• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2015

Objective : This case report presents the effects of Gunchilgyebok-Jung to a patient who was clinically diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Methods : The study involved a 74-year-old male patient clinically diagnosed with advanced (stage III) lung cancer by chest computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography. The patient had two masses (11.32 mm and $23.03mm{\times}35.34mm$) in the right upper lobe of the lung and in the mediastinum respectively. Gunchilgyebok-Jung commonly used for its anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory effect is composed of Rhus verniciflua stokes and Guizhifuling wan extracts. We prescribed Gunchilgyebok-Jung at a dosage of 1 g three times a day for 50 days. Results : After the administration of Gunchilgyebok-Jung, a decrease in tumor size to 10.69 mm and $22.71mm{\times}34.21mm$ on chest CT was observed. A numerical rating scale (NRS) showed an improvement in symptoms from points 7-8 to 3-4. Conclusion : This study suggests that Gunchilgyebok-Jung may have considerable anti-tumor and immunopotentiating activity in lung cancer without any adverse effects.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2012

Objective : We introduce a case of non-small cell lung cancer patient treated with allergen removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes. Methods : This patient started Allergen-removed Rhus Verniciflua Stokes from Feb 2010 right after his firstline chemotherapy, and maintained his Oriental medicine regimen until now. Results : It shows 12.0 months of progression-free-survival since starting point of maintenance chemotherapy, and 9.3 months of overall-survival since progression disease after 2nd chemotherapy, compared with 6.3 months of its known overall survival. Conclusion : Allergen removed Rhus verniciflua Stokes prolonged overall survival and slowed disease progression of a non-small cell lung cancer patient.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9427-9432
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• 2014

Background: Delayed presentation of symptomatic breast cancer is a public health issue in Iran, making a major contribution to low survival. Despite the importance of this problem, current knowledge is insufficient to inform interventions to shorten patient delay. The aim of this study was to explore factors influencing patient delay in Iranian women with self-discovered breast cancer symptom. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was conducted during 2012-2013. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit 20 Iranian women with self-discovered symptoms of breast cancer who attended the Cancer Institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth audiotaped interviews, which were transcribed and analyzed using conventional content analysis with MAXqda software version 10. Findings: Content analysis of the data revealed four main themes related to the delay in seeking medical help including: 1) attributing symptoms to the benign conditions; 2) conditional health behavior; 3) inhibiting emotional expression; and 4) barriers to access to health care systems. Conclusions: These results suggest that patient delay is influenced by complex and multiple factors. Effective intervention to reduce patient delay for breast cancer should be developed by focusing on improvement of women's medical knowledge, managing patients' emotional expression and reform of the referral system.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.395-400
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• 2010

Objective : To observe the effectiveness of Jayeumganghwa-tang on hot flush of a breast cancer patient who takes tamoxifen. Methods : For six weeks a dosage witch contained 13.92g of Jayeumganghwa-tang was administered 3 times (30 mins after meal) per day, for improvement of hot flush. No other therapies like hormone therapy or substituted therapy were done. Results : As a result of 6 weeks of Jayeumganghwa-tang therapy, the patient who suffered hot flush on taking tamoxifen showed improvement on several indices, including frequency, intensity and point of hot flush, Beck Depression Inventory-K (BDI-K) which shows uneasiness and sadness, and also Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy - Breast (FACT-B) which is an index of life quality of breast cancer patients. But no changes on female hormones like follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) or luteinizing hormone (LH) were observed. Conclusion : This case demonstrates 6 weeks of Jayeumganghwa-tang taking had no effect on female hormones but can reduce the hot flush by tamoxifen. This shows minimum evidence of safety and efficacy of Jayeumganghwa-tang on hot flush of breast cancer patient. However this is a single case study so further case-series research should be compiled.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.30-40
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• 2020

Purpose: This study was done to describe a community health practitioner's nursing case management for a terminal cancer patient registered in the public health post. Methods: For this purpose, data were collected through the patient and family through home visits, health clinic offices, and phone calls. The nursing process was carried out from August to November 2019. Results: The patient suffered the most from anorexia and lack of energy. Also he expressed psychologically uncertainty about disease and death anxiety caused by long-term treatment. In order to reduce the death anxiety, Community Health Practitioner (CHP) asked him to express his life stories and listened to him. CHP provided information of appropriate medications and alternative foods for symptoms such as gastrointestinal disorders and anorexia to the patient and family. Observing the situation of the patient and family, CHP guided the patient and family to prepare for death and has confirmed to them that the process was not with the patient alone. Conclusion: CHP's this experience has shown the possibility for CHP to help the terminal cancer patient and family to prepare peaceful death in their communities.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 2021

Background: The Korean government introduced National Cancer Control Program and strengthening national health insurance coverage for cancer patients. Although many positive effects have been observed, there are also many concerns about cancer management such as patient concentration or time-to-treatment. Thus, we investigated the association between the time-to-treatment and survival of cancer patients, and compared regional differences by time trend. Methods: The data used in this study were national health insurance claims data that included patients diagnosed with lung cancer and received surgical treatment between 2005 and 2015. We conducted survival analysis with Cox proportional hazard model for the association between time-to-treatment and survival in lung cancer. Additionally, we compared the regional differences for time-to-treatment by time trend. Results: A total of 842 lung cancer patients were included, and 52.3% of lung cancer patients received surgical treatment within 30 days. Patients who received surgical treatment after 31 days had higher 5-year or 1-year mortality compared to treatment within 30 days (5-year: hazard ratio [HR], 1.566; 1-year: HR, 1.555; p<0.05). There were some regional differences for time-to-treatment, but it was generally reduced after 2010. Conclusion: Delayed surgical treatment after diagnosis can negatively affect patient outcomes in cancer treatment. To improve cancer control strategies, there are needed to analyze the healthcare delivery system for cancer care considering the severity and types of cancer.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.79-82
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• 2013

Thyroid cancer is known as its relatively high cure rate after surgical treatment and spinal metastasis of thyroid cancer is extremely rare as the prevalence is only 2-13%. Spinal metastasis is usually asymptomatic and discovered incidentally in most cases. A 66-year-old man was diagnosed as thyroid papillary cancer with spinal metastasis. We treated the patient by surgery, adjuvant radiotheraphy and radioactive iodine therapy. C6 corpectomy was followed for the residual spinal metastasis by the department of neurosurgery. The patient had no functional complication by the surgical process. At 24 months after surgery, there was no sign of recurrence and the patient led social life without any discomfort. We present this case with a review of the related literatures.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.156-159
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• 2016

Although carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 is a useful tumor marker for pancreatic cancer, it can also become elevated from a variety of benign and malignant conditions. Herein we describe an unusual presentation of elevated CA 19-9 in an asymptomatic patient who had previously undergone adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy for resected early stage pancreatic cancer. The rise in CA 19-9 might be due to delayed radiation-induced inflammation related to previous intra-abdominal radiation therapy with or without radiation recall induced by gemcitabine. After treatment with corticosteroids the CA 19-9 level decreased to normal, and the patient has not developed any evidence of recurrent cancer to date.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.42-44
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• 2015

Anomalous union of the pancreaticobiliary duct (AUPBD) has been shown to predispose to carcinomas of the biliary tract (bile duct and gallbladder) and pancreatic cancer because of chronic recurrent inflammatory reaction due to pancreatic or bile juice refluxes. However, pancreatic duct would be less affected by the bile because of the relatively higher intraductal pressure of the pancreatic duct. We report a case of metachronous pancreatic cancer in AUPBD patient without choledochal cyst who underwent cholecystectomy because of gallbladder cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.218-221
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• 2015

Gastric metastasis from ovarian carcinoma is extremely rare and the prognosis for patients is poor. We report a case of multimodal treatment improving the survival time of a patient with gastric metastasis from ovarian cancer. A 73-year-old woman with known serous ovarian cancer was admitted to the hospital due to epigastric pain and dyspepsia. On esophagogastroduodenoscopy, a protruding mass was noted at the gastric antrum. She underwent distal gastrectomy with Billroth I anastomosis and lymph node dissection, including the para-aortic lymph nodes. The final pathology revealed gastric metastasis from ovarian serous adenocarcinoma. In this case, after cytoreductive surgery, chemotherapy was performed each time a recurrence was diagnosed, and remission was accomplished. She survived for 108 months after the first diagnosis of the metastatic tumor in the stomach. Multimodal treatment of metastatic lesions since the first diagnosis allowed the patient to survive longer than those in previous reports.