• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.3-6
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• 2010

The British guideline for early management of persistent low back pain, published in 2009, indicated that physicians should offer exercise or medication, rather than radiological interventions or injections, as first choice of treatment in the patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). However, there had been great controversies regarding the effectiveness of interventional treatment of patients with CLBP. Both somatic (discogenic, instability, etc) and psychosocial factors contribute to the pathophysiology of chronic low back pain (CLBP). Although it can be difficult in many occasions, thorough interview with the patients and specific diagnostic approaches can help us to identify which is the main etiology in individual patient. With the recent progress in medical radiology and development of new therapeutic modalities, some subgroups of patients of CLBP caused by somatic factors appear to be good candidates of interventional therapy. Interventional therapy can be considered in patients with CLBP caused by annulus rupture, facet joint degeneration, disc degeneration, and vertebral column instability. Among other subgroups of CLBP, carefully selected patients with disc degeneration show the most favorable result by interventional therapy. In this regard, discogenic pain, either as a form of CLBP or acute discogenic radiculopathy, seems to be a good indication of interventional therapy. Because many spine specialists generally consider those with radiculopathy are easier to be treated, patients with CLBP tend to be subjects of conventional conservative therapy. For these reasons, clinicians should make their best effort to identify every possible somatic cause in patients with CLBP before regarding them as hypochondriacs. In this review, some of the recent evidence on the role of interventional treatment in patients with CLBP will be discussed, and some of our cases who showed favorable results by interventional therapy will be presented.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2329-2334
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• 2014

Curcumin can inhibit proliferation of liver cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, but the specific signaling pathways involved are not completely clear. Here, we report that curcumin inhibited proliferation of MHCC97H liver cancer cells by induction of apoptosis in a concentration dependent manner via stimulating intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. Also, we showed that increased intracellular ROS formation activated the TLR-4/MyD-88 signaling pathway, resulting in activation of caspase-8 and caspase-3, which eventually led to apoptosis in MHCC97H cells. These results showed that as an prooxidant, curcumin exerts anti-cancer effects by inducing apoptosis via the TLR-4/MyD-88 signaling pathway.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2681-2684
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• 2014

Aim: To compare drainage alone or combined with anti-tumor therapy for treatment of obstructive jaundice caused by recurrence and metastasis after primary tumor resection. Materials and Methods: We collect 42 patients with obstructive jaundice caused by recurrence and metastasis after tumor resection from January 2008 - August 2012, for which percutaneous transhepatic catheter drainage (pTCD)/percutaneous transhepatic biliary stenting (pTBS) were performed. In 25 patients drainage was combined with anti-tumor treatment, antineoplastic therapy including intra/postprodure local treatment and postoperative systemic chemotherapy, the other 17 undergoing drainage only. We assessed the two kinds of treatment with regard to patient prognosis. Results: Both treatments demonstrated good effects in reducing bilirubin levels in the short term and promoting liver function. The time to reobstruction was 125 days in the combined group and 89 days in the drainage only group; the mean survival times were 185 and 128 days, the differences being significant. Conclusions: Interventional drainage in the treatment of the obstructive jaundice caused by recurrence and metastasis after tumor resection can decrease bilirubin level quickly in a short term and promote the liver function recovery. Combined treatment prolongs the survival time and period before reobstruction as compared to drainage only.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.59.2-59.2
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• 2005

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8429-8433
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• 2014

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are believed to be particularly important and a reliable marker of malignancy. However, the prognostic significance of CTCs detected in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is still unclear. We therefore aimed to assess the prognostic relevance of CTCs using a meta-analysis. We searched PubMed for relevant studies and statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using fixed or random-effect models according to the heterogeneity of included studies. A total of 7 papers covering 440 SCLC patients were combined in the final analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that CTCs were significantly associated with shorter overall survival (HR=1.9; 95%CI: 1.19-3.04; Z=2.67; P<0.0001) and progression-free survival (HR=2.6; 95%CI: 1.9-3.54; Z=6.04; P<0.0001). The results thus suggest that the presence of CTCs indicates a poor prognosis in patients with SCLC. Further well-designed prospective studies are required to explore the clinical applications of CTCs in SCLC.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.7-10
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• 2010

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a distinct disease entity in that its clinical course and response to the treatment are quite different from acute low back pain (ALBP). CLBP is also closely related with systemic or preexisting psychosocial factors rather than focal or localized factors. Since there has been little consensus in practice regarding the proper management of CLBP, clinicians tend to approach and manage patients with CLBP in an empirical manner rather than an evidence-based one. In this article, I will review the difficulties of therapeutic choice in CLBP and provide superior aspects of medical treatment over invasive interventional treatments.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.60 no.8
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• pp.237-244
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• 2017

During the last 10 years, there have been major technological achievements in pediatric interventional cardiology. In addition, there have been several advances in cardiac imaging, especially in 3-dimensional imaging of echocardiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and cineangiography. Therefore, more types of congenital heart diseases can be treated in the cardiac catheter laboratory today than ever before. Furthermore, lesions previously considered resistant to interventional therapies can now be managed with high success rates. The hybrid approach has enabled the overcoming of limitations inherent to percutaneous access, expanding the application of endovascular therapies as adjunct to surgical interventions to improve patient outcomes and minimize invasiveness. Percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation has become a successful alternative therapy. However, most of the current recommendations about pediatric cardiac interventions (including class I recommendations) refer to off-label use of devices, because it is difficult to study the safety and efficacy of catheterization and transcatheter therapy in pediatric cardiac patients. This difficulty arises from the challenge of identifying a control population and the relatively small number of pediatric patients with congenital heart disease. Nevertheless, the pediatric interventional cardiology community has continued to develop less invasive solutions for congenital heart defects to minimize the need for open heart surgery and optimize overall outcomes. In this review, various interventional procedures in patients with congenital heart disease are explored.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1318-1322
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• 2021

To unveil and delineate the elements applicable to the radiation protection of a femoral entry shield, calculate its mass attenuation coefficient, and demonstrate its dose reduction efficacy for interventional radiologist performing transarterial embolization (TAE) of ruptured hepatocellular carcinoma (rHCC). The lead equivalency of the shield was firstly validated. Electron microscopy was used to confirm the femoral entry shield being lead-free and to analyze the elemental content, with which the mass attenuation coefficient of the shield was calculated. An adult phantom, irradiated at the upper abdomen to simulate the TAE of rHCC, was used together with a dosimeter attached to the palm of a hand phantom. The dose rates at the hand phantom were measured, with the rHCC clinical protocol, without and with the femoral entry shield placed over the right femoral access site of the adult phantom. Without using the shield, the average hand dose rate was measured to be 0.325 µSv/sec. While using the shield, it was determined to be 0.110 µSv/sec. There was significant 66% dose reduction to the hand dose of IRs performing angiographic intervention with the femoral entry shield.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.4545-4548
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• 2014

Objective: To investigate the changes of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble interleukin-2 receptor (SIL-2R) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) contents in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) before and after percutaneous microwave coagulation therapy (PMCT) and determine their clinical significance. Materials and Methods: Fasting venous blood (3 mL) from 81 patients with primary HCC diagnosed by pathology was collected in the mornings 1 day before PMCT, and 1 day, 7 days and 1 month after PMCT, and then the serum was separated and stored in $-70^{\circ}C$. The contents of VEGF, SIL-2R and HGF were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The serum VEGF, SIL-2R and HGF contents in 81 patients with primary HCC had obviously dynamic changes before and after PMCT. By comparison to 1 day after PMCT with pre-operation, there was no statistical significance regarding VEGF and SIL-2R contents (P>0.05), but HGF content showed significant difference (P<0.01). Compared with pre-operation, VEGF, SIL-2R and HGF contents 7 days and 1 month after PMCT all manifested significant differences (P<0.01). By comparison to 7 days with 1 month after PMCT, there was no statistical significance regarding the VEGF content (P>0.05), whereas SIL-2R and HGF contents showed significant change (P<0.01). Conclusions: The contents of serum VEGF, SIL-2R and HGF have obviously dynamic changes in primary HCC before and after PMCT, and their joint detection is expected to be an effective hematologic evaluation index of PMCT for primary HCC.

• Gut and Liver
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.611-612
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• 2018