• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.507-512
• /
• 2015

Background: This pilot study looked into the physical, social, psychological and economic issues of Indian adult cancer survivors. Materials and Methods: Assumed cancer free patients, after cancer directed therapy (CDT), were assessed on the basis of a questionnaire developed by the investigators. The mental status of the survivors was elicited by modified MINI international neuro-psychiatric interview. This cross sectional assessment was conducted as a direct interaction with each patient for 30 to 45 minutes at a cancer hospital in 2012. Results: Thirty one adult cancer survivors participated in this study. Median age was 53 years with a median follow up duration of 21.8 months (Range 2.3-194.1 months). The majority (68%) did not receive financial support for treatment. Median interval after CDT to start of activity of daily living was 1.5 months (range: 0-24 months). Fatigue and loss of appetite were reported by 52% and 29% respectively. The cancer diagnosis and its treatment adversely impacted the financial condition in 42% of patients. Nineteen percent each showed social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder and another 13% patients reported depression. Conclusions: This prospective assessment highlights survivorship issues and the need to address those issues particularly in the context of developing countries where resources and manpower are limited.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.87-104
• /
• 2015

Purpose: To assess real-world treatment patterns, health care utilization, costs, and survival among Medicare enrollees with locally advanced/unresectable or metastatic gastric cancer receiving standard first-line chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare linked database (2000~2009). The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) first diagnosed with locally advanced/unresectable or metastatic gastric cancer between July 1, 2000 and December 31, 2007 (first diagnosis defined the index date); (2) ${\geq}65$ years of age at index; (3) continuously enrolled in Medicare Part A and B from 6 months before index through the end of follow-up, defined by death or the database end date (December 31, 2009), whichever occurred first; and (4) received first-line treatment with fluoropyrimidine and/or a platinum chemotherapy agent. Results: In total, 2,583 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age at index was $74.8{\pm}6.0years$. Over 90% of patients died during follow-up, with a median survival of 361 days for the overall post-index period and 167 days for the period after the completion of first-line chemotherapy. The mean total gastric cancer-related cost per patient over the entire post-index follow-up period was United States dollar (USD) $70,808{\pm}56,620$. Following the completion of first-line chemotherapy, patients receiving further cancer-directed treatment had USD 25,216 additional disease-related costs versus patients receiving supportive care only (P<0.001). Conclusions: The economic burden of advanced gastric cancer is substantial. Extrapolating based on published incidence estimates and staging distributions, the estimated total disease-related lifetime cost to Medicare for the roughly 22,200 patients expected to be diagnosed with this disease in 2014 approaches USD 300 millions.

• Korean Journal of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
• /
• v.61 no.12
• /
• pp.637-643
• /
• 2018

Radioimmunotherapy (RIT) is a therapy that takes advantage of the "cross-fire" effect of emitted radiation by radionuclides conjugated to tumor-directed monoclonal antibodies (mAb) (including those fragments) or peptides. While RIT has been successfully employed for the treatment of lymphoma, mostly with radiolabeled antibodies against CD20 [$^{90}yttrium$ ($^{90}Y$)-ibritumomab tiuxetan; $Zevalin^{(R)}$ and $^{131}iodine$ ($^{131}I)-tositumomab$; $Bexxar^{(R)}$], its use in solid tumors is more challenging, so far. Immuno-PET, a tool for tracking and quantification of mAbs with PET in vivo, is an exciting novel option to improve diagnostic imaging and guide mAb-based therapy. RIT in solid tumors including head and neck cancer may be an alternative treatment with advances in various biological, chemical, and treatment procedures, and it may help to reduce unnecessary exposure and enhance the therapeutic efficacy. Also, immuno-PET based on RIT might play an important role in cancer staging, in patients or targets selection of targeted therapeutics and in monitoring the response of targeted therapeutics as precision medicine. In this review, fundamentals of RIT/immune-PET and current knowledge of the preclinical/clinical trials in RIT for solid tumor including head and neck cancer are reviewed.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.524-532
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This study was done to explore the relationship of social support and meaning of life to suicidal thoughts among patients with cancer. Methods: Data were collected by questionnaires from 138 patients who had been in cancer treatment at medical clinics and 8 patients who were members of an internet cancer association. The data were collected between August and November 2009 and analyzed using SPSS 12.0. Results: Of the participants, 47.3% reported having had suicidal thoughts and 16.4% had attempted suicide since the diagnosis of cancer. The study participants received most support from family members, but 73.3% reported experiencing an existential vacuum. The suicide attempt group had significantly higher scores according to gender, age, level of education, diagnosis, treatment modality, level of activity, caregiver and social support compare to the suicide thought group. Suicidal thoughts were negatively related to social support and meaning of life was positively associated with social support. Support from family and friends and diagnosis explained 50.0% of variance for suicidal thoughts with 36.0% of variance being explained by family support. Conclusion: Nurses should be able to identify risk factors for suicide in cancer patients. Prevention and intervention efforts need to be directed toward improving social support, family support in particular, and assisting patients finding meaning in life after a diagnosis of cancer.

• The Journal of the Korean life insurance medical association
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.34-36
• /
• 2012

Lung cancer such as small cell lung cancer(SCLC) and non small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) have high mortality rate, so, we insurance doctors have little interest in their risk. But nowadays there's a lot of development in targeted therapy of NSCLC. Screening by CT scanning and early resection strategy also shows better prognosis. It is helpful for underwriters and insurance doctors to review the current development of targeted therapy of NSCLC and estimation of extra-risk of early lung cancer. The preferred treatment option for patients whose tumors contain EGFR-activating mutations are one of the EGFR-directed tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as gefitinib or erlotinib. In patients with NSCLC whose tumors harboured an ALK rearrangement, there was 61% objective response rate to crizotinib in the phase 1 study. The median survival progression-free survival was 10 months. Mortality analysis of early lung cancer who were detected by CT screening, MR of 105% and EDR of 1‰ were calculated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.14 no.9
• /
• pp.4943-4952
• /
• 2013

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies, with a very poor prognosis. Despite significant improvements in diagnosis and treatment in recent years, the long-term therapeutic efficacy is poor, partially due to tumor metastasis, tecurrence, and resistance to chemo-or radio-therapy. Recently, it was found that a major feature of tumors is a combination of unrestrained cell proliferation and impaired apoptosis. There are now 8 recogized members of the IAP-family: NAIP, c-IAP1, c-IAP2, XIAP, Survivin, Bruce, Livin and ILP-2. There proteins all contribute to ingibition of apoptosis, and provide new potential avenues of cancer treatment. As a powerful tool to suppress gene expression in mammalian cells, RNAi species for inhibiting IAP genes cab be directed against cancers. This review will provide a brief introduction to recent developments of the application IAP-siRNA in tumor studies, with the aim of inspiring future treatment of HCC.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.75-81
• /
• 2004

Recently detection of early gastric cancer (EGC) has been increasing and the treatment strategies for gastric cancer have been changing. The purpose of this study was to compare clinical outcomes between laparoscopically assisted (LADG) and hand-assisted laparoscopic gastrectomy (HALDG) and open distal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer. This review is directed toward providing gastric surgeons with recent advances in the treatment of EGC. We investigated the English language literature for the past 12 years through computer searches which focused on : 1) Patient demographics, 2) Operation time, 3) Intra-operative blood loss, 4) Depth of invasion, 5) CBC, 6)Weight loss, 7) Analgesic requirement, 8)Time NPO, 9) Length of hospital stay, 10) Tumor stage, 11) Lymph node (LN) dissection, 12) Position of LN resected, 13) Complications. Improved operative techniques and surgical instrumentation have facilitated the development of minimally invasive gastric cancer surgery. The short-term benefits of laparoscopic gastrectomy included less surgical trauma, less pain, rapid return of gastrointestinal function, and shorter hospital stay, with no change in operative outcome. Laparoscopic gastrectomy was better accepted by the patients as a good procedure and promptly brought the patients back to their previous lifestyle and activities of daily living. But the advantages of HALDG for gastric cancer, extended lymph node dissection and intracorporeal anastomosis are feasible and easier with the presence of the internal hand. The hand-assisted laparoscopic (HALDG) method reported the best results in lymph node dissection.This method is an alternative to total laparoscopic radical gastrectomy. LADG and HALDG, when compared with conventional open gastrectomy, have several advantages. When performed by a skilled surgeon, LADG and HALDG are safe and useful techniques for patients with early-stage gastric cancer. Their appropriateness for gastric cancer surgery require further study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.3711-3719
• /
• 2016

Drawbacks of conventional cancer treatments, with lack of specificity and cytotoxicity using current approaches, underlies the necessity for development of a novel approach, gene-directed cancer therapy. This has provided novel technological opportunities in vitro and in vivo. This review focuses on a member of an apoptosis inhibitor family, survivin, as a valuable target. Not only the gene but also its promoter are applicable in this context. This article is based on a literature survey, with especial attention to RNA interference as well as tumor-specific promoter action. The search engine and databases utilized were Science direct, PubMed, MEDLINE and Google. In addition to cell-cycle modulation, apoptosis inhibition, interaction in cell-signaling pathways, cancer-selective expression, survivin also may be considered as specific target through its promoter as a novel treatment for cancer. Our purpose in writing this article was to create awareness in researchers, emphasizing relation of survivin gene expression to potential cancer treatment. The principal result and major conclusion of this manuscript are that survivin structure, biological functions and applications of RNA interference systems as well as tumor-specific promoter activity are of major interest for cancer gene therapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.15 no.12
• /
• pp.4915-4918
• /
• 2014

Background and Aims: Advances in the treatment of cervical cancer over the last decade have predominantly involved the development of genes directed at molecular targets. Gene therapy is recognized to be a novel method for the treatment of cervical cancer. Genes can be administered into target cells via nanocarriers. This study aimed to develop systemically administrable nano-vectors. Floate (Fa) containing gene loaded nanoparticles (NPs) could target HeLa human cervical cancer cells through combination with receptors on the cells to increase the nuclear uptake of genetic materials. Methods: Fa was linked onto Poly (ethylene glycol)-b-poly (D, L-lactide) (PEG-PLA) to form Fa-PEG-PLA, and the resulting material was used to load plasmids of enhanced green fluorescence protein (pEGFP) to obtain gene loaded nanoparticles (Fa-NPs/DNA). Physical-chemical characteristics, in vitro release and cytotoxicity of Fa-NPs/DNA were evaluated. The in vitro transfection efficiency of Fa-NPs/DNA was evaluated in HeLa cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). PEG-PLA without Fa was used to load pEGFP from NPs/DNA as a control. Results: Fa-NPs/DNA has a particle size of 183 nm and a gene loading quantity of 92%. After 72h of transfection, Fa-NPs/DNA displayed over 20% higher transfection efficiency than NPs/DNA and 40% higher than naked DNA in HeLa cells. However, in HUVECs, no significant difference appeared between Fa-NPs/DNA and NPs/DNA. Conclusions: Fa-PEG-PLA NPs could function as excellent materials for gene loading. This nano-approach could be used as tumor cell targeted medicine for the treatment of cervical cancer.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.151-181
• /
• 1998

This study purports to find out the meanings of chemotherapy among cancer patients. The subjects of this study were selected from those patients who have taken chemotherapy at least twice at a hospital affiliated with a university. The twelve subjects agreed to join the present study and had no problem in communication with others. The data were collected through observations and interviews by the researcher. The phenomenological analysis method proposed by Giorgi was adopted for analyzing the data. The experiences of the subjects to chemotherapy were classified into 24 atributes. These attributes were also categorized into four groups such as hope, pain, fear, and ordea according to their meanings. The subjects expressed hope through the attributes such as "the wish for a new life." "the wish for healing." "the plasure form improvement of cancer." "the wish for being discharged form a hospital." "the interest in dietectic treatment." and "the trust in medical staff." Pain was represented by such attributes as "the physical pain", "the suffering from intravenous injection." "the discomfort of hospital environment." and "the economic burden." As for the attributes represention fear, "fear of being hospitalized." "tehr obscurity of uncertain situations." "the fear of side effects." "the fear of recurrence of cancer," "the lack of knowledge of the disease." Finally, nine attributes werw frouped to ordeal "the will endeavouring to recover cancer" "the adaptation to the present situation." "the giving up of being healthy," "the regret of the past life." "the recognition of significant others." "the physical changes." "the emotional changes." "the social changes." "the recollection of illness experiences." The above findings indicate that chemotherapy means hope, pain, fear, and ordeal to those cancer patinests under treatment. Hence, the nursing interventions for those cancer patients need to be directed to maintaining hope, alleviating pain and fear, and overcoming ordeal. There are some suggestions in achieving these goals : (1) the nurses caring for cancer patients need to understand the meaning of chemotherapy experienced by those patients, (2) a nursing specialty of intravenous injection needs to be developed, (3) interventions for providing emotional support should be devised, (4) nursing care should also be available to those cancer patients being dischaged at home.