• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.237-244
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• 2001

Purpose : To assess the tolerance, complete response rate, bladder preservation rate and survival rate in patients with muscle-invading bladder cancer treated with selective bladder preservation protocol. Method and Materials : From October 1990 to June 1998, twenty six patients with muscle-invading bladder cancer (clinical stage T2-4, N0-3, M0) were enrolled for the treatment protocol of bladder preservation. They were treated with maximal TURBT (transurethral resection of bladder tumor) and 2 cycles of MCV chemotherapy (methotrexate, crisplatin, and vinblastine) followed by $39.6\~45\;Gy$ pelvic irradiation with concomitant cisplatin. After complete urologic evaluation (biopsy or cytology), the patients who achieved complete response were planed for bladder preservation treatment and treated with consolidation cisplatin and radiotherapy (19.8 Gy). The patients who had incomplete response were planed to immediate radical cystectomy. If they refused radical cystectomy, they were treated either with TURBT followed by MCV or cisplatin chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The median follow-up duration is 49.5 months. Results : The Patients with stage T2-3a and T3b-4a underwent complete removal of tumor or gross tumor removal by TURBT, respectively. Twenty one out of 26 patients $(81\%)$ successfully completed the protocol of the planned chemo-radiotherapy. Seven patients had documented complete response. Six of them were treated with additional consolidation cisplatin and radiotherapy. One patient was treated with 2 cycles of MCV chemotherapy due to refusal of chemo-radiotherapy. Five of 7 complete responders had functioning tumor-free bladder. Fourteen patients of incomplete responders were further treated with one of the followings : radical cystectomy (1 patient), or TURBT and 2 cycles of MCV chemotherapy (3 patients), or cisplatin and radiotherapy (10 patients). Thirteen patients of them were not treated with planned radical cystectomy due to patients' refusal (9 patients) or underlying medical problems (4 patients). Among twenty one patients, 12 patients $(58\%)$ were alive with their preserved bladder, 8 patients died with the disease, 1 patient died of intercurrent disease. The 5 years actuarial survival rates according to CR and PR after MCV chemotherapy and cisplatin chemoradiotherapy were $80\%\;and\;14\%$, respectively (u=0.001). Conclusion : In selected patients with muscle-invading bladder cancer, the bladder preservation could be achieved by MCV chemotherapy and cisplatin chemo-radiotherapy. All patients tolerated well this bladder preservation protoco. The availability of complete TURBT and the responsibility of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy were important predictors for bladder preservation and survival. The patients who had not achieved complete response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy should be immediate radical cystectomy. A randomized prospective trial might be essential to determine more accurate indications between cystectomy or bladder preservation.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제50권1호
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• pp.56-64
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• 2007

Purpose : This study was performed to identify the etiologic agents and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of organisms responsible for bloodstream infections in pediatric cancer patients for guidance in empiric antimicrobial therapy. Methods : One hundred and ninety-seven episodes of bloodstream infections that developed in 128 pediatric cancer patients were analyzed, which were identified at the Seoul National University Children's Hospital during a 4 year-period from 2002 to 2005. Results : A total of 214 pathogens was isolated, of which 64.0 percent were gram-negative, 31.3 percent were gram-positive bacteria, and 4.7 percent were fungi. The most common pathogens were Klebsiella spp. (21 percent) and Escherichia coli (16.8 percent), and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS, 7.9 percent) and viridans streptococci (7.5 percent) emerged as important pathogens. Neutropenic patients were more often associated with gram-negative bacteria than non-neutropenic patients (67.5 percent vs. 51.1%, P=0.018) and patients with central venous catheters were more often associated with CNS and viridans streptococci than those without. Resistance rates of gram-positive bacteria to penicillin, oxacillin and vancomycin were 83.3 percent, 48.5 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, and those of gram-negative bacteria to cefotaxime, piperacillin/tazobactam, imipenem, gentamicin and amikacin were 24.1 percent, 17.2 percent, 6.6 percent, 21.6 percent, and 14.2 percent, respectively. Gram-negative bacteremias were more often associated with intensive care than gram-positive bacteremias (26.5 percent vs. 10.3 percent, P=0.016), and patients with catheters were more often associated with intensive care (34.4 percent vs. 10.8 percent, P<0.001) and higher fatality rate (16.7 percent vs. 4.8 percent, P=0.012) than those without. Conclusion : This study revealed that gram-negative bacteria are still a dominant organism in bloodstream infections, especially in neutropenic patients, and confirmed that gram-positive bacteria are emerging as important etiological agents in bloodstream infections of pediatric hemato-oncologic patients.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.113-121
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• 2010

Background and purpose : Patients with acute leukemia experience prolonged periods of neutropenia due to their disease or its treatment. For this reason, they often develop serious infectious complications. Although antibiotic therapy has improved in recent years, the fatality rate from infection remains high. For the control of infection, protected environment was developed. But because of economic issue, most of chemotherapy with acute myeloid leukemia have conducted in non-protected environment. So this study compared the rate of complete remission, days with neutropenia, rate of fever, rate of positive culture, rate of overt infection and use of antibacterial and antifungal agents with patients within non-protected environment and protected environment, retrospectively, Patients with acute myeloid leukemia during first remission induction chemotherapy were eligible for this study, Methods : Retrospective analysis was conducted between patients in non-protected (25 patients) and protected environment (14 patients) with acute myeloid leukemia during remission induction chemotherapy Results : Rate of overt infection, rate of fever, rate of positive culture and rate of use of antibiotics were significantly high in patients within non-protected environment compared with patients within protected environment. There were no differences in rate of complete remission and days of neutropenia Conclusions : This study suggests protected environment for patients with acute myeloid leukemia during remission induction chemotherapy could reduce rate of overt infection, and rate of use of antibiotics.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• 제38권3호
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• pp.174-181
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• 2013

Objectives: Socioeconomic status plays an important role in health care and disease prevention. This study aimed to examine the association between socioeconomic status, measured by education levels and household income, and gastric cancer screening. Methods: A total of 21,220 community-dwelling adults aged 40 to 69 years within a defined geographic area participated in a community health survey in 2009 and 2010. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire by trained investigators who visited the subjects' households directly. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between self-reported participation in gastric cancer screening and socioeconomic variables (education and household income). Results: The gastric cancer screening rate was 52.1% for subjects in their forties, 63.7% for those in their fifties, and 67.3% for those in their sixties. In multivariate analysis, higher education and income levels were associated with higher rates of gastric cancer screening (high school vs. elementary school: odds ratio [OR] 1.41, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.26-1.58; highest income quartile vs. lowest income quartile: OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.44-1.84). The gradient between income and screening rate was more pronounced in the population aged 40 to 49 years than in the other age groups. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that lower socioeconomic status is associated with decreased participation in gastric cancer screening. Our findings suggest that the screening program should be focused on low-income and less-educated populations, especially among younger adults, to reduce health disparities.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.105-123
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• 1981

This study was carried out during the month of September 1976 to analyse and compare the health complaints of two groups of the university women, those who lived at home and those who lived in the university dormitory. The purpose of the study was to provide basic data required by the university health program for planning related to the health need of women students. The study sample consisted of 434 students living in the dormitory and 381 students living at home enrolled for the fall semester 1976 in a womens university in Seoul. The instrument used for the collection of data was an abridged version of a modified Cornell Medical Index. The questionarre included 35 items related to physical health complaint and 22 items related to mental health complaints. The data was treated by a computer (SPSS) using one way analysis, the Fishers' ratio and Chi-Square test at the 5％ level were used for the test for statistical significance. The interpretation of this study is limited due to the sample which was restricted to one university and not randomly selected. To guide the direction of the study, it was hypothesized that the rate of expressed health problems of students living in the dormitory would be Venter than that of students living at home. The hypothesis was tested and rejected. The following is a summary of the findings; 1. Total health (physical and mental) complaints a. There was no statistically significant difference between the home and dormitory groups with regard to total health complaints expressed. b. The rate of total complaints expressed by the home group significantly higher than dormitory group only among third year students. c. There was no statistically significant between the home and dormitory groups in their satisfaction with their economic situation. d. The home group showed a significantly higher rate of complaints related to the Nervous System compared to that of the dormitory group. 2. Physical health complaints a. Students living at home showed a significantly higher rate of physical complaints than the dormitory group. b. When the year variable was controlled, the third year was the only group which showed a different rate between home and dormitory groups; the home group presented a higher rate. c. Since the year variable seemed to affect the physical complaints those data were further analysed to see whether the specific system areas were operating as variables in each year. The results were as follow: Among the home group, First year students showed a higher rate in Family History of Disease, while the third year students more Nervous System and Cardiovascular System complaints. Among the dormitory group, only fourth year students showed a higher rate in the Skeletal-Muscular System. This was the only area the dormitory group though only for the fourth year students supported the hypothesis. d. When the economic satisfaction variable was controlled, the satisfied group was the only group which showed a different rate between home and dormitory groups; the home group presented higher rate. e. Since the economic satisfaction variable seemed to affect the physical complaints those data were further analyzed to see whether the specific system areas were operating as variables in each economic satisfaction level, but there was no statistically significant difference between home and dormitory groups. 3. Mental health complaints a. There was no significantly difference between home and dormitory groups with regard to mental health complaints expressed. b. When the year variable was controlled the third year group was the only group which showed a different rate between home and dormitory groups; the home group presented a higher rate. c. Since the year variable seemed to affect the mental complaints, those data were further analyzed to see whether the specific system areas were operatings variables in each economic satisfaction level. The result were as follows: Among the home group, the third year students showed higher rates in Inadequacy and Anxiety. d. When the economic satisfaction variable was controlled, the very satisfied group was the only group which showed a different rate between home and dormitory groups: the home group presented a higher rate. Since the economic satisfaction variable seemed to affect the mental complaints, those data were further analysed to see whether the specific system areas were operating as variables in each economic satisfaction level, but there was no statistical significant difference between the home and dormitory groups. Although the social environment of dormitory life differs from family life, there was no difference in the rate of total health problem complaints between the home and dormitory groups but the home group showed a higher rate of physical health complaints than the dormitory group. Possible positive factors influencing dormitory life and negative factors influencing family life affecting health complaints must be explored in order to relate to the health needs of the university health program. This study could not define the causes for the fewer physical complaints of dormitory students living at home. Further study of such causal factors recommended in order to provide the data needed to contribute to a more effective health program.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.491-499
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• 1996

Background : Pleural effusion is a common disease in clinical practice but its effect on pulmonary function and altered pulmonary mechanics after removal of effusion are not still largely understood. Previous studies have shown that there is little or a relatively small improvement in pulmonary function and arterial blood oxygenation after therapeutic thoracentesis. The present study was designed to assess the effect on pulmonary function of pleural effusion and to test whether there was a significant improvement in pulmonary function and arterial oxygenation after thoracentesis and to observe long tenn effect after thoracentesis. Method : We examined flow-volume curve, body box and arterial blood gas analysis according to severity of effusion, present symptom, and symptom duration. Then, we measured changes of pulmonary function after thoracentesis and observed longterm effect after thoracentesis. Result: 1) Pleural effusion cause restrictive pulmonary insufficiency. Not only functional impairment of small airway but also large airway is provoked. 2) MMFR, FEV1, Raw, POz are earlier improved than FVC and TLC after thoracentesis and patients without complication have mild restrictive pulmonary insufficiency after longterm observation. 3) FVC, FEV1, & TLC are similarly restricted as severity of pleural effusion and po, is relatively decreased. 4) Cases with symptom duration 1 week or less and cases with dyspnea have more severe pulmonary insufficiency than others. 5) The flow volume curves show a relatively greater improvement in flow rates at large lung volumes than small airway. 6) Significant relationship is shown between first thoracentesis amount and changes of FEV1, FVC, TLC. Conclusion: Pleural effusion cause restrictive pulmonary insufficiency and not only functional impairment of small airway impairment but also large airway is provoked. Then, Pulmonary function is progressively improved after thoracentesis and remained mild restrictive pulmonary insufficiency after recovery.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.34-60
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• 1993

This study was done for the improvement of dental health of rural villagers and the dental health education, through finding of the types of brushing teeth and dental treatment of 812 people in Sunsan, Kyungpook province for 35days from March 27 to April 30 in 1992. Summaries are as follows ; 1. 58.5 percent of respondents were women, 56.3 percent were 40′s, 28.0 percent were 30′s, 12.3 percent were 50′s, and the over 60′s were 3.4 percent Elementary school graduates were 36.1 percent and most of them were middle school graduates, 33.5 percent. In view of the occupation, farmers were 56.5 percent, factory workers were 17.9 percent, the middle class (monthly pay amounting to 500,000∼990,000 won) were 49 percent and the lower class(less than 500,000 won) were 30.9 percent. In the standpoint of religion, Buddhists were 42.5 percent. 2. In the number and times of respondents brushing, 35.5 percent is "after dinner", 25.6 percent is "Before going to bed", 15.8 percent is "After breakfast", 13.3 percent is "After every meal", 5.2 percent is "Before breakfast" and 4.7 percent is "The sometimes it occurs to them". 3. The acquirement process of knowledge on the dental health were clinics or health center dentists (27.6%), TV(24.5%), magazine(9.2%), school(7.8%), relatives(5.3%). and 25.6 percent has never acquired. 28.3 percent of the farmers learned something by clinics and 28.1 percent of them haven′t heard about dental health. 4. The rate of persons who experienced oral diseases during 1 year period was 76.1 percent, and that of the educated was 19.9 percent and that of the uneducated 80.1 percent. The authorities concerned with treatment were dentist′s(41.6%), health center(30.3%), and the unlicensed person(2.9%). The rate of negligence was 6.3 percent, farmers experienced oral disease was 75.2 percent and they utilized the health center most often(36.2%). 5. The rate of person who had experienced dental prosthesis during ten year period was 71.9 percent, and the final place or man for dental prosthesis was dental clinic(59.4%), the unlicensed person(27.1%), and health center(13.5%). The rate of farmers experienced dental prosthesis was 70.4 percent. They utilized the dental clinic, the unlicensed person and the health center with the rates of 51.5 percent, 32.2 percent, and 16.7 percent respectively. 6. As to the results of dental prosthesis using the dental clinic, "being satisfied now" was 72.4 percent, "being dissatisfied" 14.4 percent, "being unable to use it" 3.1 percent, "its being somewhat usable" 10.1 percent, "having some problem" 38.7 percent, and "there being no problems" 61.3 percent. About utilizing the unlicensed person, "being satisfied now" was 65.8 percent, "being dissatisfied" was 10.7 percent, "being unable to use it" 5.1 percent and "its being some what usable" was 18.4 percent. 7. The rate of missing teeth holders amounted to 89.8 percent, the rate of the educated to the uneducated was 19.2 percent to 80.8 percent The reasons of neglecting that illness were due to "Endurable"(28.3%), and "No money" (24.3%). In the case of farmers 89.1 percent of them were the missing-teeth holders, the "Endurable" were 29.8 7. percent, and "No money" lay in 27.4 percent. 8. Their hopeful centers for dental prosthesis were the dental clinics(76.6%), and the health center(16.9%).

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.13-24
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• 1994

Despite optimal local therapy such as surgery and/or radiotherapy, the long term outcome is poor for patients with advanced squamous cell carcinomma of head and neck, due to frequent loco-regional recurrence and distant metastases. We studied to determine whether the combination chemotherapy, especially as an adjuvant chemotherapy, would improve the survival of these patients. Between January, 1986 and December, 1992, 57 patients with previously untreated, locally advanced squamous cell arcinoma of head and neck were assigned to receive 2-3 cycles of induction chemotherapy consisting of 5-fluorouracil(F) and cisplatin(P) every 3 weeks and standard local therapy such as surgery and/or radiotherapy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with the same FP regimens. Of the 57 enroled patients, 45 patients were evaluable. The obtained results were as following: 1) Among 45 evaluable patients, 18 patients finished all treatment protocol including adjuvant chemotherapy and 27 patients had no adjuvant chemotherapy. The difference of age, sex, performance status, disease stage, and tumor differentiation was not significant statistically between adjuvant chemotherapy group and no-adjuvant chemotherapy group. 2) After induction chemotherapy, 7/45(15.4%), 30/45(67%) achieved complete remission and partial remission respectively with 82.4% overall response rates in entire patients. 3) The 4year progression free survival was 43.3% in adjuvant chemotherapy group and 24.1% in no-adjuvant chemotherapy group(p>0.05). The 4year overall survival was 56.9% and 25.5% respectively(p>0.05). There was no significant different in the patterns of local recurrence and distant metastasis between the two groups. 4) Adverse reactions from combination chemotherapy included nausea, vomiting, mucositis, diarrhea and hematologic bone marrow depression. These were mild and tolerated by patients, and these was no episode of any life threatening toxicities. In conclusion, adjuvant chemotherapy after induction chemotherapy and local therapy did not show statistically significant survival improvement, but there was trend of prolongation of survival when compared to no adjuvant chemotherapy. Thus, large scale phase III randomized controlled studies are strongly recommended.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.290-301
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• 1989

This is preliminary report on anthrax epidemic occurred in an island with about 100 residents. Since 1982 there had been sudden deaths among all kinds of domestic animals including cattle, dogs, ducks, chicken and goat but only a few among cats in an isolated island about three hours distance away by ferry boat from Mokpo city. From 1986 through 1988 nine human deaths and four patients occurred, which made the government intervene for investigation on June 25 1988. The epidemiological investigation consisted of interview survey and medical examination, medical record analysis, laboratory work to isolate the pathogens under the direction of hypothesis derived from the study and further confirmation of the pathogens by international institute. The summarized results are as followings: 1. According to the interview survey there were many deaths among domestic animals usually in cold and dry season such as January through March and September through November; 36 heads of cattle leaving one head, more than 40 hogs(all), hundreds of chicken leaving few alive, goats that had taken home from mountain and two or three cats out of around 40 had sudden deaths from 1982 till 1985, when the residents stopped to purchase and take them into the island anymore. Also there were eleven persons who had experienced the similar syndrome complex to those of admitted and expired patients and four of them revealed typical chest X-ray findings; from one of these four patients(Rho) B. anthracis is isolated. 2. Medical record on patients who had been admitted, showed common characteristics of the disease course. On admission they had either gastrointestinal or upper respiratory infection symptoms which invariably progressed to septicemic nature with pulmonary interstitial infiltration and mediastinal widening/bulging, and then to deadly acute respiratory distress syndrome. At the end stage chest X-ray revealed multiple bullous emphysema. One of another characteristics was oral ulceration with bleeding occurred in about 50% of the patients. Laboratory test results in common were leukocytosis with left shift and abnormal liver and kidney functions, particularly at the later stage of the illness. 3. Epidemiological characteristics was striking in that both mortality and incidence rates were high: the mortality rate was 8.7% average, male being three times higher than females but there was no distictive clustering by age group. The incidence rate for both sexes was 28.2% and there was no sex difference although a tendency of higher incidence among older ages was noticed. The highest mortality and incidence were observed in Won village where the first death of animal occurred and with the highest frequency among three villages of the island. 4. Among twelve bacilli species isolated from various specimens, two strains, one from patient and the other from soil where the recently died cow is hurried, were confirmed as B. anthracis by Pasteur Institute and CDC of USA(strain from soil). CDC reported that the strain did not produce capsule in bicarbonate media but reacted with the bacteriophage and one of five sera taken from the patients. Mode of transmission as well as incubation period of the agent has not been established yet, which needs further investigation in relation to the antigenic structure of the variant when it is confirmed.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.62-67
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• 2002

Purpose : This study was undertaken to analyze the efficacy and sphincter preservation rate of platinum based neoadjuvant chemotherapy Plus radiotherapy versus abdominoperineal resection and Postoperative radiotherapy for anal cancer. Materials and Methods : Data of forty-two patients with anal cancer were retrospectively analyzed. Among thirty-eight patients with epidermoid histology, four patients received radiotherapy, and nineteen patients received abdominoperineal resection and adjuvant radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy $(APR+RT{\pm}CT)$, and fifteen patients received neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy (CRT). The CRT regimen was composed of three cycles of 5-fluorouracil $(1,000\;mg/m^2\;bolus\;on\;D1\~5)$ and cisplatin $(60\;mg/m^2\;bolus\;on\;D1)$ followed by 50.4 Gy to the tumor bed and regional lymphatics over 5.5 weeks. Both inguinal lymphatics were treated with an identical dose schedule. Residual disease was treated with an additional three cycles of identical adjuvant chemotherapy. An identical dose schedule was used for post-operative radiotherapy. Median follow-up period was eighty-five months. Results : Overall five-year survival rates were $80.3\%$, 88.9 and $79.4\%$ for entire patients, $APR+RT{\pm}CT$ group, and the CRT group, respectively. No significant difference was found between the two groups (p=0.49). Anus preservation rate for the CRT group was $86.7\%$. Age (0=0.0164) and performance status (p=0.0007) were found to be significant prognostic factors by univariate analysis. Age (p=0.0426), performance status (p=0.0008), and inguinal lymph node metastasis (e=0.0093) were statistically significant prognostic factors by multivariate analysis. No case of RTOG grade 3 complication or higher was reported. Conclusion : This and other recent studies have shown that combined chemotherapy plus radiotherapy for anal cancer results in a high rate of anal sphincter preservation as well as local control and survival. Furthermore, neoadjuvant use of chemotherapy with a cisplatin based regimen rather than a concurrent regimen may lead to a decrease in complications.