• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.4 s.273
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• pp.288-291
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• 2007

Background: Myxoma makes up close to 50% of adult primary cardiac tumors, and this mainly occurs in the left atrium, and rarely in the right atrium or ventricle. The patients clinically present with symptoms of hemodynamic obstruction, embolization or constitutional changes. Diagnosis is currently established most appropriately with 2-D echocardiography. Surgical resection of myxoma is a safe and effective treatment, Material and Method: We reviewed our clinical experience in the diagnosis and management of 57 cases of cardiac myxoma that were seen over a 20-year period from July 1984 to July 2004. Result: The mean age of the patients was $53.5{\pm}14.0$ years (range: 12 to 76 years). There were 38 (67%) females and 19 (33%) males. The preoperative symptoms included dyspnea on exertion in 27 patients, palpitation in 4, chest pain in 9 and syncopal episode in 4. The diagnosis was made by echocardiography alone in 51, and by combination of echocardiography, CT and angiography in 6. The tumor attachment sites were the interatrial septum in 50, the mital valve annulus in 3 and the left atrial wall in cases, The tumor was excised successfully via biatriotomy in 33 (58%), left atriotomy in 15 (26%), the septal approach via right atriotomy in 3, Inverted T incision in 3 and the extended septal approach in 3. The follow-up time ranged from 1 to 229 months (mean follow-up: $84.0{\pm}71.3$ months). There were no early and late deaths and no recurrence during the follow-up period except for follow-up loss in 5 patients. Conclusion: It's concluded that excision of cardiac myxoma is curative and the long-term survival is excellent. Immediate surgical treatment was indicated because of the high risk of embolization or of sudden cardiac death. Radical tumor excision may prevent recurrences.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2010

Background: The use of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) to perform major pulmonary resection with systematic node dissection (SND) for lung cancer by is commonly used in clinics. However, the feasibility of SND by VATS remains controversial. Video-assisted mediastinal lymphadenectomy (VAMLA) increases the quality of mediastinal lymph node staging in lung cancer. The video-mediastinoscope allows systematic lymphadenectomy by bimanual preparation. This study was conducted to assess safety and usefulness and clinical feasibility of VAMLA expanding Linder-Dahan mediastinoscope with VATS lobectomy for left sided lung cancer. Material and Method: Between February 2004 to April 2008, a total 50 patients who underwent VATS lobectomy for left sided lung cancer were analyzed retrospectively. Thirty patients (group A) underwent VAMLA followed by VATS lymphadenectomy and 20 patients (group B) underwent VATS lymphadenectomy for SND. Result: There were no statistical differences in operation times, chest tube indwelling times, or hospital days between the 2 groups. The number of dissected total nodes (p=0.001) and N2 nodes (p=0.013) were higher in group A than in group B, but there was no difference in N1 nodes. Postoperative complications included 2 prolonged air leakages (${\geq}$10 days) in each group, one pneumonia in group A, and one vocal cord palsy in group B. There were no early operative mortalities. Conclusion: Mediastinal staging of resectable lung cancer is performed by VAMLA. This new technique is the basis for VATS lobectomy particularly for left-sided lung cancer, because a higher percentage of mediastinal lymph nodes undergo complete resection using VAMLA.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.8
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• pp.529-535
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• 2007

Background: An imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants leads to oxidative stress, and this has been proposed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of lung neoplasm. Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease-1/redox factor-1 (APE/ref-1) is a multifunctional protein involved in DNA base excision repair and the redox regulation of many transcription factors. However, the alteration of the expressed levels of APE/ref-1 in non-small cell lung cancer is unknown. Material and Method: Forty-nine patients with surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were included in this study. Immunohistochemical staining with APE/ref-1 antibodies was performed, and their expressions were analyzed via Western blotting for specific antibodies. Result: APE/ref-1 was localized at the nucleus and mainly in the non-tumor region of the NSCLC tissue specimens; it was expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus of the NSCLC. The nuclear and cytoplasmic expressions of APE/ref-1 in lung cancers were markedly up-regulated in the NSCLC, and this was correlated with the clinical stage. Catalase, as first-line antioxidant defense, was dramatically decreased in the NSCLC. Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that APE/ref-1, and especially cytoplasmic APE/ref-1, was upregulated in the lung cancer regions, and this may contribute to the compensatory defense system against oxidative stress. A low expression of catalase might have fundamental effects on the extracellular redox state of lung tumors, along with the potential consequences for the tumors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.79 no.6
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• pp.323-331
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) for management of pain during and after percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of hepatic tumor. Materials and Methods: All patients were divided into non-TPVB (4 patients, 4 sessions of RFA for 4 tumors) and TPVB group (5 patients, 7 sessions of RFAs for 7 tumors). Ultrasound (US)-guided TPVB was performed at T7 level. The 15 mL of 0.375% ropivacaine was injected into right paravertebral space before RFA. If patients complained pain and asked analgesics or experienced pain with verbal numerical rating scale (VNRS) of more than 4, fentanyl $25{\mu}g$ (up to $100{\mu}g$), pethidine 25 mg, and midazolam 0.05 mg/kg (up to 5 mg) were sequentially given intravenously during RFA. Results: Total intravenous morphine equivalence of analgesics before, during, and after RFA was 129.1 mg and 0.0 mg in non-TPVB and TPVB group, respectively. Conclusion: US-guided TPVB may be an effective and safe anesthetic method for decreasing or eliminating pain during and after RFA for hepatic tumor and helpful in decreasing the usage of opioids.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.74-81
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• 2008

Background: Fascin is an actin-bundling protein that induces membrane protrusions and it increases cell motility in various transformed cells. Esophageal cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies, and it exhibits extensive local invasion or frequent regional lymph node metastasis even after curative surgery. We investigate the expression of fascin by performing immunohistochemistry to evaluate the clinical characteristics and prognostic significance of its expression in esophageal cancer patients. Material and Method: Immunochemistry for fascin was performed on 76 tumor samples from 76 patients who underwent esophageal cancer operations. The expression levels of fascin in the 76 esophageal cancer tissues were compared with those in the corresponding normal esophageal epithelium. The fascin-positive samples were defined as those showing more than 75% of fascin-positive cells. Result: Overall, a fascin positive expression was detected in 39 (51.3%) out of the total 76 cases. The tumors with positive fascin expression tended to more frequently show a higher stage (p=0.030), and a higher T-factor (p=0.031). The prognosis of the fascin negative group was significantly better than that of the fascin positive group (p=0.004). Multivariate analysis revealed that lymphovascular invasion and the fascin expression were independent prognostic factors. Conclusion: Fascin was expressed in 513% of the esophageal cancer tissues and a positive expression of fascin was associated with more advanced tumor progression and recurrence. Our study suggests that the fascin expression may be an independent prognostic factor for an unfavorable clinical course few those patients suffering with esophageal cancer.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.9
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• pp.607-612
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• 2007

Background: Surgical resection is a standard treatment for pulmonary metastases in patients with osteosarcoma, but the role of performing repeated resections is not clear. This study was designed to clarify the feasibility of performing a repeated pulmonary metastasectomy and the prognostic factors for pulmonary metastases in patients with osteosarcoma. Material and Method: Between January 1990 and July 2005, 62 patients with osteosarcoma were diagnosed with pulmonary metastases and 36 patients underwent pulmonary resection. We reviewed the patients retrospectively. Result: The total number of pulmonary metastasectomies was 62 in 30 patients. Among 36 patients, 18 had a second metastasectomy, 7 had a third metastasectomy, and one patient had a fourth metastasectomy. There was no distinctive difference between the first and second metastatectomy in terms of median survival time, and the 3-year and 5-year survival rate (first resection: 20.5 months, 32.0% and 29,4%; second resection: 11.3 months, 34.9% and 34.%). However, the median survival time (7.1 months) was shorter in patients with a third metastatectomy than in patients with one metastatectomy (p=0.01). In long-term survivors, the number of female patients, patients with a disease free time longer than 12 months, patients with a single metastasis and patients with anatomic resection was larger when compared to non-long term survivors, but showed no statistical significance. Conclusion: Repeated pulmonary metastasectomy is expected to prolong survival time in patients with osteosarcoma, and is expected to increase long-term survival in selected cases. Further studies with a large number of patients are necessary.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.301-306
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• 2011

Background: It is well-known that cell-free nucleic acids rise in patients with many types of malignancies. Several recent experimental studies using cancer cell lines have shown that changes in cell-free RNA are predictive of the response to chemotherapy. The objective of this study was to determine whether quantification of free RNA can be used as a biomarker for clinical responses to chemotherapy in patients with lung cancer. Methods: Thirty-two patients with lung cancer (non-small cell lung cancer, n=24; small cell lung cancer, n=8) were divided into 2 groups according to their responses to chemotherapy (response group, n=19; non-response group, n=13). Blood samples were collected before and after two cycles of chemotherapy. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR was used for transcript quantification of the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene. Results: The pre chemotherapy values (Response group $41.36{\pm}1.72$ vs. Non-response group $41.33{\pm}1.54$, p=0.78) and post chemotherapy values (Response group $39.92{\pm}1.81$ vs. Non-response group $40.41{\pm}1.47$, p=0.40) for cell free RNA concentrations, expressed as Ct GAPDH (threshold cycle glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene) levels, was not different between the two groups. There was no significant relationship between changes in the cell free RNA level clinical responses after chemotherapy (p=0.43). Conclusion: We did not find a correlation between quantification of serum cell free RNA levels and clinical responses to chemotherapy in patients with lung cancer. Further investigations are needed to determine whether the cell free RNA level is a useful predictor of responses to chemotherapy in patients with lung cancer.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.2 s.247
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• pp.157-163
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• 2005

Background: Clinical outcomes of esophageal cancer have not been satisfactory in spite of the development of surgical skills and protocols of adjuvant therapy. We analyzed the results of corrective surgical patients for esophageal cancer from January 1992 to July 2002. Material and Method: Among 129 patients with esophageal cancer, this study was performed in 68 patients who received corrective surgery. The ratio of sex was 59 : 9 (male : female) and mean age was $61.07\pm7.36$ years old. Chief complaints of this patients were dysphagia, epigastric pain and weight loss, etc. The locations of esophageal cancer were 4 in upper esophagus, 36 in middle, 20 in lower, 8 in esophagogastric junction. 60 patients had squamous cell cancer and 7 had adenocarcinoma, and 1 had malignant melanoma. Five patients had neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Result: The postoperative stage I, IIA, IIB, III, IV patients were 7, 25, 12, 17 and 7, respectively. The conduit for replacement of esophagus were stomach (62 patients) and colon (6 patients). The neck anastomosis was performed in 28 patients and intrathoracic anastomosis in 40 patients. The technique of anastomosis were hand sewing method (44 patients) and stapling method (24 patients). One of the early complications was anastomosis leakage (3 patients) which had only radiologic leakage that recovered spontaneously. The anastomosis technique had no correlation with postoperative leakage, which stapling method (2 patients) and hand sewing method (1 patient). There were 3 respiratory failures, 6 pneumonia, 1 fulminant hepatitis, 1 bleeding and 1 sepsis. The 2 early postoperative deaths were fulminant hepatitis and sepsis. Among 68 patients, 23 patients had postoperative adjuvant therapy and 55 paitents were followed up. The follow up period was $23.73\pm22.18$ months ($1\~76$ month). There were 5 patients in stage I, 21 in stage 2A, 9 in stage IIB, 15 in stage III and 5 in stage IV. The 1, 3, 5 year survival rates of the patients who could be followed up completely was $58.43\pm6.5\%,\;35.48\pm7.5\%\;and\;18.81\pm7.7\%$, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that long-term survival difference was associated with a stage, T stage, and N stage (p<0.05) but not associated with histology, sex, anastomosis location, tumor location, and pre and postoperative adjuvant therapy. Conclusion: The early diagnosis, aggressive operative resection, and adequate postoperative treatment may have contributed to the observed increase in survival for esophageal cancer patients.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.81 no.4
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• pp.339-346
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• 2018

Background: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a standard procedure to evaluate suspicious lymph node involvement of lung cancer because computed tomography (CT) and $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-CT (PET-CT) have limitations in their sensitivity and specificity. There are a number of benign causes of false positive lymph node such as anthracosis or anthracofibrosis, pneumoconiosis, old or active tuberculosis, interstitial lung disease, and other infectious conditions including pneumonia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate possible causes of false positive lymph node detected in chest CT or PET-CT. Methods: Two hundred forty-seven patients who were initially diagnosed with lung cancer between May 2009 and December 2012, and underwent EBUS-TBNA to confirm suspicious lymph node involvement by chest CT or PET-CT were analyzed for the study. Results: Of 247 cases, EBUS-TBNA confirmed malignancy in at least one lymph node in 189. The remaining 58 patients whose EBUS-TBNA results were negative were analyzed. Age ${\geq}65$, squamous cell carcinoma as the histologic type, and pneumoconiosis were related with false-positive lymph node involvement on imaging studies such as chest CT and PET-CT. Conclusion: These findings suggest that lung cancer staging should be done more carefully when a patient has clinically benign lymph node characteristics including older age, squamous cell carcinoma, and benign lung conditions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.134-140
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• 1989

A clinical evaluation was made on total 207 cases of corrosive esophageal stricture after ingestion of various corrosive substances and 173 cases of neoplasms in the esophagus and the cardia. The various complications associated with esophageal corrosion were observed on 28 cases [13.5%] in a total of 207 cases. Pathoanatomic findings of complication may be classified to the five category as follow; [1] stenosis in the pharynx due to adhesion of the epiglottis, [2] esophagobronchial fistula, [3] esophageal perforation with bougienation, [4] necrotic rupture of the esophagus and the stomach, and [5] so-called chronic corrosive gastritis. The comparative studies were done on a total of 165 cases of the various procedures of esophagoplasty to the reconstruction of the esophagus, which consists of antethoracal esophagoplasty with jejunum, retrosternal esophagoplasty with jejunum, retrosternal esophagoplasty with right colon, and retrosternal esophagoplasty with left colon. There is no hard and fast rule in selection of jejunum, right colon or left colon as the transplanting bowel and an operative method either antethoracal or retrosternal approach. When there was no possibility of the complication and no any defect of the anatomical states, one stage retrosternal esophagoplasty using right colon was better in various points of view. The 173 patients of the neoplasm of the esophagus consist of 28 cases of benign tumors and 145 cases of malignant tumors in the esophagus and cardia. 28 cases of benign tumors in the esophagus received the surgical treatment and they obtained with excellent results postoperatively. Of the 145 patients of esophageal carcinoma who received surgical managements, 101 cases [69.6%] were found to be operable and 44 cases [30.3%] were inoperable. Due to the various level of carcinoma in the esophagus, the following different surgical procedure was properly used case by case to get the best results in each case. Esophageal carcinoma in the upper and middle third segment received the total esophagectomy and the reconstruction of the esophagus using right colon by substernal procedure. Esophageal carcinoma in the lower third segment received an esophagojejunostomy in the mediastinum after the resection of lower third segment of the esophagus. Carcinoma in the esophago cardia and the stomach received also an esophagojejunostomy after the resection of the lower third segment of the esophagus and subtotal gastrectomy. For the 44 patients with inoperable carcinoma, the several palliative surgical managements such as gastrostomy or jejunostomy for feeding and esophagojejunostomy for bypass of the lower esophagus and the stomach were properly performed case by case for their maximum improvement.