• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.207-214
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• 2009

Purpose: Subtotal distal gastrectomy has been accepted as the standard treatment for early gastric cancer that's developed on the gastric body. EMR and ESD have been introduced to minimize the incidence of postgastrectomy syndrome, but these procedures can not detect lymph node metastasis and they have a risk for gastric perforation. Segmental gastrectomy has recently been applied for treating early gastric cancer, but its usefulness has not been clarified. The aim of this study was to compare segmental gastrectomy and distal gastrectomy with Billroth I reconstruction for treating early gastric cancer that's developed on the gastric body. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all the patients who were diagnosed as having early gastric cancer that developed on the gastric body at Chungnam National University Hospital from January 2004 through July 2007. During this period, 41 patients received segmental gastrectomy and 40 patients underwent subtotal distal gastrectomy. All the patients were studied via a biannual review of the body systems, a physical examination, endoscopy, computed tomography and the laboratory findings. Results: There were no significantly differences of the clinicopathologic characteristics between the two groups. The changes of the nutritional status (Hb, TP, Alb and TC) and the body weight change were not significantly different between the 2 groups. There were significantly more residual food in the SG group than that in the SDG group (RGB classification, Residual>Grade 2), but there were no differences for epigastric discomfort (P>0.05). Esophagitis developed at a similar rate for both two groups (LA classification, >Grade A), and bile reflux was found in only one patient of each group. Conclusion: We expected the reduction of esophagitis and gastritis and the improvement of nutritional status according to the type of procedure. Yet the results of our study showed no significant differences between the two study groups. More patients and a longer follow up time are needed for determining the advantage sand disadvantages of segmental gastrectomy.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.257-264
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• 2004

Background : There are many combinations of treatment for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Recent studies have showed the efficacy of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in NSCLC. At present, however, there is no consensus about the optimal dosages and timing of radiation and chemotherapeutic agents. The aims of study were to determine the feasibility, toxicity, response rate, and survival rate in locally advanced NSCLC patients treated with doxetaxel and cisplatin based CCRT. Method : Sixteen patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC were evaluated from May 2000 until September 2001. Induction chemoradiotherapy consisted of 3 cycles of docetaxel (75 $mg/m^2/IV$ on day 1) and cisplatin (60 $mg/m^2/IV$ on day 1) chemotherapy every 3 weeks and concomitant hyperfractionated chest irradiation (1.15 Gy/BID, total dose of 69 Gy) in 6 weeks. Patient who had complete or partial response, and stable disease were applied consolidation chemotherapy of docetaxel and cisplatin. Results : All patients showed response to CCRT. Four patients achieved complete response (25%), partial responses in 12 patients (75%). The major common toxicities were grade III or more of neutropenia (87.3%), grade III esophagitis (68.8%), pneumonia (18.8%) and grade III radiation pneumonitis (12.5%). Thirteen patients were ceased during follow-up period. Median survival time was 19.9 months (95% CI; 4.3-39.7 months). The survival rates in one, two, and three years are 68.7%, 43.7%, and 29.1%, respectively. Local recurrence was found in 11 patients (66.8%), bone metastasis in 2, and brain metastasis in 1 patient. Conclusion : The response rate and survival time of CCRT with docetaxel/cisplatin in locally advanced NSCLC were encouraging, but treatment related toxicities were high. Further modification of therapy seems to be warranted.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 2003

Purpose: The effects of hypefractionation radiation therapy, such as the failure pattern and survival, on the treatment results in advanced stage head and neck cancer were studied. Materials and Methods: Between September 1990 and October 1998, 24 patients with advanced stage (III, IV) head and neck cancers, were treated using hyperfractionation radiation therapy in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. The male to female ratio was 7 : 1, and the age range from 38 to 71 years with the median of 56 years. With regard to the TNM stage, 11 patients were stage III and 13 were stage IV. The sites of primary cancer were the nasopharynx in six, the hypopharynx in 6, the larynx in five, the oropharynx in three, the maxillary sinus in three, and the oral cavity in one patient. The radiotherapy was delivered by 6 MV X-ray, with a fraction size of 1.2 Gy at two fractions a day, with at least 6 hours inter-fractional interval. The mean total radiation doses was 72 Gy, (ranging from 64.4 to 75.8 Gy). Follow-up periods ranged between 3 and 136 months, with the median of 52 months. Results: The overall survival rates at 3 and 5 years in all patients were 66.7$\%$, and 52.4$\%$. The disease-free survival rates at 3 and S years (3YDFS, 5YDFS) in all patients were 66.7$\%$ and 47.6$\%$. The 3YDFS and 5YDFS in stage III patients were 81.8$\%$ and 63.6$\%$, and those in stage IV patients were 53.8$\%$ and 32.3$\%$. Ten patients were alive with no local nor distant failures at the time of analyses. Six patients (25$\%$) died due to distant metastasis and 12.5$\%$ died due to local failure. Distant metastasis was the major cause of failure, but 2 patients died due to unknown failures and 3 of other diseases. The distant metastasis sites were the lung (3 patients), the bone (1 patient), and the liver (2 patients). One patient died of second esophageal cancer. There were no severe late complications, with the exception of 1 osteo-radionecrosis of the mandible 58 months after treatment. Conclusion: Although this study was peformed on small patients group, we considered hypefractionated radiation therapy for the treatment of advanced stage head and neck cancer might improve the disease free survival and decrease the local failure with no increase in late complications despite of the slight Increase in acute complications.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2004

Locally advanced (Stage III) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for approximately one third of all cases of NSCLC. Few patients with locally advanced NSCLC present with disease amenable to curative surgical resection. Historically, these patients were treated with primary thoracic radiation therapy (RT) and had poor long term survival rates, due to both progression of local disease and development on distant metastases. Over the last two decades, the use of multidisciplinary approach has improved the outcome for patients with locally advanced NSCLC. Combined chemoradiotherapy is the most favored approach for treatment of locally advanced unresectable NSCLC. There are two basic treatment protocols for administering combined chemotherapy and radiation, sequential versus concurrent. The rationale for using chemotherapy is to eliminate subclinical metastatic disease while improving local control. Sequential use of chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy has improved median and long term survival compared to radiation therapy alone. This approach appears to decrease the risk of distant metastases,, but local failure rates remain the same as radiation alone. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy has been studied extensively. The potential advantages of this approach may include sensitization of tumor cells to radiation by the administration of chemotherapy, and reduced overall treatment time compared to sequential therapy; which is known to be important for improving local control in radiation biology. This approach Improves survival primarily as a result of improved local control. However, it doesn't seem to decrease the risk of distant metastases probably because concurrent chemoradiation requires dose reductions in chemotherapy due to increased risks of acute morbidity such as acute esophageal toxicity. Although multidisciplinary therapy has led to improved survival rates compared to radiation therapy alone and has become the new standard of care, the optimal therapy of locally advanced NSCLC continues to evolve. The current issues in the multidisciplinary management of locally advanced NSCLC will be reviewed in this report.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.331-338
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• 1999

Background: Nearly 10% of cancer patients will develop a second primary cancer within ten years after surgical removal of the primary tumor. The detection of risk factors for developing multiple primary tumors would be important This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical characteristics and abnormal p53 expression of lung cancer associated with multiple primary cancer(MPC). Method: Clinical characteristics and abnormal p53 expression were compared between 20 cases of lung cancer(NSCLC ; 16 cases, SCLC ; 4 cases) associated with MPC and 26 cases of primary non-small cell lung cancer. Result: MPC associated with lung cancer was gastric cancer(8), lung cancer(2), esophageal cancer(2), colon cancer(2), laryngeal cancer(1), bladder cancer(1), small bowel cancer(l), adrenal cancer(1), hepatocellular carcinoma(1), and breast cancer (1) in order. The clinical stage of primary NSCLC was relatively advanced, but NSCLC associated with MPC was even distribution at each stage. The detected incidences of abnormal p53 expressions were 62.5% in NSCLC associated with MPC and 76.9% in primary NSCLC(p>0.05). Conclusion: There was no difference in abnormal p53 expression between non-small cell carcinoma associated with multiple primary cancer and primary non-small cell carcinoma.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.776-784
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• 1998

Background: The cyclin D1 gene is one of the most frequently amplified chromosomal regions(11q13) in human carcinomas. In laryngeal and head and neck carcinomas, its overexpression has been shown to be associated with advanced local invasion and presence of lymph node metastases. Cyclin D1 may therefore playa key role in cell growth regulation and tumorigenesis. Lung cancer is a worldwide problem and in many contries it is the most lethal malignancy. As relapse is frequent after resection of early stage non-small cell lung cancer, there is an urgent need to define prognostic factors. Purpose: This study was undertaken to evaluate the prognostic value of the cyclin D1, that is one the G1 cyclins which control cell cycle progression by allowing G1 to S phase transition, on the patients in radically resected non-small cell lung cancer. Method: Total 81 cases of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks from resected primary non-small cell lung cancer from January 1, 1983 to July 31, 1995 at Hanyang University Hospital were available for both clinical follow-up and immunohistochemical staining using monoclonal antibodies for cyclin D1. Results : The histologic classification of the tumor was based on WHO criteria, and the specimens included 45 squamous cell carcinomas, 25 adenocarcinomas and 11 large cell carcinomas. Cyclin D1 overexpression was noted in 26 cases of 81 cases tested (30.9%). Cyclin D1 expression was not significantly associated with cell types of the tumor, pathological staging and the size of the tumor. But cyclin D1 overexpression was significantly correlated with positive lymph node metastasis(p=0.035). The mean survival duration was $22.76{\pm}3.50$ months in cyclin D1 positive group and $45.38{\pm}5.64$ months in eyclin D1 negative group. There was a nearly significant difference in overall survival between cyclin D1 positive and negative groups(p=0.0515) in radically resected non-small cell lung cancer. Conclusion: Based on this study, cyelin D1 overexpression appears an important poor prognostic indicator in non-small cell lung cancer and may have diagnostic and prognostic importance in the treatment of resectable non-small cell lung cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.275-282
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• 1998

Purpose : The effect of hyperfractionated radiotherapy on locally advanced non-small lung cancer was studied by a retrospective analysis. Materials & Methods : We analyzed sixty one patients of biopsy-confirmed, IIIA and IIIB non-small cell lung cancer. Using the ECOG performance scale, all the patients were scored less than 2. They were treated by curative hyperfractionated radiotherapy alone from Oct. 1992 to Oct. 1995 at the Department of Radiation Oncology. All the patients received 120cGy b.i.d with more than 6 hours interval between each fraction. The total dose of radiation was reached up to 6400-7080 cGy with a mean dose of 6934 cGy. The results were analyzed retrospectively. Results : The overall survival rate was 53 1$\%$ in 1 year, 9.9$\%$ in 2 years with a median survival time (MST) of 13.9 months. The progression free survival (PFS) rate was 37.0$\%$ in 1 year, 8.9$\%$ in 2 years. Twenty two Patients were classified as complete responders to this treatment and their MST was 19.5 months When this was compared with that of partial responders (MST: 11 7months), it was statistically significant (p=0.0003). Twenty nine patients of stage IIIA showed a better overall survival rate (1yr 63.3$\%$, 2yr 16.8$\%$) than IIIB patients (1yr 43.3$\%$, 2yr 3.6$\%$), which was also statistically significant (p=0.003). Patients with adenocarcinoma showed a better survival rate (1yr 64.3$\%$, 2yr 21.4$\%$) than that of squamous cell counterpart (1yr 49.4$\%$, 2yr 7.4$\%$), although this was not significant statistically (p=0.61). Two patients developed fatal radiation-induced pneumonia right after the completion of the treatment which progressed rapidly and they all died within 2 months. One patient developed radiation-induced fibrosis after 13 months. He refused further treatment and died soon after the development of fibrosis. Conclusion : Among locally advanced NSCLC, hyperfractionated radiotherapy was effective on stage IIIA patients by increasing MST with acceptable toxicities. Acute radiation-induced pneumonia should be carefully monitored and must be avoided during or after this treatment.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.409-423
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• 1998

Purpose : This retrospective study was tried to evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients, patterns of failure, survival rates, prognostic factors affecting survival, and treatment related toxicities when non-small cell lung cancer patients was treated by definitive radiotherapy alone or combined with chemotherapy. Materials and Methods : We evaluated the treatment results of 70 patients who were treated by definitive radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer at the Department of Radiation Oncology, Ewha Womans University Hospital, between March 1982 and April 1996. The number of patients of each stage was 2 in stage I, 6 in stage II, 30 in stage III-A, 29 in stage III-B, 3 in stage IV. Radiation therapy was administered by 6 MV linear accelerator and daily dose was 1.8-2.0 Gy and total radiation dose was ranged from 50.4 Gy to 72.0 Gy with median dose 59.4 Gy. Thirty four patients was treated with combined therapy with neoadjuvant or concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and most of them were administered with the multi-drug combined chemotherapy including etoposide and cisplatin. The survival rate was calculated with the Kaplan-Meier methods. Results : The overall 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year survival rates were 63$\%$, 29$\%$, and 26$\%$, respectively. The median survival time of all patients was 17 months. The disease-free survival rate for 1-year and 2-year were 23$\%$ and 16$\%$, respectively. The overall 1-year survival rates according to the stage was 100$\%$ for stage I, 80$\%$ for stage II, 61$\%$ for stage III, and 50$\%$ for stage IV. The overall 1-year 2-year, and 3-year survival rates for stage III patients only were 61$\%$, 23$\%$, and 20$\%$, respectively. The median survival time of stage III patients only was 15 months. The complete response rates by radiation therapy was 10$\%$ and partial response rate was 50$\%$. Thirty patients (43$\%$) among 70 patients assessed local control at initial 3 months follow-up duration. Twenty four (80$\%$) of these 30 Patients was possible to evaluate the pattern of failure after achievement of local control. And then, treatment failure occured in 14 patients (58$\%$): local relapse in 6 patients (43$\%$), distant metastasis in 6 patients (43$\%$) and local relapse with distant metastasis in 2 patients (14$\%$). Therefore, 10 patients (23$\%$) were controlled of disease of primary site with or without distant metastases. Twenty three patients (46$\%$) among 50 patients who were possible to follow-up had distant metastasis. The overall 1-year survival rate according to the treatment modalities was 59$\%$ in radiotherapy alone and 66$\%$ in chemoirradiation group. The overall 1-year survival rates for stage III patients only was 51$\%$ in radiotherapy alone and 68$\%$ in chemoirradiation group which was significant different. The significant prognostic factors affecting survival rate were the stage and the achievement of local control for all patients at univariate- analysis. Use of neoadjuvant or concurrent chemotherapy, use of chemotherapy and the achievement of local control for stage III patients only were also prognostic factors. The stage, pretreatment performance status, use of neoadjuvant or concurrent chemotherapy, total radiation dose and the achievement of local control were significant at multivariate analysis. The treatment-related toxicities were esophagitis, radiation pneunonitis, hematologic toxicity and dermatitis, which were spontaneously improved, but 2 patients were died with radiation pneumonitis. Conclusion : The conventional radiation therapy was not sufficient therapy for achievement of long-term survival in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Therefore, aggressive treatment including the addition of appropriate chemotherapeutic drug to decrease distant metastasis and preoperative radiotherapy combined with surgery, hyperfractionation radiotherapy or 3-D conformal radiation therapy for increase local control are needed.