 5 weekly fractions of 1.8-2Gy and with 6MV photon beams through two laterally opposed fields. Results : The overall 5-year local control rates were $74\%$(8/30) for Tl, and $25\%$(3/4) for T2. The main cause of failure was progression or recurrence in T(10/11). One failures were observed in T and N at the same time. Of these 11 patients, 9($81\%$) were salvaged with surgery, After surgical salvage of radiation failures, the 5-year survival rates were $96\%$ for T1 and $75\%$ for T2. Among the survivors, $73\%$ of T1 and $33\%$ of T2 were able to preserve the larynx. Conclusion : It can be concluded that radiotherapy is the first choice in the treatment of glottic T1 carcinoma.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2013

Objectives : The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of Traditional Korean Medicine as an adjunctive management for breast cancer treatment. Methods : A 56 year-old female patient diagnosed with stage IA(pT1cN0M0) of breast cancer was admitted our hospital. The patient had surgical resection followed by radiation therapy, and conducted adjuvant therapy with aromatase inhibitor. The patient's chief complaints were dry cough, thirst and fatigue, all of which were caused by radiation therapy. Traditional Korean herbal medicine was prescribed for symptom management. The patient's subjective symptoms such as cough, thirst and fatigue were evaluated by NRS. Results : Fatigue was significantly improved within a week. The severity of dry cough and thirst also was decreased after a few courses of herbal medicine treatment. Conclusion : This case study suggests that Tradition Korean Medicine would be beneficial for the patients who are suffering from adverse effects of the standard treatment of cancer.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2005

Wide vertical hemilaryngopharyngectomy with immediate glottic and pharyngeal reconstruction using a radial forearm free flap is reported in 1991 by Chantrain et al. This procedure was designed for the preservation of healthy hemilarynx and resection of pharynx with safe oncological margin in especially piriform sinus cancer or supraglottic cancer invading the hypopharynx. In the original paper, they used palmaris longus tendon for reconstruction of neoglottis. In other groups, they used rib cartilage instead of palmaris longus tendon. In this paper, we report two cases of piriform sinus cancer patients who treated with wide vertical hemilaryngectomy with radial forearm free flap reconstruction. In one case, the operation was performed as Chantrain et al described. But in another case, the ipsilateral forearm was impossible due to the positive Allen's test. So the contralateral forearm flap and rib cartilage graft was done. This reconstructive technique make large resection possible. As the dissection of thyroid cartilage and lateral displacement makes direct visualization and manipulation of piriform sinus lesions, sufficient resection margin in lateral and inferior pharyngeal wall cab be obtained.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.62-68
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• 1997

The papillary carcinoma is the most common malignant neoplasm of thyroid gland and the prognosis is better than anyother type of thyroid carcinoma. However, the thyroid is closed to the important organs such as esophagus, trachea and larynx, there are some possibilities to invade these organs. In case of advanced disease, not only surrounding structures but also mediastinum and cervical lymphatic chain can be involved or distant metastasis develops frequently. Therefore in these cases the prognosis is worse and the rate of inoperable case is more than those of non-metastatic group. Generally, the treatment modality for papillary thyroid carcinoma consists of surgery, postoperative thyroid hormone and radioiodine therapy. If the tumor invades surrounding structures, cervical lymph node or mediastinum, total thyroidectomy and wide excision of tumor invaded area including mediastinal dissection and neck dissection is necessary. Recently, the authors have experienced a case of locally invasive and recurred papillary thyroid carcinoma without treatment for 7 years. The patient was performed previously thyroid lobectomy and isthmusectomy 13 years ago. We had determinded surgical therapy for this patient and performed mass excision with overlying skin, completion total thyroidectomy, right type I modified radical neck dissection, left lateral neck dissection, thoracotomy with supramediastinal dissection, shaving of diffusely involved trachea and skin defect reconstruction with pectoralis major myocutaneous flap. After operation 2 cycles of radioiodine therapy were taken. Now the patient is following up at the outpatient base and no evidence of disease state for postoperative 16 months. So we report on this case with a brief review of literature.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.5-8
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• 2016

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and the feasibility of thyroidectomy for aged (${\geq}75$ years old) thyroid cancer by reviewing postoperative morbidity and pathologic characteristics. Materials & Methods: The clinical records of patients submitted to thyroid operation between 2014 and 2015 with histopathological diagnosis of thyroid cancer were analyzed. Clinical variables included age, gender, preoperative symptom, final pathology, length of stay, comorbidities, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, postoperative complications, and mortality. Results: There were 30 patients aged more than 75 years old, and only one patient passed over with postoperative pneumonia. There were 8 male and 22 female patients. Half of the patients presented with symptoms such as palpable mass (33.3%), voice change (6.7%) and dyspnea (6.7%). The pathologic diagnosis was thyroid cancer in all cases. The median postoperative hospitalization time was 4 days. There was one perioperative mortality case observed in this study. Conclusion: Thyroid surgery in patients 75 years or older can be performed except extensive surgical resection. Aggressive histology and extent of surgery may be an important factor of perioperative mortality and morbidity.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 2018

Purpose: Cardiotoxicity is a serious late complication of breast cancer treatment. Individual treatment risk of specific drugs has been investigated. However, studies on the evaluation of the composite risk of chemotherapeutic agents are limited. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of breast cancer patients who received adjuvant treatment and had available serial echocardiography results. Patients were assigned to subgroups based on chemotherapy containing anthracyclines (A), anthracyclines and taxanes (A+T), and radiotherapy (RT). The development of cardiac disease and serial ejection fraction (EF) were reviewed. EF decline up to 10% from baseline was considered grade 1 cardiotoxicity and EF decline >20% or absolute value <50% was considered grade 2 cardiotoxicity. The most recent medical records and echocardiography results over 1 year of chemotherapy completion were also reviewed. Late cardiotoxicity was defined as a lack of recovery of EF decline or aggravated EF decline from baseline. Results: In total, 123 patients were evaluated. A small reduction in EF was observed after chemotherapy in both chemotherapy groups. There were no significant differences between groups A and A+T in EF decline following chemotherapy. We could not find any differences in composite risk between the chemotherapy groups and the RT group during follow-up. Late cardiotoxicity was seen in 15.45% of patients. During follow-up, three patients were diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. Conclusion: There was no significant composite risk elevation following adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. However, late cardiotoxicity was considerable and further research in this direction is necessary.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.135-141
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• 2018

Purpose: Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) are important for staging of patients with node-positive breast cancer. However, these can be avoided in select micrometastatic diseases, preventing postoperative complications. The present study evaluated the ability of axillary lymph node maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) on positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) to predict axillary metastasis of breast cancer. Methods: The records of invasive breast cancer patients who underwent pretreatment (surgery and/or chemotherapy) PET-CT between January 2006 and December 2014 were reviewed. ALNs were preoperatively evaluated by PET-CT. Lymph nodes were dissected by SLNB or ALND. SUVmax was measured in both the axillary lymph node and primary tumor. Student t-test and chi-square test were used to analyze sensitivity and specificity. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under the ROC curve (AUC) analyses were performed. Results: SUV-tumor (SUV-T) and SUV-lymph node (SUV-LN) were significantly higher in the triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) group than in other groups (SUV-T: 5.99, P<0.01; SUV-LN: 1.29, P=0.014). The sensitivity (0.881) and accuracy (0.804) for initial ALN staging were higher in fine needle aspiration+PET-CT than in other methods. For PET-CT alone, the subtype with the highest sensitivity (0.870) and negative predictive value (0.917) was TNBC. The AUC for SUV-LN was greatest in TNBC (0.797). Conclusion: The characteristics of SUV-T and SUV-LN differed according to immunohistochemistry subtype. Compared to other subtypes, the true positivity of axillary metastasis on PET-CT was highest in TNBC. These findings could help tailor management for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.76-82
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• 2018

Purpose: Lgr5 is a well-known stem cell marker in colorectal cancer (CRC). This retrospective study evaluated the expressions of Lgr5 in CRC specimens, and examined whether these expressions were associated with survival outcomes. Methods: We used immunohistochemistry to retrospectively examine expressions of Lgr5 in paraffin-embedded specimens from 337 patients with CRC between January 2009 and December 2013. All clinicopathologic data were collected by retrospective review based on medical records. The correlation between its expression and clinicopathological data as well as clinical outcomes of patients was analyzed. Results: Low expression and high expression of Lgr5 in 337 patients were 175 (51.9%) and 162 (48.1%), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the association of Lgr5 expression with clinicopathologic factors (age, tumor location, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, perineural invasion, TNM stage, and differentiation). In the survival analysis, the high expression group of Lgr5 showed a better prognosis than the low expression group in disease-free survival (P=0.044). However, overall survival was not significantly different between the two groups (P=0.087). In multivariate analysis, we found that high expression of Lgr5 was independent prognostic factor for tumor relapse (hazard ratio, 0.601; 95% confidence interval, 0.388-0.929; P=0.022). Conclusion: In present study, high expression of Lgr5 is an independent predictor of favorable prognosis in patients with CRC. So, further well designed, prospective, large scale studies are needed to examine the value of Lgr5 as a prognostic biomarker for CRC.