• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.319-324
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• 2021

The abscopal effect refers to the phenomenon in which local radiotherapy is associated with the regression of metastatic cancer that is distantly located from the irradiated site. Here, we present a case of a patient with advanced gastric cancer and brain metastases who was successfully treated with brain radiotherapy and anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) therapy-induced abscopal effect. Although anti-PD-1 therapy alone could not prevent disease progression, the metastatic lesions in the brain and also in the abdominal lymph node showed a drastic response after brain radiotherapy and anti-PD-1 therapy. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of successful treatment of advanced gastric cancer with multiple brain and abdominal lymph node metastases, possibly through anti-PD-1 therapy combined with brain radiotherapy-induced abscopal effect. We suggest that the combination of brain radiotherapy and anti-PD-1 therapy may be considered as a therapeutic option for advanced gastric cancer, especially when there is brain metastasis.

• Journal of The Korean Dental Society of Anesthesiology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.125-129
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• 2012

Dental treatment under general anesthesia is considered for behavioral control of disabled patients who have severe anxiety or involuntary movement. However, in case of simple treatment, inhalation or intravenous sedation, which has earlier onset and recovery, is preferred. Conventionally, nitric oxide is used for inhalation sedation, nowadays sevoflurane can also be used due to easily titratable for controllable effect and less complications. In this case report, two patients with mental retardation required simple dental treatment. Deep sedation with inhaled sevoflurane were successfully employed and patients were discharged without any complications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6823-6827
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• 2014

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of pancreatic drainage for pain relief in advanced pancreatic cancer. Method: Seventy-one patients with pancreatic carcinoma were divided into two groups: dilated and non-dilated pancreatic ducts. All patients underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), endoscopic biliary stenting and pancreatic stenting. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, pain remission rates and survival time were evaluated during follow-up. Results: The post-ERCP VAS score of the dilated group was lower than that of the non-dilated group at 1 and 3 months post-ERCP. There was no difference at 6 months. The pain remission rate in the dilated duct group was significantly higher than that in non-dilated duct group in 1 and 3 months post-ERCP. The median survival times were 8.17 and 8.22 months respectively. Conclusion: Endoscopic pancreatic drainage can relieve pain of advanced pancreatic cancer accompanied by safe dilation of the pancreatic duct.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3083-3088
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• 2012

We investigated the prognostic value of pituitary tumor transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) expression according to clinicopathological features among localized or locally advanced prostate cancer cases receiving hormone therapy. A retrospective study involved 64 patients receiving combined androgen blockade treatment was performed. PTTG1 expression was determined by immunohistochemical staining using initial needle biopsy specimens for diagnosis. Associations of PTTG1 with various clinicopathological features and disease-free survival were examined via uni- and multivariate analyses. No association between PTTG1 expression and clinical T stage, Gleason score, pretreatment PSA levels, risk groups was found (p =0.682, 0.184, 0.487, 0.571, respectively). Univariate analysis revealed that increased PTTG1 expression, T3 stage and high risk group were associated with increased risk of disease progression (p =0.000, 0.042, and 0.001), and high PSA level had a tendency to predict disease progression (p =0.056). Cox hazard ratio analysis showed that PTTG1 low expression (p =0.002), PTTG1 high expression (p =0.000) and high risk group (p =0.0147) were significantly related to decreased disease-free survival. In conclusion, PTTG1 expression determined by immunohistochemical staining in needle biopsy specimens for diagnosis is a negative prognostic factor for progression in localized or locally advanced prostate cancer receiving hormone therapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5527-5531
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• 2013

Background and Aim: Increasing evidence correlates the presence of systemic inflammation with poor survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of the blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with advanced HCC who received sorafenib monotherapy. Methods: A total of sixty-five patients with advanced HCC, not eligible for locoregional therapy, treated with sorafenib were enrolled. Potential prognostic factors such as age, gender, tumoral characteristics, performance status and NLR were analyzed. Results: Median OS and TTP for the entire cohort were 10.0 months (95%CI, 7.6-12.3 months) and 4.5 months (95% CI, 4.0-4.9 months). The mean NLR at baseline was 2.89. The median OS of patients with a high NLR (>4) was 6.5 months (95%CI, 5.2-7.7 months) compared with 12.5 months (95%CI, 9.9-15.0) for patients with a normal NLR (${\leq}4$) (P=0.01). Age ${\leq}65$, NLR>4, extrahepatic metastases and vascular invasion were all predictors of poorer overall survival. Multivariate analysis showed that NLR > 4, vascular invasion and extrahepatic metastases were independent predictors of poorer overall survival. The median TTP of patients with a high NLR was 2.5 months (95%CI, 1.4-3.6 months) compared with 4.5 months (95%CI, 3.9-5.1 months) for patients with a normal NLR (P=0.012). Conclusions: High baseline NLR was associated with worse OS and TTP for patients with advanced HCC treated with sorafenib.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5945-5950
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• 2014

Objectives: To retrospectively review the safety and clinical efficacy of bevacizumab concomitant with chemotherapy in Chinese patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSNSCLC). Methods: Clinical data for 79 patients with NSNSCLC who received bevacizumab concomitant with chemotherapy in Chinese PLA General Hospital from April 28th 2009 to May 5th 2013 were retrospectively reviewed to analyze the clinical efficacy including disease control rate (DCR), overall response rate (ORR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score and the safety. Results: The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score was 0-2. By the final cutoff date (June 9, 2013), 54 (68.4%) patients had disease progression and 37 (46.8%) died. The ORR was 32.9% and the DCR was 83.5%. The ORR of the first-, second-, and third- or later-line treatments were 51.4%, 25.0% and 12.5%, while the DCR were 94.3%, 80.0% and 70.8%, respectively. The median OS (mOS) and PFS (mPFS) were 13.5 and 5.83 months, respectively. The mOS of patients with the first-, second-, and third- or later- line treatments were 16.2, 10.9 and 8.30 months, while the mPFS were 7.27, 5.90 and 5.17 months, respectively. Chemotherapy-related adverse events included myelosuppression, vomiting, hepatic dysfunction and renal dysfunction, while the common serious bevacizumab-related adverse events were thromboembolic problems, gastrointestinal perforation and reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome, which could be well managed. Conclusions: Bevacizumab concomitant with chemotherapy is effective and the related toxicity can be well tolerated in Chinese patients with NSNSCLC.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.275-284
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the current state of home health nursing (HHN) for elders and to provide basic data on policy alternatives for establishing home medical care in the advanced general hospital. Methods: This study was conducted as a secondary data analysis, using electronic medical record (EMR) data of older patients who received HHN more than once from the S advanced general hospital between January 2016 and December 2018. Results: A total of 1,790 patients received HHN visits, with 22,477 visits being made. The mean age was 76.8±7.3 years old, 96.0% of elders had health insurance and 24.6% had orthopedics problems. Of the 1,168 people who visited emergency rooms, the most frequent symptom was pain (23.4%) and all patients visited the hospital at least once and at most 163 times outpatient care during HHN. Causative diseases were degenerative knee joint osteoarthritis (0.6%), surgery for right knee replacement (4.0%), and for dressings (9.7%) in the HHN service content analysis. Conclusion: The progress towards an aging society and the introduction of community care are expected to further enhance the need for HHN which should be able to provide comprehensive and continuous visiting health care services to the older patients. The results of this study are expected to help doctors solve problems not solved by HHN, reduce unnecessary emergency room or outpatient visits, and readmission, while at the same time contributing to the improvement of patient quality of life through efficient patient health care.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4711-4715
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• 2013

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate acute adverse events and efficacy of three-dimensional intensitymodulated radiotherapy (IMRT) combined with endocrine therapy for intermediate and advanced prostate cancer. Methods: Sixty-seven patients were treated with three-dimensional IMRT combined with maximum androgen blockade. The correlation between radiation-induced rectal injury and clinical factors was further analyzed. Results: After treatment, 21 patients had complete remission (CR), 37 had partial remission (PR), and nine had stable disease (SD), with an overall response rate of 86.5%. The follow-up period ranged from 12.5 to 99.6 months. Thirty-nine patients had a follow-up time of ${\geq}$ five years. In this group, three-year and five-year overall survival rates were 89% and 89.5%, respectively; three-year and five-year progression-free survival rates were 72% and 63%. In univariate analyses, gross tumor volume was found to be prognostic for survival ($X^2$ = 5.70, P = 0.037). Rates of leucopenia and anemia were 91.1% and 89.5%, respectively. Two patients developed acute liver injury, and a majority of patients developed acute radiation proctitis and cystitis, mainly grade 1/2. Tumor volume before treatment was the only prognostic factor influencing the severity of acute radiation proctitis (P < 0.05). Conclusions: IMRT combined with endocrine therapy demonstrated promising efficacy and was well tolerated in patients with intermediate and advanced prostate cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5691-5696
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• 2014

Background: Many clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate sorafenib for the treatment of advanced NSCLC, but the results for efficacy have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in patients with advanced NSCLC in more detail by meta-analysis. Methods: This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed after searching PubMed, EMBASE, ASCO Abstracts, ESMO Abstracts, and the proceedings of major conferences for relevant clinical trials. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of the trials. Outcomes analysis were disease control rate (DCR), progression- free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and major toxicity. Subgroup analysis was conducted according to sorafenib monotherapy, in combination with chemotherapy or EGFR-TKI to investigate the preferred therapy strategy. Results: Results reported from 6 RCTs involving 2, 748 patients were included in the analysis. Compared to sorafenib-free group, SBT was not associated with higher DCR (RR 1.31 (0.96- 1.79), p=0.09), PFS (HR 0.82 (0.66-1.02), p=0.07) and OS (HR 1.01 (0.92-1.12), p=0.77). In terms of subgroup results, sorafenib monotherapy was associated with significant superior DCR and longer PFS, but failed to show advantage with regard to OS. Grade 3 or greater sorafenib-related adverse events included fatigue, hypertension, diarrhea, oral mucositis, rash and HFSR. Conclusions: SBT was revealed to yield no improvement in DCR, PFS and OS. However, sorafenib as monotherapy showed some activity in NSCLC. Further evaluation may be considered in subsets of patients who may benefit from this treatment. Sorafenib combined inhibition therapy should be limited unless the choice of platinum-doublet regimen, administration sequence or identification of predictive biomarkers are considered to receive better anti-tumor activity and prevention of resistance mechanisms.

• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-27
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• 2019

Background: Emergencies in dentistry can be classified as medical and dental. Medical emergencies occur mainly during dental treatment in patients with a systemic disease. Dental emergency departments are largely divided into dental emergency rooms located in dental college hospitals and medical emergency rooms located in medical institutions. This study aimed to analyze the characteristics of and provide help to dental emergency patients in a dental hospital. Methods: Overall, 1806 patients admitted to a dental emergency room at Yonsei University Dental Hospital for 1 year were included. The data collection period was from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. An investigator reviewed medical records from the electronic medical record (EMR) system and radiographs. Results: The patients were 1,070 men and 736 women. The sex ratio was 1.45:1. The commonest age group was of 0-9 years, including 451 (25.0%) patients, followed by 20-29 years, including 353 (19.5%) patients, and 30-39 years, including 277 (15.3%) patients. Of the 108 patients transferred to the Severance emergency department, 81 had trauma, 19 were in pain, 4 were bleeding, and 4 had other complaints. Among chief complaints, 1,079 patients (60.3%) had trauma, 564 (31.5%) had pain, and 75 (4.2%) had bleeding. Twenty-three cases (1.3%) were caused by temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Conclusion: Dentists should be able to adequately assess patients in a dental emergency room and treat trauma, pain, and bleeding.