• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.10
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• pp.1577-1583
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• 2018

Tumor-treating fields therapy involves placing pads onto the patient's skin to create a low- intensity (1 - 3 V/cm), intermediate frequency (100 - 300 kHz), alternating electric field to treat cancerous tumors. This new treatment modality has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the USA to treat patients with both newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma. To deliver the prescribed electric field intensity to the tumor while minimizing exposure of organs at risk, we developed an optimization method for the electric field distribution in the body and compared the electric field distribution in the body before and after application of this optimization algorithm. To determine the electric field distribution in the body before optimization, we applied the same electric potential to all pairs of electric pads located on opposite sides of models. We subsequently adjusted the intensity of the electric field to each pair of pads to optimize the electric field distribution in the body, resulting in the prescribed electric field intensity to the tumor while minimizing electric fields at organs at risk. A comparison of the electric field distribution within the body before and after optimization showed that application of the optimization algorithm delivered a therapeutically effective electric field to the tumor while minimizing the average and the maximum field strength applied to organs at risk. Use of this optimization algorithm when planning tumor-treating fields therapy should maintain or increase the intensity of the electric field applied to the tumor while minimizing the intensity of the electric field applied to organs at risk. This would enhance the effectiveness of tumor-treating fields therapy while reducing dangerous side effects.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.681-688
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• 2020

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most common tumors of the central nervous system, which is the most lethal brain cancer. GBM treatment is based primarily on surgical resection, combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Despite the positive treatment, progression free survival and overall survival were not significantly prolonged because GBM almost always recurs. We are always looking forward to some new and effective treatments. In recent years, a novel treatment method called tumor treating fields (TTFields) for cancer treatment has been proposed. TTFields devices were approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adjuvant treatment of recurrent and newly diagnosed GBMs in 2011 and 2015, respectively. This became the first breakthrough treatment for GBM in the past 10 years after the FDA approved bevacizumab for patients with relapsed GBM in 2009. This paper summarized the research results of TTFields in recent years and elaborated the mechanism of action of TTFields on GBM, including cell and animal experimental research, clinical application and social benefits.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.469-471
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• 2021

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3747-3750
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• 2013

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of conservative surgery plus chemo-, radio-therapy in treating patients with early stage breast cancer. Patients and Methods: Eligible patients were treated by postoperative chemotherapy as well as whole-breast irradiation with tumor bed boost. Postoperative radiotherapy consisted of 6 MV whole breast linear accelerator irradiation with two tangential half fields to a total dose of 45~50 Gy, followed by $10{\sim}15MeV{\beta}$ boost irradiation to tumor bed for 10~20Gy, total dose 56~66Gy. Results: Fifty-two patients were enrolled. Overall 1-, 2- and 3 year survival rates were 98.1%, 92.3%, and 90.4%, respectively, with a local recurrence rate of 5.77%. Cosmetic results were evaluated as good by doctors in 90.4% of patients. Conclusions: Breast conservative surgery combined with chemo- radio-therapy could be a treatment option for Chinese patients with early stage breast cancer.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.979-985
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• 2017

This paper, which covers a fluorescence microscopy image of brain tumor cells, looks at drug reactions by treating different types and concentrations of drugs on a plate of $24{\times}16$ wells. Due to the limitation of the field of view, a well was taken into 9 field images, and each has an overlapping area with its neighboring fields. To analyze more precisely, image stitching is needed. The basic method is finding a similar area using normalized cross-correlation (NCC). The problem is that some overlapping areas may not have any duplicated cells that help to find the matching point. In addition, the cell objects have similar sizes and shapes, which makes distinguishing them difficult. To avoid calculating similarity between blank areas and roughly distinguishing different cells, thresholding is added. The thresholding method classifies background and cell objects based on fixed thresholds and finds the location of the first seen cell. After getting its location, NCC is used to find the best correlation point. The results are compared with a simple boundary stitched image. Our proposed method stitches images that are connected in a grid form without collision, selecting the best correlation point among areas that contain overlapping cells and ones without it.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.307-312
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• 2011

As a technique for removing cancerous tumors from normal tissue, radio-frequency electromagnetic waves were employed to heating target cells up to the critical temperature, which kills the cancerous cells. However, its use in treating tumors in soft organs is limited by inconvenient factors, which are use of high-currents and long time operation. In this work, the feasibility of the localized heating by inserting four conducting electrodes with tiny direct current is investigated. The heat source is resulting from the electric field as known as resistive heating. We have investigated the temperature distribution as a function of applying DC voltages ranging from 10 V to 30 V with 10 V step. From the simulation results, the mushroom-like lesion shape by applying 20 V is generated by four electrodes within a few minutes, that is proper to the clinical application.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 1995

Purpose : To obtain the optimal treatement method in patients with endometrial carcinoma(clinical stage FIGO I, II) by comparative analysis between preoperative radiotherapy (pre-op RT) and postoperative radiotherapy (post-op RT). Material and Methods : A retrospective review of 62 endometrial carcinoma patients referred to the Yonsei Cancer Center for radiotherapy between 1985 and 1991 was undertaken. Of 62 patients, 19 patients(Stagel : 12 patients. Stagell;7 patients) received pre-op RT before TAH(Total Abdominal Hysterectomy) and BSO (Bilateral Salphingoophorectomy) (Group 1) and 43 patients(Stage 1;32 patients, Stage 2; 11 patients) received post-op RT after TAH and BSO (Group 2). Pre-op irradiation was given 4-6 weeks prior to surgery and post-op RT administered on 4-5 weeks following surgery. All patients except 1 patient(Group 2: ICR alone) received external irradiation. Seventy percent(13/19) of pre-op RT group and 54 percent(23/42) of post-op RT group received external pelvic irradiation and intracavitary radiation therapy(ICR). External radiation dose was 39.6-55 Gy(median 45 Gy) in 5-6. 5weeks through opposed AP/PA fields or 4-field box technique treating daily, five days per week, 180 cGy per fraction. ICR doses were prescribed to point A(20-39.6 Gy, median 39 Gy) in Group 1 and 0.5cm depth from vaginal surface (18-30 Gy,median 21 Gy) in Group 2. Results : The overall 5 year survival rate was $95{\%}$. No survival difference between pre-op and post-op RT group.($89.3{\%}$ vs $97.7{\%}$, p>0.1) There was no survival difference by stage, grade and histology between two groups. The survival rate was not affected by presence of residual tumor of surgical specimen after pre-op RT in Group 1 (p>0.1), but affected by presence of lymph node metastasis in post-op RT group(P<0.5). The complication rate of pre-op RT group was higher than post-op RT. ($16{\%}$ vs $5{\%}$) Conclusion : Post-op radiotherapy offers the advantages of accurate surgical-pathological staging and low complication rate.