• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.20-27
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• 2018

Purpose: Minimal change esophagitis (MCE) is a reflux disease without mucosal breaks, known to be partially associated with abnormal gastric motor function. Electrogastrography (EGG) is commonly applied to assess gastric motor function in a noninvasive fashion. We aimed to determine the relationship between MCE and gastric myoelectrical activity (GME) recorded on EGG in children. Methods: We retrospectively assessed the records of 157 children without underlying disease who underwent both EGG and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at Gachon University Gil Medical Center between January 2010 and June 2015. The children were stratified according to the appearance of the esophagus (normal vs. MCE). Between-group differences in EGG parameters and their correlation with each MCE finding were statistically analyzed. Results: Only the power ratio, one of the EGG parameters analyzed, differed significantly between the two groups (MCE, $1.68{\pm}3.37$ vs. normal, $0.76{\pm}1.06$; p<0.05), whereas the other parameters, such as dominant frequency, dominant power, and the ratio of abnormal rhythm, showed no differences. Among children with MCE, significant correlations were noted between erythema and power ratio (p<0.05), friability and postprandial dominant frequency (p<0.05), and edema and/or accentuation of mucosal folds and pre-prandial frequency (p<0.05). Helicobacter pylori infection correlated with postprandial arrhythmia (MCE, $33.59{\pm}15.52$ vs. normal, $28.10{\pm}17.23$; p<0.05). EGG parameters did not differ between children with normal esophagus and those with biopsy-proven chronic esophagitis. Conclusion: In children with MCE, gastric dysmotility may affect the development of MCE, manifesting as EGG abnormalities. H. pylori infection may also affect GME. However, larger prospective investigations are needed to confirm these findings.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.59-63
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• 1987

The measurement of gastric emptying time is useful in differentiation of the hypochondriac neurosis from the functional gastrointestinal disturbance, and also useful in searching the hidden gastrointestinal disease in patients who are believed as the functional gastrointestinal disturbance. We confirmed in this study that the more delayed gastric emptying time was measured in functional gastrointestinal disturbance compared to normal group, and more shortened gastric emptying time was found after treatment with dopamine antagonist (cleboril) in this group.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.259-265
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• 2014

Purpose: Survival analysis of gastric cancer patients requires knowledge about factors that affect survival time. This paper attempted to analyze the survival of patients with incomplete registered data by using imputation methods. Materials and Methods: Three missing data imputation methods, including regression, expectation maximization algorithm, and multiple imputation (MI) using Monte Carlo Markov Chain methods, were applied to the data of cancer patients referred to the cancer institute at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran in 2003 to 2008. The data included demographic variables, survival times, and censored variable of 471 patients with gastric cancer. After using imputation methods to account for missing covariate data, the data were analyzed using a Cox regression model and the results were compared. Results: The mean patient survival time after diagnosis was $49.1{\pm}4.4$ months. In the complete case analysis, which used information from 100 of the 471 patients, very wide and uninformative confidence intervals were obtained for the chemotherapy and surgery hazard ratios (HRs). However, after imputation, the maximum confidence interval widths for the chemotherapy and surgery HRs were 8.470 and 0.806, respectively. The minimum width corresponded with MI. Furthermore, the minimum Bayesian and Akaike information criteria values correlated with MI (-821.236 and -827.866, respectively). Conclusions: Missing value imputation increased the estimate precision and accuracy. In addition, MI yielded better results when compared with the expectation maximization algorithm and regression simple imputation methods.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.252-259
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• 2011

Purpose: To evaluate retrospectively the survival outcome, patterns of failure, and complications in patients treated with postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in advanced gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Between January 2000 and December 2006, 80 patients with advanced gastric cancer who received postoperative concurrent CRT were included. Pathological staging was IB-II in 9%, IIIA in 38%, IIIB in 33%, and IV in 21%. Radiotherapy consisted of 45 Gy of radiation. Concurrent chemotherapy consisted of a continuous intravenous infusion of 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin on the first 4 days and last 3 days of radiotherapy. Results: The median follow-up period was 48 months (range, 3 to 83 months). The 5-year overall survival, disease-free survival, and locoregional recurrence-free survivals were 62%, 59%, and 80%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, significant factors for disease-free survival were T stage (hazard ratio [HR], 0.278; P = 0.038), lymph node dissection extent (HR, 0.201; P = 0.002). and maintenance oral chemotherapy (HR, 2.964; P = 0.004). Locoregional recurrence and distant metastasis occurred in 5 (6%) and 18 (23%) patients, respectively. Mixed failure occurred in 10 (16%) patients. Grade 3 leukopenia and thrombocytopenia were observed in 4 (5%) and one (1%) patient, respectively. Grade 3 nausea and vomiting developed in 8 (10%) patients. Intestinal obstruction developed in one (1%). Conclusion: The survival outcome of the postoperative CRT in advanced gastric cancer was similar to those reported previously. Our postoperative CRT regimen seems to be a safe and effective method, reducing locoregional failure without severe treatment toxicity in advanced gastric cancer patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3089-3097
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• 2012

Background and Aims: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potential prognostic biomarker for patients with resected gastric cancer. However, its role remains controversial. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. Methods: Relevant literature was identified using Medline and survival data from published studies were collected following a methodological assessment. Quality assessment of eligible studies and meta-analysis of hazard ratio (HR) were performed to review the correlation of VEGF overexpression with survival and recurrence in patients with gastric cancer. Results: Our meta-analysis included 44 published studies with 4,794 resected patients. VEGF subtype for the prediction of overall survival (OS) included tissue VEGF (HR=2.13, 95% CI 1.71-2.65), circulating VEGF (HR=4.22, 95% CI 2.47-7.18), tissue VEGF-C (HR=2.21, 95% CI 1.58-3.09), tissue VEGF-D (HR=1.73, 95% CI 1.25-2.40). Subgroup analysis showed that HRs of tissue VEGF for OS were, 1.78 (95% CI 0.90-3.51) and 2.31 (95% CI 1.82-2.93) in non-Asians and Asians, respectively. The meta-analysis was also conducted for disease free survival (DFS) and disease specific survival (DSS). Conclusion: Positive expression of tissue VEGF, circulating VEGF, VEGF-C and VEGF-D were all associated with poor prognosis in resected gastric cancer. However, VEGF demonstrated no significant prognostic value for non-Asian populations. Circulating VEGF may be better than tissue VEGF in predicting prognosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3111-3116
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• 2015

Background: This study was designed to investigate the value of CEA and CA199 in predicting the treatment response to palliative chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: We studied 189 patients with advanced gastric cancer who received first-line chemotherapy, measured the serum CEA and CA199 levels, used RECIST1.1 as the gold standard and analyzed the value of CEA and CA199 levels changes in predicting the treatment efficacy of chemotherapy. Results: Among the 189 patients, 80 and 94 cases had increases of baseline CEA (${\geq}5ng/ml$) and CA199 levels (${\geq}27U/ml$), respectively. After two cycles of chemotherapy, 42.9% patients showed partial remission, 33.3% stable disease, and 23.8% progressive disease. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for CEA and CA199 reduction in predicting effective chemotherapy were 0.828 (95%CI 0.740-0.916) and 0.897 (95%CI 0.832-0.961). The AUCs for CEA and CA199 increase in predicting progression after chemotherapy were 0.923 (95%CI 0.865-0.980) and 0.896 (95%CI 0.834-0.959), respectively. Patients who exhibited a CEA decline ${\geq}24%$ and a CA199 decline ${\geq}29%$ had significantly longer PFS (log rank p=0.001, p<0.001). With the exception of patients who presented with abnormal levels after chemotherapy, changes of CEA and CA199 levels had limited value for evaluating the chemotherapy efficacy in patients with normal baseline tumor markers. Conclusions: Changes in serum CEA and CA199 levels can accurately predict the efficacy of first-line chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer. Patients with levels decreasing beyond the optimal critical values after chemotherapy have longer PFS.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2015

Purpose: Pediatric chest pain is considered to be idiopathic or caused by benign diseases. This study was to find out how much upper gastrointestinal (UGI) diseases are major causes of chest pain in pediatric patients. Methods: The records of 75 children (42 boys and 33 girls, aged 3-17 years old) who have presented with mainly chest pain from January 1995 to March 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Chest X-ray and electrocardiography (ECG) were performed in all aptients. Further cardiologic and gastrointestinal (GI) evaluations were performed in indicated patients. Results: Chest pain was most common in the children of 6 and 9 to 14 years old. Esopha-gogastric diseases were unexpectedly the most common direct causes of the chest pain, the next are idiopathic, cardiac diseases, chest trauma, respiratory disease, and psychosomatic disease. Even though 21 showed abnormal ECG findings and 7 showed abnormalities on echocardiography, cardiac diseases were determined to be the direct causes only in 9. UGI endoscopy was performed in 57 cases, and esophago-gastric diseases which thereafter were thought to be causative diseases were 48 cases. The mean age of the children with esophago-gastric diseases were different with marginal significance from that of the other children with chest pain not related with esophago-gastric diseases. All the 48 children diagnosed with treated with GI medicines based on the diagnosis, and 37 cases (77.1%) subsequently showed clinical improvement. Conclusion: Diagnostic approaches to find out esophageal and gastric diseases in children with chest pain are important as well as cardiac and respiratory investigations.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.258-267
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• 2021

Purpose: As the rate of endoscopic resection for early gastric cancer (EGC) has increased in patients with comorbid diseases, it is necessary to elucidate the efficacy of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for EGC in patients with comorbidities. This study aimed to analyze the clinical outcomes of ESD for EGC in patients with comorbidities. Materials and Methods: A total of 969 patients with 1,015 lesions who underwent ESD for EGC at Seoul National University Hospital between 2010 and 2014 were analyzed. The short- and long-term clinical outcomes were evaluated according to the comorbidity status. Results: Comorbidities were observed in 558 patients (57.6%). The comorbidity group had a higher proportion of patients using antithrombotic agents (29.5% vs. 0.9%; P<0.0001). Although procedure-related complications (bleeding and perforation) were not significantly different between the two groups, the length of hospital stay was significantly longer (1.8 vs. 1.4 days, P=0.023), while survival was significantly shorter in the comorbidity group (5-year overall survival rate: 90.5% vs. 97.2%, P<0.0001; 5-year disease-specific survival rate: 97.9% vs. 100%, P=0.018; 5-year disease-free survival rate: 83.4% vs. 89.2%, P=0.007). Conclusions: Gastric ESD can be performed in patients with comorbidities without increasing the risk of complications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5253-5256
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• 2015

Background: A number of randomized trials addressing alternative operative and multimodality approaches to gastric cancer have characterized early postoperative morbidity and mortality rates. The aim of this study was to compare mortality and morbidity and disease free survival after D1 and D2 gastrectomy for adenocarcinomas of the stomach Materials and Methods: From June 2006 to January 2012, patients were selected according to information of the cancer administrator center of Ahvaz Jundishapur Medical University. The inclusion criteria were age between 20-85 years and histologically proven adenocarcinoma of the stomach without evidence of distant metastasis. Patients were excluded if they had previous or coexisting cancer or disability disease. In this research, D1 was compared to D2 gastrectomy. Results: 131 patients were randomised, 49 allocated to D1 and 82 to D2 gastrectomy. The two groups were comparable for age, sex, site of tumors, and type of resection performed. The overall post-operative morbidity rate was 17.5%. Complications developed in 14.2% of patients after D1 and in 19.5% of patients after D2 gastrectomy (p=0.07). Postoperative mortality rate was 0.8% (one death); it was 2% after D1 and 0% after D2 gastrectomy. In this research disease free-survival after 3 years was 71.2 % with 63.2% after D1 and 76.8% after D2 gasterctomy. Conclusions: This study indicates that D2 gastrectomy with pancreas preservation is not followed by significantly higher morbidity and mortality than D1 resection. Based on the results of present study, D2 resection should be recommended as the standard surgical approach for resectable gastric cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.180-186
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• 2001

Purpose: The prognosis for early gastric cancer (EGC) is favorable, and the 10-year disease-specific survival rate is reported to be around $90\%$. The absolute number of recurred EGC is too small to assess the risk factors, so recruitment of a large number of cases for statistical analysis is very difficult. We carried out this study to analyze the incidence and the patterns of recurrence of EGC and to identify the clinicopathological risk factors for recurrence of EGC. Materials and Methods: The authors retrospectively investigated the follow-up records of 1418 patients who underwent a curative resection for EGC from Jan. 1984 to Dec. 1999 at the Korea Cancer Center Hospital and analyzed them with special reference to cancer recurrence. Results: In this retrospective study of 1418 cases, 43 patients died of a recurrence of gastric cancer, and 105 patients died of unrelated causes. The five-year and the ten-year overall survival rates were $89.6\%$ and $81.7\%$, respectively, while the five-year and the ten-year diseasespecific survival rates were $96.5\%$ and $94.3\%$, respectively. The recurrence patterns of the 45 recurred EGC were hematogenous metastasis (19 cases), lymph node (L/N) metastasis (8 cases), locoregional recurrence (2 cases), peritoneal seeding (3 cases), and combined form (13 cases). The mean time interval to recurrence was 38.6 months, and the number of delayed recurred cases after 5 years was 10 ($22.2\%$). Of the clinicopathologic factors, depth of invasion, L/N metastasis, macroscopic type, lymphatic invasion, and vessel invasion, were significant risk factors in the univariate analysis. However, in the multivariate analysis, only L/N metastasis was an independent prognostic factor. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, L/N metastasis is an independent prognostic factor. Thus, in patients with node-positive disease, adjuvant therapy might be considered, and long-term close follow-up might facilitate early detection and treatment of recurrent disease due to delayed recurrence.