• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.193-197
• /
• 2006

Melanoma is a malignant neoplasm of melanocytes most frequently arising from the skin, but primary melanoma can also arise from the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. Gastrointestinal melanomas are most commonly metastases from a cutaneous melanoma. Primary melanoma of the stomach is rare and carries a poor prognosis. Reported here is the case of a 75-year-old man with a primary gastric melanoma who presented with a melena, abdominal pain, and weight loss. Most cases of melanoma are treated by excision of the primary tumor. Patients with melanoma have been treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy. None of these modalities has been demonstrated to prolong the survival rate. To improve long-term disease-free survival, early diagnosis and surgical intervention are very important.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.349-355
• /
• 2004

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with invasion of mediastinal structures is classified as stage IIIB, and has been considered surgically unresectable However, in a selected group of these patients, better results after surgical resection compared to non-surgical group have been reported. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of surgical resection in treatment of mediastinal T4 NSCLC. Material and Method: Among 1067 patients who underwent surgical intervention for non-small cell lung cancer from Aug 1987 to Dec 2001 in Korea cancer center hospital, 82 patients had an invasion of T4 mediastinal structures (7.7%). Resection was possible in 63patients (63/82 resectability 76.8%). Their medical records in Data Base were reviewed, and they were followed up completely until Jun 2002. Surgical results and prognostic factors of NSCLC invading mediastinal structures were evaluated retrospectively. Result Lung cancer was resected completely in 52 patients (63.4%, 52/82). Lung resection was lobectomy (or more) in 14, pneumonectomy in 49. The mediastinal structures invaded by primary tumor were great vessel (61.9%), heart (19%), vagus nerve (9.5%), esophagus (7.9%), and vertebral body (7.9%). Nodal status was N0 in 11, N1 in 24, and N2 in 28 (44.4%). Neoadjuvant therapy was done in 6 (9.5%, 5 chemotherapy, 1 radiotherapy), and adjuvant therapy was added in 44 (69.8%, 15 chemotherapy, 29 radiotherapy) in resection group (n=63). Complication was occurred in 23 (31.7%), and operative mortality was 9.5% in resection group. Median and 5 year overall survival including operative mortality was 18.1 months and 21.7% in resection group (n=63), 6.2months and 0% in exploration only group (n=19, p=.001), 39 months and 32.9% in N2 (-) resection group (n=35), and 8.8 months and 8.6% in N2 (+) resection group (n=28, p=.007). The difference of overall survival by mediastinal structure was not significant. Conclusion: The operative risk of NSCLC invading mediastinal structures was high but acceptable, and long-term result of resection was favorable in selected group. Aggressive resection is recommended in well selected pateints with good performace and especially N2 (-) NSCLC with mediastinal invasion.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.339-348
• /
• 1997

Purpose : To evaluate the role of postoperative radiation therapy after curative resection of sigmoid colon cancer Materials and Methods : From 1988 to 1993, a total of 93 Patients with curative resectable sigmoid colon cancer of modified Astler-Coiler (MAC) stage B2, B3, C2, C3 was divided into two groups on the basis of those who received radiation treatment and those who did not. Forty-three patients who treated by surgery alone were classified as postop RT (-) group The remaining 50 patients who underwent postoperative radiotherapy were classified as postop RT (+) group. In all patients in Postop RT (+) group. radiation therapy was delivered using 4 or 10 MV linear accelerators to treat the tumor bed with approximately 5cm margin to a total dose 50.4-61Gy(median 54Gy) in 1.8Gy per fraction. Thirty-two patients were treated. with 5-Fluorouracil based adjuvant chemotherapy at least 3 cycles. but these was no significant difference between two groups. Treatment failure Pattern, 5-year local failure-free survival rates (LFFS), and 5-year disease-free survival rates (DFS) were compared between two groups. Result : Five year LFFS and DFS were $85.1\%,\;68.5\%$, respectively, In Postop RT (-) group, LFFS was $76.2\%$ compared with $91.7\%$ in Postop RT (+) group. Improved LFFS and DFS were seen for patients with stage C3 sigmoid colon carcinoma with postoperative radiation therapy compared with postop RT (-) group (P=0.01, p=0.06 respectively), in stage B3, LFFS washigher in postop RT (+) group than that in Postop RT (-) group. although itwas not significant. Especially, local control was higher in stage 74 inpostop RT (+) group than that in postop RT (-) group, Conclusion : This studv showed significantly improved LFFS and DFS in MAC Stage C3 and improved tendency of LFFS and DFS in MAC Stage B3 disease. Large scale prospective study is required to verify the role of adjuvant radiation therapy in resectable sigmoid colon cancer.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.57 no.6
• /
• pp.557-566
• /
• 2004

Background : To find out effectiveness of multimodality treatments based on induction chemotherapy(CTx) in patients with clinical stage IIIA NSCLC Methods : From 1997 to 2002, 74 patients with clinical stage IIIA NSCLC underwent induction CTx at the hospital of Chungnam National University. Induction CTx included above two cycles of cisplatin-based regimens(ectoposide, gemcitabine, vinorelbine, or taxol) followed by tumor evaluation. In 30 complete resection group, additional 4500-5000cGy radiotherapy(RTx) was delivered in 15 patients with pathologic nodal metastasis. 29 out of 44 patients who were unresectable disease, refusal of operation, and incomplete resection were followed by 60-70Gy RTx in local treatment. Additional 1-3 cycle CTx were done in case of induction CTx responders in both local treatment groups. Results : Induction CTx response rate were 44.6%(complete remission 1.4% & partial response 43.2%) and there was no difference of response rate by regimens(p=0.506). After induction chemotherapy, only 33 out of resectable 55 ones(including initial resectable 37 patients) were performed by surgical treatment because of 13 refusal of surgery by themselves and 9 poor predicted reserve lung function. There were 30(40.5%) patients with complete resection, 2(2.6%) persons with incomplete resection, and 1(1.3%) person with open & closure. Response rate in 27 ones with chest RTx out of non-operation group was 4.8% CR and 11.9% PR. In complete resection group, relapse free interval was 13.6 months and 2 year recur rate was 52%. In non-complete resection(incomplete resection or non-operation) group, disease progression free interval was 11.2 months and 2 year disease progression rate was 66.7%. Median survival time of induction CTx 74 patients with IIIA NSCLC was 25.1months. When compared complete resection group with non-complete resection group, the median survival time was 31.7 and 23.4months(p=0.024) and the 2-year overall survival rate was 80% and 41%. In the complete resection group, adjuvant postoperative RTx subgroup significantly improved the 2-year local control rate(0% vs. 40%, p= 0.007) but did not significantly improve overall survival(32.2months vs. 34.9months, p=0.48). Conculusion : Induction CTx is a possible method in the multimodality treatments, especially followed by complete resection, but overall survival by any local treatment(surgical resection or RTx) was low. Additional studies should be needed to analysis data for appropriate patient selection, new chemotherapy regimens and the time when should RTx be initiated.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.49-54
• /
• 2009

Purpose: To report on the clinical outcome of patients with stage I testicular seminoma by postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) or surveillance after radical inguinal orchiectomy. Materials and Methods: This study is a retrospective review of 32 stage I pure seminoma patients treated between 1996 and 2005 at the Samsung Medical Center. Twenty two of the patients were treated by PORT, which was directed at the paraaortic lymphatics with a median dose of 25.2 Gy in 14 fractions for 3 weeks. The 10 remaining patients were managed by surveillance. The median follow-up period was 96 months with a range of 24 to 155 months. Results: Clinically, most patients presented with a testicular mass or discomfort. Two of the patients had a history of undescended testes. Pathologically, 23 of the patients had intratubular germ cell neoplasia with seminoma. Both recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) rates of patients treated by PORT were 100%. In the control group, 1 of the 10 patients suffered a para-aortic lymph node relapse. The RFS and OS rates of the surveillance group were 88.9% and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: No difference in survival was observed between the two groups. Moreover, symptom recurrence was only observed in 1 patient in the control group. The use of PORT may reduce the risk of relapse. With the availability of effective diagnostic and salvage modalities, surveillance monitoring may be considered for patients in good compliance.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.70-78
• /
• 2007

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: This study analyzed the tumor response, overall survival, progression free survival and related prognostic factors in patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer subjected to bladder preserving treatment. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: Between August 1995 and June 2004, 37 patients with muscle invasive (transitional cell carcinoma, clinically stage T2-4) bladder cancer were enrolled for the treatment protocol of bladder preservation. There were 33 males and 4 females, and the median age was 67 years (range $38{\sim}86\;years$). Transurethral resection of the bladder (TURB) was performed in 17 patients who underwent complete resection. The median radiation dose administered was 64.8 Gy (range $55.8{\sim}67\;Gy$). The survival rate was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. $\underline{Results}$: An evaluation of the response rate was determined by abdomen-pelvic CT and cystoscopy at three months after radiotherapy. A complete response was seen in 17 patients (46%). The survival rate at three years was 54.7%, with 54 months of median survival (range $3{\sim}91$ months). During the study, 17 patients died and 13 patients had died from bladder cancer. The progression free survival rate at three years was 37.2%. There were 24 patients (64.9%) who had disease recurrence: 16 patients (43.2%) had local recurrence, 6 patients (16.2%) had a distant recurrence, and 2 patients (5.4%) had both a local and distant recurrence. The survival rate (p=0.0009) and progression free survival rates (p=0.001) were statistically significant when compared to the response rate after radiotherapy. $\underline{Conclusion}$: The availability of complete TURB and appropriate chemoradiotherapy were important predictors for bladder preservation and survival.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.433-440
• /
• 1998

Purpose : Although small ceil lung cancer (SCLC) has high response rate to chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT), the prognosis is dismal. The authors evaluated survival and failure patterns according to the prognostic factors in SCLC patients who had thoracic radiation therapy with chemotherapy. Materials and Methods : One hundred and twenty nine patients with SCLC had received thoracic radiation therapy from August 1985 to December 1990. Seventy-seven accessible patients were evaluated retrospectively among 87 patients who completed RT. Median follow-up period was 14 months (2-87months). Results : The two years survival rate was 13$\%$ with a median survival time of 14 months. The two year survival rates of limited disease and extensive disease were 20$\%$ and 8$\%$, respectively, with median survival time of 14 months and 9 months, respectively. Twenty two patients (88$\%$) of limited disease showed complete response (CR) and 3 patients (12$\%$) did partial response (PR). The two year survival rates on CR and PR groups were 24$\%$ and 0$\%$, with median survival times of 14 months and 5 months. respectively (p=0.005). No patients with serum sodium were lower than 135 mmol/L survived 2years and their median survival time was 7 months (p=0.002). Patients whose alkaline phophatase lower than 130 IU/L showed 26$\%$ of 2 year survival rate and showed median survival time of 14 months and those with alkaline phosphatase higher than 130 IU/L showed no 2 year survival and median survival time of 5 the months, respectively (p=0.019). No statistical differences were found according to the age, sex, and performance status. Among the patients with extensive disease, two rear survivals according to the metastatic sites were 14$\%$, 0$\%$, and 7$\%$ in brain, liver, and other metastatic sites, respectively, with median survival time of 9 months, 9 months, and 8 months, respectively (p>0.05). Two year survivals on CR group and PR group were 15$\%$ and 4$\%$, respectively, with a median survival time of 11 months and 7 months, respectively (p=0.01). Conclusion : For SCLC, complete response after chemoradiotherapy was the most significant prognostic tactor. To achieve this goal. there should be further investigation about hyperfractionation, dose escalation, and compatible chemo-radiation schedule such as concurrent chemo-radiation and early radiation therapy with chemotherapy.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.182-186
• /
• 2000

Purpose : To determine treatment or이ecol for inoperable esophageal cancer patients, 껜e evaluated survival rate and prognostic factors. Materials and Methods : We evaluated esophageal cancer treated by curative or palliative am in KCCH from 1992 to 1996, retrospectively. Recurrent or underdose case below 40 Gy were excluded. The number of male and female were 35 and 5, respectively. Thirty-eight patients were squamous carcinoma and 2 patients were not biopsy proven. Ten patients were treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy Median dose of radiation therapy was 59.4 Gy and the range was $40\~60$ Gy. Results : The median survival is 6.5 months and 1-year survival rate was $28.3\%$. Age, location, radiation dose and chemotherapy were not significant prognostic factors. Median survivals of patients with below stage III and over stage IVA were 7.6 and 6.2 months respectively, but it is not significant. Conclusions : The survival for esophageal cancer is very poor. For patients with curative aim, chemotherapy must be considered. For patients with palliative aim, short-term external beam radiation therapy and/or brachytherapy must be considered.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.606-611
• /
• 2009

Five dogs diagnosed as apocrine gland adenocarcinoma (AGAC) of the anal sac based on cytology and/or histology. Mean age of these dogs was 11 years old. One dog treated with supportive care without other medical interventions for hypercalcemia was died one month after diagnosis. Other four dogs were treated with chemotherapy and one of these dogs was intervened with complete surgical resection. Two months after the diagnosis, one of the dogs treated with chemotherapy died. The survival time of other survived three dogs from the time of diagnosis was 19, 9, and 13 months respectively and they are still alive at this time. After chemotherapy, three dogs were managed generally in good body condition and maintained as similar in size as time of diagnosis. The results are suggested that it is worthwhile to try chemotherapy for managing AGAC in dogs especially complicated or metastasized to regional lymph nodes.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.5-17
• /
• 2001

It is known that aggressive treatment of chemotherapy, radiation and autogenous stem cell transplantation is effective for prevention of recurrence in the high-risk breast cancer patients. It was assumed that this procedure takes a longer time and decreases the quality of life more than the standard adjuvant chemotherapy. However, there are few studies comparing the quality of life of patients having bone marrow transplantation and adjuvant chemotherapy. Most of the studies were focused on the quality of life in one point of time, such as only during the early treatment stage, only overall quality of life rather than specific dimensions of the quality of life. The purposes of this study are 1) to identify the difference of the quality of life between two different treatment patterns, adjuvant chemotherapy and autogenous stem cell transplantation: 2) to identify the mostly affected dimension and the periods of time affected by the treatment patterns; and 3) to identify the trajectories of quality of life in each treatment pattern. This is a time series design that measures 4 different points of times. At the beginning of the study, 19 patients were placed in the chemotherapy group and 12 in the group of auto-peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. The inclusion criterion was the advanced disease stage of 3 or over with metastasis of more than 5 lymph nodes. The exclusion criteria were 1) anyone who has metastasis to other organ; 2) anyone who had psychological problems. Ferrell's Quality of Life Scale for Cancer Survivors 41 items on a 10 point scale was used. The QOL-CS includes 4 dimensions, which were labeled physical, psychological, social, and spiritual. The Cronbach‘s alpha of this scale was 0.89. Mann-Whitney U test and Friedman test were used to test each hypothesis. In comparison of the two groups, the quality of life of the bone marrow transplantation group dramatically increased at the 3rd and 6th month after transplantation, while the chemotherapy groups results stayed lower. The most affected dimension of the quality of life at the end of the treatment was the physical dimension. However, it and increased along with time, while the psychological dimension values remained low over the long-term period. Intensive nursing care is needed during the entire period of chemotherapy in all patients having chemotherapy, and is also required for right after cases of bone marrow transplantation.