• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1225-1233
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• 2015

This study aims to clarify the psychosocial reactions of female patients with gynecological cancer undergoing chemotherapy and in the process of suffering from alopecia and to examine their nursing support. The target group comprised female patients who had received two or more cycles of chemotherapy, were suffering from alopecia, and were aged 30-65. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, conducted from the time the patients were informed by their doctors that they might experience alopecia due to chemotherapy to the time they actually experienced alopecia and until they were able to accept the change. Inductive qualitative analysis was employed to close in on the subjective experiences of the cancer patients. The results showed the existence of six phases in the psychosocial reactions in the process of alopecia: phase one was the reaction after the doctor's explanation; phase two was the reaction when the hair starts to fall out; phase three was the reaction when the hair starts to intensely fall out; phase four was the reaction when the hair has completely fallen out; phase five was the reaction to behavior for coping with alopecia; and phase six was the reaction to change in interpersonal human relationships. The results also made it clear that there are five types of reaction patterns as follows: 1) treatment priority interpersonal relationship maintenance type; 2) alopecia agitated interpersonal relationship maintenance type; 3) alopecia agitated interpersonal relationship reduction type; 4) alopecia denial interpersonal relationship reduction type; and 5) alopecia denial treatment interruption type. It is important to find out which of the five types the patients belong to early during treatment and provide support so that nursing intervention that suits each individual can be practiced. The purpose of this study is to make clear the process in which patients receiving chemotherapy come to accept alopecia and to examine evidence-based nursing care on patients with strong mental distress from alopecia.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.41-44
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• 2023

Oral complications, such as mucositis, infection, or xerostomia, are common in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy. These complications can cause pain, leading to increased consumption of analgesics, poor oral intake, malnutrition, and even a need for parenteral nutrition. Moreover, they can sometimes interrupt the treatment plan. This review focuses on the proper management and prevention of oral complications that are common in patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2007

Breast cancer is common in West and Incidence of breast cancer has increased in Korea. According as conventional western medical treatment, breast cancer patient received MRM(modified radical mastectomy) and anti cancer chemotherapy. In this case report, We introduce a case of breast cancer patient who showed lung metastasis(metastatec adenocarcinoma) after MRM(modified radical mastectomy) 4 years before the diagnosis of relapse. After lung metastasis of breast cancer, the patient received 4th chemotherapy and refused to get more conventional western medical treatment including chemotherapy. After 24 month of traditional oriental medical treatment using allegen removed Rhus Verniciflua Stokes(ARV), however, the size of cancer mass decreased and the patient showed improved condition. Further case study will be needed in order to determine the effect of ARV on breast cancer patient.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3565-3568
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• 2013

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma is the most common cancer in males in Thailand. The outcome is poor although systemic chemotherapy has been used in attempts to improve disease control, quality of life and prolong survival in patient with unresectable and advanced disease. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study the medical records of all patients diagnosed as having unresectable and metastatic cholangiocarcinoma and receiving systemic chemotherapy at Udonthani Cancer Hospital during January 2007 to December 2010 were reviewed. Results: Among the total of 105 patients, 21 received gemcitabine-based chemotherapy and 84 5FU-based chemotherapy. Most received platinum doublet regimens. 5FU-based regimens yielded an overall response rate (tumor control) of 23.8% and a median survival of 7.2 months while gemcitabine-based regimens yielded an overall response rate (tumor control) 19.1% and a median survival of 10.0 months. Conclusions: Tumor control and survival of patient with advanced cholangiocarcinoma treated with gemcitabine-based and 5FU-based chemotherapy do not markedly differ.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.75-89
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was done to identify conditions of cancer patients who visited an emergency department (ED) with the side effects of chemotherapy. Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from medical records of 294 cancer patients who visited a tertiary hospital in 2009 for treatment of side effects of chemotherapy. Records were reviewed for characteristics of participants and side effects of chemotherapy. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: ED Triage grade 3 was 81.6%. The hospitalization ratio was 72.8%, and 6.5% died during the admission. Most frequent side effects were thrombocytopenia (80.6%), anemia (74.5%), pain (52.0%), neutropenia (50.7%), and leucopenia (46.3%). The hospitalization group showed more severe leucopenia than the discharge group (p=.020). Patients in the group who died had higher scores for dyspnea compared to patients discharged or hospitalized (p<.05). Conclusion: Results of the study suggest that there is a special need to develop a system to manage side effects of chemotherapy. Also it is necessary to provide appropriate care and treatment with prompt initial evaluation when cancer patients with side effects of chemotherapy present in the ED. More effective educational discharge programs should also be developed to help these patients cope with various side effects of chemotherapy.

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

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2919-2923
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• 2013

Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common malignant tumors, and the incidence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is highest in China. Early diagnosis and effective monitoring are keys to comprehensive treatment and discovering tumor metastases and recurrence in time. The aim of this study was to confirm serum peptidome pattern utility for diagnosis of ESCC, and assessment of operation success, postoperative chemotherapy results, tumor metastasis and recurrence. Serum samples were collected from 61 patients treated with surgery and chemotherapy and 20 healthy individuals. Spectral data generated with weak cationic-exchanger magnetic beads (WCX-MB) and MALDI-TOF MS by a support vector machine (SVM), were used to construct diagnostic models and system training as potential biomarkers. A pattern consisting of 11 protein peaks, separated ESCC (m/z 650.75), operated (m/z 676.61, 786.1, 786.58), postoperative chemotherapy (m/z 622.77, 650.66, 676.46) and tumor metastasis and recurrence (m/z 622.63, 650.56, 690.77, 676.12) from the healthy individuals with a sensitivity of 100.0% and a specificity of 100.0%. These results suggested that MALDITOF MS combined with MB separation yields significantly higher sensitivity and specificity for the detection of serum protein in patients with EC patients treated with surgery and chemotherapy.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4157-4160
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• 2015

Treatment of early stage ovarian cancer remains controversial despite advances in chemotherapeutic options. Over the past 30 years, molecular and clinicopathologic studies accelerated and treatment of ovarian cancer has undoubtedly improved although there is a debate as to whether this impacts outcome or not. More recently, the introduction of targeted therapy started a new era. Probably it is because early stage disease comprises a small portion of the epithelial ovarian cancer, studies have mostly ignored this group and still there is no clear consensus regarding systemic treatment of early-stage lesions. However this group of patients has the best chance of cure. In this review, we focus on current developments in the treatment of early stage ovarian cancer and query the options.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 2018

Purpose: Cardiotoxicity is a serious late complication of breast cancer treatment. Individual treatment risk of specific drugs has been investigated. However, studies on the evaluation of the composite risk of chemotherapeutic agents are limited. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of breast cancer patients who received adjuvant treatment and had available serial echocardiography results. Patients were assigned to subgroups based on chemotherapy containing anthracyclines (A), anthracyclines and taxanes (A+T), and radiotherapy (RT). The development of cardiac disease and serial ejection fraction (EF) were reviewed. EF decline up to 10% from baseline was considered grade 1 cardiotoxicity and EF decline >20% or absolute value <50% was considered grade 2 cardiotoxicity. The most recent medical records and echocardiography results over 1 year of chemotherapy completion were also reviewed. Late cardiotoxicity was defined as a lack of recovery of EF decline or aggravated EF decline from baseline. Results: In total, 123 patients were evaluated. A small reduction in EF was observed after chemotherapy in both chemotherapy groups. There were no significant differences between groups A and A+T in EF decline following chemotherapy. We could not find any differences in composite risk between the chemotherapy groups and the RT group during follow-up. Late cardiotoxicity was seen in 15.45% of patients. During follow-up, three patients were diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. Conclusion: There was no significant composite risk elevation following adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. However, late cardiotoxicity was considerable and further research in this direction is necessary.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.923-927
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• 2013

Objective: This work aims to investigate the therapeutic regimen of brain metastatic cancers and the relationship between clinical features and prognosis. Methods: Clinical data of 184 patients with brain metastatic cancers were collected and analysed for the relationship between survival time and age, gender, primary diseases, quantity of brain metastatic foci, their position, extra cranial lesions, and therapeutic regimens. Results: The average age of onset was 59.1 years old. The median survival time (MST) was 15.0 months, and the patients with breast cancer as the primary disease had the longest survival time. Females had a longer survival time than males. Patients with meningeal metastasis had extremely short survival time. Those with less than 3 brain metastatic foci survived longer than patients with more than 3. The MST of patients receiving radiotherapy only and the patients receiving chemotherapy only were all 10.0 months while the MST of patients receiving combination therapy was 16.0 months. Multiple COX regression analysis demonstrated that gender, primary diseases, and quantity of brain metastatic foci were independent prognostic factors for brain metastatic cancers. Conclusions: Chemotherapy is as important as radiotherapy in the treatment of brain metastatic cancer. Combination therapy is the best treatment mode. Male gender, brain metastatic cancers originating in the gastrointestinal tract, more than 3 metastatic foci, and involvement of meninges indicate a worse prognosis.