• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.531-543
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• 2007

Backgrounds : Gastric cancer is one of the most frequent causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Gastric cancer patients frequently exhibit distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis and at present, there is no standard regimen after operation or chemotherapy to prevent metastasis and recurrences. Aims : The objective of the study was to compare the overall survival and disease free survival in patients treated with wheel balance therapy (WBT) with patients treated with WBT alone or the combination of WBT and conventional therapy and see if there were any significant improvements in survival between the two groups. Setting & Design : East-West Cancer Center at Daejeon University: retrospective study. Materials & Methods : We retrospectively analyzed 62 patients with stage III (40 patients) and stage IV (22 patients) gastric cancer who have received operation or chemotherapy 2 months prior to beginning WBT. The patients followed the WBT protocol which includes herbal medicine such as PSM capsules, OnePlus syrup, or HAD capsules which prevent metastasis and recurrences. Overall survival and disease free survival were analyzed and the patients were treated for 89.55 weeks and 49.27 weeks (median value) for stages III and IV, respectively. Statistical analysis used : Overall survival and disease free survival were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the WBT and combination treatment arms were compared using the log rank test. Results : For stage III, the 3 year overall survival was 78.5% and disease free survival was 78.3%. Metastasis and recurrence occurred in 13 of 40 patients (32.5%). For stage IV, the 2 year overall survival was 18.2% and disease free survival was also 18.2%. Metastasis and recurrence occurred in 19 of 22 patients (86.4%). No significant difference was found statistically between the WBT alone and combination treatment arms though the combination regimen showed superiority (overall survival p=0.5093, disease free survival p=0.5175). Conclusions : WBT yielded satisfactory results in prolonging survival and preventing metastasis and recurrence in gastric cancer patients. The major treatment unit of WBT is composed of herbal medications (HAD, PSM capsules, OnePlus syrup) and a randomized, prospective study should be carried out using only this treatment unit in the future.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.65-69
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• 2008

Surgery is the only curative modality for the treatment of gastric cancer. There has been no drastic improvement in the treatment of gastric cancer with chemotherapy. Clinical trials have attempted to demonstrate the benefit of the preoperative chemotherapy for gastric cancer. The benefit of the use of preoperative chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy has been demonstrated for other solid cancers such as breast cancer, esophageal cancer and rectal cancer. Despite the rationale of the use of preoperative chemotherapy for patients with gastric cancer, the evidence of positive results with the use of preoperative chemotherapy has not been clear. Recently the British Medical Research Council Adjuvant Gastric Cancer Infusional Chemotherapy (MAGIC) study demonstrated the survival benefit of preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy. However, this study had several problems with the use of a heterogeneous population of patients, the method of surgery and the use of perioperative chemotherapy. Further studies with new drugs are warranted to determine the role of pre-operative chemotherapy for patients with gastric cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 1997

Purpose : Radical gastrectomy is main treatment of gastric cancer. But the result is not satisfactory with surgery alone. Most of pattern of failure remain locoregional recurrence. To improve 5 year survival postoperative chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy has been used. We analyzed patients with stage III and IV stomach cancer who had radical operation and received postoperative radiation therapy combined with or without chemotherapy retrospectively. Material and Method : From March 1985 to June 1993, 68 patients treated with curative resection and received postoperative adiuvant radiotherapy with 36Gy or more were evaluated. Median age was 60 years(range 28-66 yrs) . Patients were followed from 3 to 133 months with median follow up of 48 months. Thirty seven patients had non signet ring adenocarcinoma, 29 signet ring cell, 2 other cell. Patients with stage IIIA, IIIB, IV disease were 19, 25 and 24 respectively Chemotherapy was given to all patients except two. Results : Five-year overall survival and disease-free survival rate were 36.6% and 33.6%, respectively. Prognostic factor affecting survival were assessed. High ratio of jnvolved/dissected Iymph node, signet ring histology showed Poor Prognosis with statistical significance. Presence of residual tumor after surgery, stageIV. split course of radiation therapy, age, number of involved Iymph node, number of Iymph node dissection and grade of tumor affected survival without statistical significance, Type of chemotherapy did not affect survival. Recurrence was documented in 34 patients. High recurrence was seen in omentum and peritoneum with 23.5%, and remnant stomach, anastomosis site, A-loop and I-loop had also high recurrence with 13.2%. In field locoregional recurrence was 20.7% and total distant metastases were 39.7%. Total intraabdominal failure was 47.1% and extraabdominal failure was 13.2%. Treatment toxicity was considered to be acceptable. 22.1% of patients had grade 3 and only 1 patient had grade 4 leukopenia. Six Patients(8.8%) had weigh loss more than 10%. Conclusion : Treatment toxicity was acceptable with combined treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Locoregional recurrence was relatively low compared to distant failure with addition of irradiation. Peritoneal and omental seeding was high Five-rear surival was increased with combined modality. Radiation may eradicate minimal residual disease and improve survival, To evaluate role of radiation Prospective randomized study employing chemotherapy alone and chemotherapy plus radiation is necessary. Futhermore to reduce intraabdominal failure, role of intraabdominal chemotherapy in addition to combined chemotherapy plus radiation has to be explored.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.237-241
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• 2007

Purpose: Patients with hematologic diseases such as chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL) are known to have an increased chance of acquiring a secondary neoplasm. Stomach cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases in Korea, and we investigated whether the incidence of secondary stomach cancer in patients with a hematologic disease increases, in order to determine if a more intensive screening program for detecting secondary gastric cancer was required. We also investigated the safety of performing a gastrectomy in hematologic disease patients. Materials and Methods: From 1992 to 2006, the medical records of 8376 patients diagnosed with one of the six common hematologic diseases were reviewed. Results: Nine secondary stomach cancers were found among the 8376 patients during the 15-year observation period. No surgical-related complications occurred, and there was no recurrence of stomach cancer if detected early. Conclusion: It seems that a more intensive screening program for detecting secondary gastric cancer in hematologic disease patients is not required, and surgery is not risky in these patients.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2009

The stomach is a rare site for metastasis, with autopsy incidence rates of 0.2% to 1.7%. This low rate makes diagnosis of metastatic gastric cancer challenging for clinicians. The authors report a case of a 64-year-old man diagnosed with gastric metastasis of primary lung adenocarcinoma that was initially mistaken for primary gastric cancer, as well as a review of the medical literature.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.40-44
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• 2018

A 77-year-old man presented with abdominal discomfort and was diagnosed as Borrmann type 3 advanced gastric cancer with multiple lymph node metastases. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) showed AGC, clinical stage IIIC (T4aN3M0). We started neo-adjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFOX (5-fluorouracil (5-FU))+Leucovorin+Oxaliplatin). After 3 cycles of FOLFOX chemotherapy, follow-up endoscopy showed remarkable improvement. Primary lesion and metastatic lymph nodes decreased size on follow up computed tomography (CT). The patient underwent radical total gastrectomy with esophagojejunostomy and histopathology revealed no remnant malignant cells at previous primary cancer lesion. The patient has currently completed his 3 cycle of adjuvant chemotherapy without recurrence. After an abdominal CT response assessment, further course of therapy will be decided.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.85-93
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• 1990

A series of 25 patients with residual, recurrent, and unresectable gastric cancer received various combination of surgery, radiotherapy (RT), chemotherapy (CT), and hyperthermia (HT). They were placed into 7 categories; 1) CT and HT-14 patients; 2) RT and HT-15 patients; 3) surgery, RT and HT-2 patients; 4) surgery, RT, HT and CT-1 patient; 5) RT, HT and CT -1 patient; 6) RT and CT-1 patient; 7) RT alone-1 patient. Three patients had curative resection. 21 patients received irradiation with tightly contoured portals to spare as much small bowel, kidney and marrow as possible. Hyperthermia was applied regionally once or twice a week for 23 patients using 8 MHz radiofrequency capacitive heating device (Thermotron RF-8). HT was given approximately 30 min after RT 7 patients were treated with CT: 4 patients received HT and concomitant Mitomycin-C; 3 patients received HT and sequential 5-FU+Adriamycin+Mitomycin-C. There was not any treatment related deaths. There was also no evidence of treatment related problems with liver, kidney, stomach, or spinal cord except only one case of transient diabetic ketoacidosis. The tumor response was evaluable in 22 patients. None achieved complete remission.11 ($50\%$) achieved partial remission. The response rate was correlated with total radiation dose and achieved maximum temperature. 9 of 14 ($64\%$) received more than 4000 cGy showed partial remission; especially, all 3 patients received more than 5500 cGy achieved partial response.8 of the 12 patients ($67\%$) who achieved maximal temperature more than $41^{\circ}C$ showed partial response in comparing with $25\%$ (2 of 8 patients, below $41^{\circ}C$). The numbers of HT, however, was not correlated with the response. 3 of the 25 patients ($12\%$) remain alive. The one who was surgically unresectable and underwent irradiation alone is in progression of the disease with distant metastases. The remaining two patients with curative resection are alive with free of disease, 24 and 35 months, respectively. The median survival by response are 11.5 months in responders and 4.6 months in non-responders.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 2006

Purpose: Free cancer cells exfoliated from cancer-invaded serosa contribute to peritoneal dissemination, the most frequent pattern of recurrence in patients with gastric cancer. To detect free cancer cells, CEA and CA19-9 were introduced as the markers of gastric cancer, and many methods, such as cytology, immunoassay, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), exist for detecting them. The aim of this study is to define the clinical significance of using immunoassay to measure the levels of CEA and CA19-9 in the peritoneal washings in patients with gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: The peritoneal washing fluids were obtained from 130 patients with gastric cancer who received a curative gastrectomy, palliative gastrectomy or open and closure. The pCEA and pCA19-9 levels were measured by using immunoassay and cytology. The results were compared with the clinicopathological data. Results: The pCEA and pCA19-9 levels were correlated with tumor invasion, lymph-node metastasis, and stage (P<0.05). Conclusion: A correlation was found between elevated pCEA and pCA19-9 levels measured by immunoassay and the TNM stage. Therefore, a combined pCEA and pCA19-9 assay could be a sensitive detector of peritoneal dissemination, as well as a predictor of postoperative prognosis. pCEA and pCA19-9 may also determine the adjuvant management strategy.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.291-294
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• 2006

F-18 FDG-PET/CT could be used to evaluate the surveillance of recurrent stomach cancer, but some cases reported as false-positives. The authors found an activated charcoal granuloma from intraperitoneal chemotherapy by using a curative resection and mitomycin C for stomach cancer. A mass behind the right colon that showed on CT 6 months after an operation in a 46-year-old male patient had no progression in size, but 36 months after the operation, an increase was seen on F-18 FDG-PET/CT, and a metastatic tumor was suspected. The tumor was resected by an explorative laparotomy and was diagnosed as being an activated charcoal granuloma based on the histologic finding. Based on this case, we should be reminded of the possibility of a false-positive on analysis of F-18 FDG-PET/CT caused by an activated charcoal granuloma in a patient who has intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 1999

The aim of present study was to elucidate whether the expression of nm23 protein might be of clinical value as a prognostic factor in gastric cancer. The expression of nm23 protein was analyzed using an immunohistochemical method with formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded tissue samples from 76 gastric carcinoma patients. The cytoplasmic immunoreactivity of nm23 protein were detected in 53.9% of the sample tissues(41/76). When the immunoreactivity of nm23 protein with TNM status and other histopathologic findings were compared by using Chi-Square test, nm23 was found to have correlations with lymph node metastasis(p=0.04), a number of metastatic lymph node, and the invasion of lymphatic vessels(p=0.007); however, it had no correlation with TNM status. The conventional prognostic factors such as the depth of invasion, the degree of lymph node metastasis and the presence of distant metastasis, a Borrmann type, size of tumor, and the curability with operation were found to have a strong correlation with the survival time(p<0.003). However, the expression of nm23 protein was not significantly correlated with survival time in survival analysis. These results showed that the expression of nm23 protein is not a useful prognostic indicator in gastric cancer.