• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.610-614
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• 2009

Background: Several trials have reported on whether adjuvant chemotherapy for resected stage IB non-small cell lung cancer is needed. The aim of our study was to investigate prognostic factors for recurrence to help identify patients who should receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Material and Method: We reviewed the cases of 48 stage IB non-small cell lung cancer patients between 1997 and 2006. Disease-free survival and overall survival rates were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis was performed with the log rank test and multivariate analysis was done using Cox's proportional hazard model. Result: The median follow-up time was 48 months. The overall survival rate was 55.9%, and the disease-free survival rate was 48.6%. Of 8 variables, two factors, visceral pleural invasion and Iymphovascular invasion, were prognostic factors of disease-free survival (univariate analysis). Visceral pleural invasion was a significant prognostic factor in multivariate analysis, and overall survival in com-pared one or more variable such as visceral pleural invasion or, and lymphovascular invasion with the other variables. Conclusion: Visceral pleural invasion was identified as a poor prognostic factor and it may help select which patients will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in addition to more comprehensive follow-up.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.399-404
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• 2013

Objective : The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study to determine prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of brain metastases (BM) from breast cancer (BC) after Gamma Knife radiosurgery (GKS). Methods : Pathologic and clinical features, and outcomes were analyzed in a cohort of 62 patients with BM from BC treated by GKS. The Kaplan- Meier method, the log-rank test, and Cox's proportional hazards model were used to assess prognostic factors. Results : Median survival after GKS was 73.0 weeks (95% confidence interval, 46.0-100.1). HER2+ [hazard ratio (HR) 0.441; p=0.045], Karnofsky performance scale (KPS) ${\geq}70$ (RR 0.416; p=0.050) and systemic chemotherapy after GKS (RR 0.282; p=0.001) were found to be a favorable prognostic factor of overall survival. Actuarial local control (LC) rate were $89.5{\pm}4.5%$ and $70.5{\pm}6.9%$ at 6 and 12 months after GKS, respectively. No prognostic factors were found to affect LC rate. Uni- and multivariate analysis revealed that the distant control (DC) rate was higher in patients with; a small number (${\leq}3$) of metastasis (HR 0.300; p=0.045), no known extracranial metastasis (p=0.013, log-rank test), or the HER2+ subtype (HR 0.267; p=0.027). Additional whole brain radiation therapy and metastasis volume were not found to be significantly associated with LC, DC, or overall survival. Conclusion : The treatment outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed BM from BC treated with GKS could be affected primarily by intrinsic subtype, KPS, and systemic chemotherapy. Therapeutic strategy and prognosis scoring system should be individualized based on considerations of intrinsic subtype in addition to traditionally known parameters related to stereotactic radiosurgery.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.268-278
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• 2021

Purpose: While several prognostic models for the stratification of death risk have been developed for patients with advanced gastric cancer receiving first-line chemotherapy, they have seldom been tested in the Chinese population. This study investigated the performance of these models and identified the optimal tools for Chinese patients. Materials and Methods: Patients diagnosed with metastatic or recurrent gastric adenocarcinoma who received first-line chemotherapy were eligible for inclusion in the validation cohort. Their clinical data and survival outcomes were retrieved and documented. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and calibration curves were used to evaluate the predictive ability of the models. Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted for patients in different risk groups divided by 7 published stratification tools. Log-rank tests with pairwise comparisons were used to compare survival differences. Results: The analysis included a total of 346 patients with metastatic or recurrent disease. The median overall survival time was 11.9 months. The patients were different into different risk groups according to the prognostic stratification models, which showed variability in distinguishing mortality risk in these patients. The model proposed by Kim et al. showed relative higher predicting abilities compared to the other models, with the highest χ² (25.8) value in log-rank tests across subgroups, and areas under the curve values at 6, 12, and 24 months of 0.65 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.59-0.72), 0.60 (0.54-0.65), and 0.63 (0.56-0.69), respectively. Conclusions: Among existing prognostic tools, the models constructed by Kim et al., which incorporated performance status score, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, alkaline phosphatase, albumin, and tumor differentiation, were more effective in stratifying Chinese patients with gastric cancer receiving first-line chemotherapy.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.5B
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• pp.487-495
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• 2010

Soil moisture is a crucial factor in hydrological system which influences runoff, energy balance, evaporation, and atmosphere. United States National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) have established Soil Moisture Experiment (SMEX) since 2002 for the global observations. SMEX provides useful data for the hydrological science including soil moisture and hydrometeorological variables. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between remotely sensed soil moisture data from aircraft and satellite and ground based experiment. C-band of Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR) that observed the brightness temperature provides soil moisture data using a retrieval algorithm. It was compared with the In-situ data for 2-30 cm depth at four sites. The most significant depth is 2-10 cm from the correlation analysis. Most of the sites, two data are similar to the mean of data at 10 cm and the median at 7 cm and 10 cm at the 10% significant level using the Rank Sum test and t-test. In general, soil moisture data using the C-band of the PSR was established to fit the Normal, Log-normal and Gumbel distribution. Soil moisture data using the aircraft and satellites will be used in hydrological science as fundamental data. Especially, the C-band of PSR will be used to prove soil moisture at 7-10 cm depths.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1341-1351
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• 2021

Objective: To compare the quality of various polychromatic and monochromatic images with or without using an iterative metal artifact reduction algorithm (iMAR) obtained from a dual-energy computed tomography (CT) to evaluate total knee arthroplasty. Materials and Methods: We included 58 patients (28 male and 30 female; mean age [range], 71.4 [61-83] years) who underwent 74 knee examinations after total knee arthroplasty using dual-energy CT. CT image sets consisted of polychromatic image sets that linearly blended 80 kVp and tin-filtered 140 kVp using weighting factors of 0.4, 0, and -0.3, and monochromatic images at 130, 150, 170, and 190 keV. These image sets were obtained with and without applying iMAR, creating a total of 14 image sets. Two readers qualitatively ranked the image quality (1 [lowest quality] through 14 [highest quality]). Volumes of high- and low-density artifacts and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) between the bone and fat tissue were quantitatively measured in a subset of 25 knees unaffected by metal artifacts. Results: iMAR-applied, polychromatic images using weighting factors of -0.3 and 0.0 (P_-0.3i and P_0.0i, respectively) showed the highest image-quality rank scores (median of 14 for both by one reader and 13 and 14, respectively, by the other reader; p < 0.001). All iMAR-applied image series showed higher rank scores than the iMAR-unapplied ones. The smallest volumes of low-density artifacts were found in P_-0.3i, P_0.0i, and iMAR-applied monochromatic images at 130 keV. The smallest volumes of high-density artifacts were noted in P_-0.3i. The CNRs were best in polychromatic images using a weighting factor of 0.4 with or without iMAR application, followed by polychromatic images using a weighting factor of 0.0 with or without iMAR application. Conclusion: Polychromatic images combined with iMAR application, P_-0.3i and P_0.0i, provided better image qualities and substantial metal artifact reduction compared with other image sets.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.4769-4774
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• 2016

Objective: To analyze the survival of elderly patients with breast cancer according to the type of treatment used. Methods: A cohort study of women aged 80 or over with breast cancer registered with the Brazilian National Cancer Institute (Instituto Nacional do $C{\hat{a}}ncer$ - INCA) between 2008 and 2009 was conducted. Prognosis was analyzed according to the cancer treatment performed: surgery, radiotherapy, or hormone therapy. Analysis of the overall 5-year survival rate was performed using the Kaplan - Meier method, and comparisons of curves were undertaken using the log-rank test. For multiple regression analysis, Cox regression was used, adjusting for age and clinical stage, considering values of p < 0.05 as significant. Data were all analyzed using the statistical package SPSS version 20. Results: 70 women with a mean age of $84.0{\pm}3.7years$ at diagnosis participated in the study. The median follow-up time was 37.1 months (range 0.5-75.5), and 31 deaths (44.3%) occurred during this time. The median survival time was 51.2 months (95% CI, 44.9-57.4), higher in those who underwent surgery (p = 0.012) and those who had hormone therapy (p=0.001). Treatment with surgery reduced the risk of death by 61.7% (HR 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.6; p = 0.001) when adjusted for clinical stage and age at diagnosis. However, there was no significant benefit from radiotherapy (HR 1.2; 95% CI, 0.5-2.5; p = 0.694). Conclusion: Treatment with surgery and hormone therapy increased the survival of our Brazilian patients with breast cancer aged 80 or over.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.74-87
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• 2017

Purpose: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to improve survival in locally advanced gastric cancer, but it is associated with significant toxicity. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity have been studied in several types of cancers and have been reported to be associated with higher chemotherapy toxicity and morbi-mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of sarcopenia/sarcopenic obesity in patients with gastric cancer, as well as its association with chemotherapy toxicity and long-term outcomes. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed using an academic cancer center patient cohort diagnosed with locally advanced gastric cancer between January 2012 and December 2014 and treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We analyzed body composition (skeletal muscle and visceral fat index) in axial computed tomography images. Results: A total of 48 patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was $68{\pm}10years$, and 33 patients (69%) were men. Dose-limiting toxicity was observed in 22 patients (46%), and treatment was terminated early owing to toxicity in 17 patients (35%). Median follow-up was 17 months. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were found at diagnosis in 23% and 10% of patients, respectively. We observed an association between termination of chemotherapy and both sarcopenia (P=0.069) and sarcopenic obesity (P=0.004). On multivariate analysis, the odds of treatment termination were higher in patients with sarcopenia (odds ratio=4.23; P=0.050). Patients with sarcopenic obesity showed lower overall survival (median survival of 6 months [95% confidence interval {CI}=3.9-8.5] vs. 25 months [95% CI=20.2-38.2]; log-rank test P=0.000). Conclusions: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were associated with early termination of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with gastric cancer; additionally, sarcopenic obesity was associated with poor survival.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7171-7177
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• 2013

Purpose: To compare the safety and efficacy of first-line chemotherapy regimen with or without doxorubicin in treating patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 56 patients histologically confirmed with STS who were treated at Jiangsu Cancer Hospital and Research Institute from July 2011 to June 2012.The basic element of first line chemotherapy contained epirubicin in group B and lacked epirubicin in group A. Response was assessed using RECIST criteria. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate progress free survival (PFS). Results: According to RECIST criteria, patients in group treated by chemotherapy without epirubicin, the objective response (OR) ratio was 6.5 % (CR0%+PR6.5%). Disease control rate (DCR=CR+PR+SD) was 25.8% with a median follow-up of 14.6 months, including 2 patients achieving a partial response (PR 6.5%) and a stable response (SD 19.4%) in 6. In group B with epirubicin based regimens, no patient had complete response, PR (28 %) was observed in 7 and SD (24 %) in 6. DCR was observed in 13 patients (52%). By Fisher's exact test, the DCR difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p=0.046). In group A, median PFS was 3.0 months (95%CI:2.1-3.8), compared with 4.0 months (95% CI:3.03-4.97) in group B (p=0.0397 by log-rank test). Epirubicin based chemotherapy and ECOG performance status 0-1 were identified as favorable factors for progression in our cohort of patients. Differences of nonhematologic and hematologic toxicities were not statistically significant between the two groups, and the addition of epirobicin was not associated with cardiac toxicity (p=0.446). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that epirubicin-based chemotherapy is effective and well tolerated, and is superior to chemotherapy without epirubicin regarding efficacy. Therefore it is recommended that epirubicin-based chemotherapy should be considered as first line for patients with advanced STS.

• The Journal of the Korean bone and joint tumor society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.66-71
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• 2012

Purpose: We analyzed treatment result to examine the outcome for patients with sacral chordoma and to determine relevant prognostic factors. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 19 patients with sacral chordoma seen at out institution between 1990 and 2010. There were 9 men and 10 women with mean age of 56 years. The average follow up was 63 months (range, 25-144 months). 15 patient received surgical treatment, six of these patient had wide, eight had marginal, one had intralesional margin and 4 patient treated with Radiation therapy only. Results: The disease free and overall survival rate for all 19 patients was 34.7% and 79.7% at 5-years, respectively. Statistical analysis using the log-rank test revealed no significant difference between the surgery and radiation therapy groups in overall survival (p=0.54). Nine of 19 patients had local recurrence at a median of 2.5 years postoperatively. Seven of these 9 patients had distant metastasis at a median of 4.5 years postoperatively. Among the variables, tumor size (p=0.033) and tumor involvement of above S3 (p=0.032) were independent prognostic factor for overall survival. Nine of 15 patients who received surgical treatment had postoperative complication such as voiding difficulty and incontinence. Conclusion: Careful consideration of the patient general condition and predictable complication of the treatment might be the best way to improve patient's survival and quality of life.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6585-6590
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• 2013

Background: Although FOLFOX (infusional fluorouracil/leucovorin plus oxaliplatin) is established as a standard chemotherapeutic regimen, the long term efficacy of adjuvant XELOX (oral capecitabine plus intravenous oxaliplatin) in Asian colorectal cancer (CRC) patients remains anecdotal. Moreover, uncertainties persist as to whether pharmacogenetic differences in Asian populations preclude equally tolerable and effective administration of these drugs. Method: One hundred consecutive patients with resected colorectal cancer received adjuvant XELOX (oxaliplatin 130 $mg/m^2$ on day 1 plus capecitabine 900 $mg/m^2$ twice daily on day 1 to 14 every 3 weeks for 8 cycles) at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. Endpoints monitored during follow-up were disease-free survival (DFS) and disease recurrence, overall survival (OS) and adverse events (AEs). Results: The median patient age was 56 years, 56% were diagnosed with rectal cancer and 44% with colonic cancer. After a median follow-up of 4.3 years (95% confidence interval, 3.2-4.7), 24 recurrences were confirmed including 13 patients who died due to progressive disease. Four-year DFS was 81% in colon cancer patients and 67% in rectal cancer patients (p=0.06 by log-rank test). For the cohort as a whole, OS was 90% at 3 years and 84% at 5 years. Treatment-related AEs led to early withdrawal in four patients. The commonest non-hematological AEs were neuropathy (91%), hand-foot syndrome (49%) and diarrhea (46%), while the commonest grade 3/4 AEs were neutropenia (11%) and diarrhea (10%). Conclusion: These results confirm the favourable long term survival benefit with good tolerability in using adjuvant XELOX in treating East Asian colorectal cancer patients.