• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2014

Objectives : Thyroid cancer is one of the most common and rapid increases of malignancy worldwide. It is the aim of the present a case of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) treated with acupuncture alone to derive further studies of the determination of treatment options for PTMC, such as surgery, acupuncture and observation alone, etc. Method : A 51-year-old woman with malignancy of thyroid nodule ($0.89{\times}0.59cm$) was referred to our hospital on January 2010. We applied to the acupuncture alone three times weekly by the patient's decision from January 2010 to November 2014. Blood tests were conducted three times during the treatment period and ultrasonography was performed every 6 months. Results : Both laboratory data and tumor size results showed no deteriorations as compared with those of initial examination. The patients has been survived in healthy state without any metastasis or disease progression on November, 2014. Conclusion : This case presents a possibility that acupuncture or observation alone can be provided as an option in the treatment means for patients with PTMC. Further study will need to study more longer follow-up and a large number of patients for PTMC using acupuncture or observation alone.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.275-283
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• 2007

Objective : Although hypothyroidism is a common disease in the endocrinology system, it is reported that there are a lot of difficulties in treating it effectively. Aconiti Ra얕 traditionally has been used in treatment of coldness, fatigue, and bradycardia. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of Aconiti Radix on hypothyroidism rat model induced by 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU). Methods : Two-month-old rats were used with administration of PTU which induced hypothyroidism in the rats. After 2 weeks, Aconiti Radix and thyroxine were administered, respectively. The body weights were measured every week. After 4 weeks, the blood samples of all rats were taken from their hearts. They were analyzed biochemically and $T_4$ (thyroid hormone) & TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was measured by ELISA kits. Results : In comparison with normals, controls showed hypothyroidism with significantly low $T_4$ and high TSH the statistics. In Aconiti Radix administration groups significantly increased $T_4$ was observed in the statistics and its effects were dose-dependent. There was no difference statistically in TSH of Aconiti Radix treatment groups from controls, nor were statistical differences observed significantly in biochemical labs and weight of each group. Conclusions : These findings suggest that Aconiti Radix protects thyroid cells and makes thyroid cells produce thyroid hormones. It is also very safe in the view of liver, kidney function, and other metabolism. It may be a useful agent for treating hypothyroidism.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2017

Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a rare disease entity consist 2% of whole thyroid cancer but once diagnosed, it is too fatal to survive. Airway obstruction is a leading cause of death in anaplastic thyroid cancer, which may be caused by both vocal cord palsy, mass effect of the cancer or direct invasion of the cancer itself to the tracheal lumen. Tracheal stent insertion can be a solution for airway compromised cases where surgical excision cannot be performed. The advantage is that the airway problem can be solved without invasive procedure. In this case, we tried expandable tracheal stent insertion for 66 years-old man with anaplastic cancer who visited ER for small amount of hemoptysis and dyspnea. There was severe tracheal narrowing and deviation due to the anaplastic thyroid cancer, ECMO (Extra Corporal Membrane Oxygenation) was used instead of a tracheal intubation for general anesthesia.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.756-766
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• 2024

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of thermal ablation in treating solitary low-risk T2N0M0 papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and compare the outcomes of microwave ablation (MWA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Materials and Methods: This retrospective, single center study involved 34 patients (age: 40.0 ± 13.9 years; 28 female) who had low-risk T2N0M0 PTC with a maximum diameter >2 cm and ≤4 cm and underwent MWA (n = 15) or RFA (n = 19) from November 2016 to April 2023. The primary outcomes were the cumulative rate of disease progression and delayed surgery rates. In contrast, the secondary outcomes included changes in tumor size, cumulative rate of complete tumor disappearance, and complication rates. Results: The median follow-up period was 18.0 months (interquartile range [IQR]: 9.0-40.0 months). At 12 months, the median volume reduction rate of the ablation zone was 74.2% (IQR: 53.7%-86.0%). Disease progression was noted in two patients within 1 year, including one patient with local tumor progression post-RFA and one with a new tumor post-MWA, resulting in a constant cumulative disease progression rate of 8.8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0%-19.8%) throughout the remaining follow-up period. Both patients were subsequently treated with additional ablation and did not require surgery. The cumulative rates of complete tumor disappearance at 1, 3, and 5 years were 4.0% (95% CI: 0%-11.4%), 26.8% (95% CI: 2.7%-44.9%), and 51.2% (95% CI: 0%-79.1%), respectively. No significant differences were observed in the disease progression (P = 0.829) or complete tumor disappearance (P = 0.633) rates between the MWA and RFA groups. Complications occurred in 14.7% (5/34) of patients presenting with transient hoarseness. RFA had a higher but not statistically significant complication rate than MWA did (21.1% [4/19] vs. 6.7% [1/15]; P = 0.355). Conclusion: Both MWA and RFA demonstrated promising short-term outcomes in terms of efficacy and safety in treating solitary low-risk T2N0M0 PTC, with no significant differences.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1010-1016
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• 1996

Thymectomy is an accepted therapeutic modality for patients with myasthenia gravis. The selection of patients for operation, the timing of operation and the surgical approach are still controversial. We reviewed 82 patientsraged 13 to 66 years; mean age, 37.7 years treated with transsternal thymectomy between January 1983 and December 1994. Patients were symptomatically staged according to the modified Osserman's classification. There was one hospital death and postoperative follow-up was obtained on 75 patients. During a mean follow up of 56.9 months, 64 patients (85.3%) benefited from the operation with complete remis ion achieved in 28(37.3%). The thyroid disease was present in 8 patients, of whom 7(87. 5%) achieved complete remission in contrast to 21 (31.3%) of the 67 patients without thyroid disease. The disease duration less than 2 years in 32 patients was associated with complete remission in 16 (50%) in contrast to remission in 12(27.4%) of the 43 patients whose disease duration was more than 2 years. In conclusion, the complete remission rate after transsternal thymectomy was affected by the presence of thyroid disease and disease duration. Myasthenia gravis with late onset(>40 years), thymoma pathology, old age and male gender appear to decrease the complete remission rate after transsternal thymectomy, although it was not statistically significant. There was no difference of complete'remission rate between normal and hyperplasia of thymus. Transsternal thymectomy was found to be beneficial in most patients with myasthenia gravis, but the majority of patients with ocular disease did not b nefit from the operation.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 1993

The nodular hyperplasia of the thyroid is a common thyriod disease. Nodular hyperplasia does rarely progress to thyroid cancer. The differentiation of a nodular hyperplasia from a neoplasm may be simple or difficult, both clinically and anatomically. The papillary carcinoma of the thyroid is the most common type of thyroid malignancies. There were few studies about cytogenetic observation in thyroid cancer. But only one case of banding observation in nodular hyperplasia have been reported. In order to compare the chromosomal changes in the thyroid cancer and the noncancerous thyroid disease, we performed cytogenetic analysis in two papillary carcinoma and two nodular hyperplasia after cell culture. The chromosomal pattern of the nodular hyperplasia found was very heterogenous but no clonal abnormaly in both cases was observed. Case I : A modal chromosomal number was in 42-46 range. Chromosome 8, 19, 21. 22 were commonly lost. 9 structural anomalities among 51 analysed cells were observed but they were not clonal. Case II: A modal chromosomal number was 43. Chromosome 17 and 19 were commonly lossed. Common cytogenetic characters of this two nodular hyperplasia are hypodiploidity and very heterogenous chromosomal pattern. The result about the papillary carcinoma are as follow. In one case some numerical and structural chromosomal changes were observed. But they were not clonal abnormality. In another case the chromosomal pattern found was very heterogenous with a clonal abnormality of del(11)(q23). The modal number was 46. The del(11)(q23) a chromosomal change in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid have previously been reported(Eva Olah et al. 1989). We suggest that 11q deletion may be important role to pathogenesis of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. According to this results, we could not find out specific differences about chromosomal changes and any relationship between the papillary carcinoma and the nodular hyperplasia.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.84-96
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• 2018

Objective: This is aprospective clinical case study that includes the administration of Ahnjeonbaekho-tang (AJBHT) to patients who have suffered from Graves' disease for the 8 weeks of the clinical research. Methods: Without administration of an antithyroid drug, AJBHT was administered 3 times a day for 8 weeks. In Case 1, AJBHT without modification was administered and in Case 2, in accordance with the patients' symptoms, a dose of Gypsum Fibrosum was increased by 4g from the beginning of week 2, and further increased by 16 g, for a total of 20 g between week 6 and week 8. Body mass index (BMI), thyroid function test (TFT), thyroid autoantibody test, complete blood cell count (CBC), and blood chemistry (BC) tests were conducted at an interval of 4 weeks, for a total of 3 times during the study. The clinical manifestations, a spectrum of symptoms of the patients, was observed by Wayne's Index, Euro-QOL-5 Dimension (EQ-5D), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: In both cases, an acceptable significance of reduction of value in T3, fT4, Thyroid stimulating antibody (TSAb) and Thyroid stimulating hormone receptor antibody (TSH-R-Ab) was observed. After treatment, in TFT, T3 decreased by 31.66%, fT4 decreased by 32.82% in Case 1, and T3 decreased by 43.42%, and fT4 decreased by 37.32% in Case 2. In the thyroid autoantibody test, TSAb decreased by 7.59%, and TSH-R-Ab decreased by 53.19% in Case 1, and TSAb decreased by 33.45%, TSH-R-Ab decreased by at least 7.75% in Case 2. Besides this, there was a decreasing trend of Wayne's index, and a loss of typical symptoms of hyperthyroidism also declared the efficacy. Conclusion: From these results, AJBHT is very effective in the regulation of TFT and improving the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, and is also expected to be an effective alternative to antithyroid drugs for patients who have side effects or drug intolerance.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.4203-4208
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• 2012

Aim: This study assessed if onfFN mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with DTC can identify individuals with metastatic disease. Methods: Comparison of onfFN mRNA was made among 3 groups: disease-free, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis using real-time RT-PCR on 5 ml blood samples from each DTC patient. Results: Fifty-one patients were included: 30 (59%) were disease-free; 7 (13.7%) had lymph node metastasis; and 14 (27.5%) had distant metastasis. OnfFN mRNA levels in the 3 groups were significantly different (P=0.001) but with a large overlap and the expression being highest in the disease-free group. Subgroup analysis of the metastatic groups did not show any effect of age, cell type, and serum TSH, Tg, and antiTg on onfFN mRNA. The within-run and between-run root mean square coefficients of variations were <2%. Conclusion: OnfFN mRNA in patients with DTC cannot identify those with metastatic disease.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.511-517
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• 2013

To assess the association between oral health and general health, this study examined the relationship between chewing difficulty and twelve chronic health conditions such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cerebro- and cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disease, respiratory disease, eye/nose/throat disease, stomach/intestinal ulcer, renal dysfunction, thyroid disease, depression, and cancer in Korea. The study population was 3,066 elders aged 65 years old and more from the fourth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Chewing difficulty was measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Chronic conditions were assessed by self-reported questionnaire. Confounders were age, gender, education, income, smoking, drinking, and obesity. Chi-square test, general linear model, and multiple logistic regression model were done with complex sampling design. Musculoskeletal disease (adjusted odds ratio=1.33), respiratory disease (adjusted odds ratio=1.52), and cancer (adjusted odds ratio=1.58) were independently associated with chewing difficulty. Multiple chronic conditions with more than 4 chronic disease showed significant association with chewing difficulty (adjusted odds ratio=1.37).

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.653-663
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• 2006

Objective : Graves' disease, the most common cause of hyperthyroidism, is an autoimmune disorder associated with autoantibodies to the TSH receptor. The clinical features of Graves' disease are goiter and hypermetabolic symptoms induced by excessive hormones. Antithyroid drug therapy is the first-line treatment for Graves' disease in Korea, Japan and European countries. Yet in spite of a long period and high-dose of treatment, it is hard to achieve remission because of adverse effects, frequent recurrence and resistance to antithyroid drugs. Recently, it has been reported that the abnormal thyroid hormone and clinical symptoms of Graves' disease were reduced by Ahnjeonbaekho-tang (AJBHT). Methods : To investigate the effectiveness and action mechanism of AJBHT, we studied the influence of AJBHT on FRTL-5 thyroid cell proliferation, DNA synthesis and expression of T4, TSH, cAMP, Tg and TPO mRNA. Results : AJBHT significantly inhibited the FRTL-5 cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, T4 synthesis, cAMP production and the expression of Tg mRNA in comparison with control and MMI. Conclusions : These results suggest that AJBHT may inhibit the cell proliferation and DNA synthesis by regulating the cAMP, and suppress the T4 synthesis by modulating Tg mRNA expression and cAMP synthesis, and that it may be useful agent for treating the goiter and hormone abnormality of Graves' disease.