• The Korean Journal of Health Service Management
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.1-13
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to analyze the medical care utilization behavior of patients to whom treatment (surgery) is recommended after they are diagnosed with abnormal findings on health screening and factors affecting the selection of the medical institute for treatment. The data was collected from 291 patients who need treatment or surgery, according to the abnormal findings on the additional examination such as cardiac CT, brain MRI, Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy since four diseases are suspected among of 2,752 people who receive health screening. The results are as follows. First, the most common disease of patients who have abnormal findings by the diagnosis through the results of first testing is colon disease based on through the additional examination. The most common disease of patients who will get treatment (surgery) based on final diagnosis by a doctor who determines the result of health screening on the basis of diagnosis from the first testing is cardiovascular disease. Second, in terms of diseases, patients with cardiovascular disease select the medical institute where they get the health screenings as a place for treatment. Patients with cerebrovascular disease select another medical institute for treatment. Finally, the affective factors of selectivity treatment facility on health screening satisfaction were human, facility, health screening and revisit factors.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.264-272
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• 2010

Objectives : This study was carried out to measure perceptions about Traditional Korean Medicine hospitals and provide data for improvement of TKM hospital management. Methods : We surveyed the general population from 1st to 17th December, 2008, and patients visiting a TKM hospital from 1st June to 9th December, 2008. Results : Result as follows. 1. The response ratio for the generally preferred medical institution was in the order of western medical clinic, pharmacy, general hospital, TKM clinic, TKM hospital. 2. The response ratio for the preferred medical institution for herbal medicine treatment was in the order of TKM clinic, herbal medicine store, TKM hospital, pharmacy. The preferred medical institution for acupuncture treatment was in the order of TKM clinic, TKM hospital, acupuncture clinic, public health center. 3. The most common response to reason for receiving traditional Korean medical care was "traditional Korean medical care is more effective than western medical care." 4. The proportion of first treatment and second treatment of patients visiting at TKM hospital was about 1:1. 5. 72.3% of patients had been to another medical institution. 6. The response ratio for the first visited medical institution for the same disease was in the order of general hospital, western medical hospital, western medical clinic, TKM clinic. 7. The response ratio for the concern about TKM treatment was in the order of expensive charge for TKM treatment, uncertainty of TKM treatment effect. Conclusions : Through this research, we can understand the perception about TKM hospital treatment of the general population and patients visiting TKM hospitals.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2875-2878
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• 2014

Background: Lung cancer is one of the commonest and most lethal cancers throughout the world. The majority of the patients present at advance stage and are not suitable for curative intent treatment. Even among patients with localized disease, there has been underutilization of curative treatment modalities. The aim of this study was to analyze the radical treatment utilization rates in patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated at our centre. Materials and Methods: We analyzed case records of 104 patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of NSCLC having stage 1-3B disease who were treated at our centre over last 3 years, to assess the utilization of curative treatment modalities i.e. surgery or radical radiotherapy. Results: The median age of this cohort was 58 years. Out of 104 patients only 33 (31.7%) received curative intent treatment, 14 undergoing curative resection and 19 receiving radical doses of radiotherapy. The baseline characteristics of both the groups (with or without radical treatment) were not different. Major factors associated with underutilization with curative treatment were progressive disease or loss of follow up after chemotherapy and inappropriate use of TKI and/or palliative radiotherapy in patients with stage 1-3B disease. Patients who did not receive radical treatment had inferior PFS and OS than those who received radical treatment. Conclusions: In our practice we observed gross underutilization of curative intent treatment modalities in patients with NSCLCs which is associated with inferior survival.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.42 no.12
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• pp.906-918
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• 2019

MicroRNA-223-3p (miR-223-3p) is one of the potential microRNAs that have been shown to alleviate inflammatory responses in pre-clinical investigations and is highly encased in exosomes derived from bone mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-exosomes). MSC-exosomes are able to function as carriers to deliver microRNAs into cells. Autoimmune hepatitis is one of the challenging liver diseases with no effective treatment other than steroid hormones. Here, we examined whether MSC-exosomes can transfer miR-223-3p to treat autoimmune hepatitis in an experimental model. We found that MSC-exosomes were successfully incorporated with miR-223-3p and delivered miR-223-3p into macrophages. Moreover, there was no toxic effect of exosomes on the macrophages. Furthermore, treatments of either exosomes or exosomes with miR-223-3p successfully attenuated inflammatory responses in the liver of autoimmune hepatitis and inflammatory cytokine release in both the liver and macrophages. The mechanism may be related to the regulation of miR-223-3p level and STAT3 expression in the liver and macrophages. These results suggest that MSC-exosomes can be used to deliver miR-223-3p for the treatment of autoimmune hepatitis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.366-372
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• 2002

Tele-medicine and emergency medical system are necessary for moving from an accidental point or far distance to a hospital and emergency treatment or home treatment before a hospital. Emergency treatment is extremely important in the case of death before arriving a hospital and deformed or disabled by medical treatment delay. A necessary element for this medical system is the emergency communication system. This system is on preparing for an ability of furnishing patient status to a corresponding health service by monitoring the patient at an ambulance of the accident place. This is the transportation of basic biological information of a patient to a medical center by wireless communication system and the corresponding hospital or medical center examine the patient by monitoring, then they can send emergency medical order to the patient for emergency treatment. The TRS is most efficient way of emergency medical communication system, which is currently used with popularity. In this paper studied simultaneously a way of detecting and transporting bio-logical signals, and monitoring of transporting data with communication of voice in the accident place or ambulance.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.5075-5079
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• 2015

Background: Adverse effects of treatment prolongation beyond 8 weeks with radiotherapy for cervical cancer have been established. Clinical data also show that cisplatin increases the biologically effective dose of radiotherapy. However, there are no data on the effect of overall treatment time in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer treated with concomitant chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) in an Indian population. The present study concerned the feasibility of concurrent chemotherapy and interspacing brachytherapy during the course of external radiotherapy to reduce the overall treatment time and compare the normal tissue toxicity and loco-regional control with a conventional schedule. Materials and Methods: Between January 2009 and March 2012 fifty patients registered in the Gynaecologic Oncology Clinic of Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital with locally advanced cervical cancer (FIGO stage IIB-IIIB) were enrolled. The patients were randomly allocated to treatment arms based on a computer generated random number. Arm I (n=25) treatment consisted of irradiation of the whole pelvis to a dose of 50 Gy in 27 fractions, and weekly cisplatin $40mg/m^2$. High dose rate intra-cavitary brachytherapy (HDR-ICBT) was performed after one week of completion of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). The prescribed dose for each session was 7Gy to point A for three insertions at one week intervals. Arm II (n=25) treatment consisted of irradiation of the whole pelvis to a dose of 50 Gy in 27 fractions. Mention HDR-ICBT ICRT was performed after 40Gy and 7Gy was delivered to point A for three insertions (days 23, 30, 37) at one week intervals. Cisplatin $20mg/m^2/day$ was administered from D1-5 and D24-28. Overall treatment time was taken from first day of EBRT to last day of HDR brachytherapy. The overall loco-regional response rate (ORR) was determined at 3 and 6 months. Results: A total of 46 patients completed the planned treatment. The overall treatment times in arm I and arm II were $65{\pm}12$ and $48{\pm}4$ days, respectively (p=0.001). At three and six months of follow-up the ORR for arm I was 96% while that for arm II was 88%. No statistically significant difference was apparent between the two arms. The overall rate of grade ${\geq}3$ toxicity was numerically higher in arm I (n=7) than in arm II (n=4) though statistical significance was not reached. None of the predefined prognostic factors like age, performance status, baseline haemoglobin level, tumour size, lymph node involvement, stage or histopathological subtype showed any impact on outcome. Conclusions: In the setting of concurrent chemoradiotherapy a shorter treatment schedule of 48 days may be feasible by interspacing brachytherapy during external irradiation. The response rates and toxicities were comparable.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.38-55
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• 2024

Cancer is a global health challenge with high morbidity and mortality rates. However, conventional cancer treatment methods often have severe side effects and limited success rates. In the last decade, extensive research has been conducted to develop safe, and efficient alternative treatments that do not have the limitations of existing anticancer medicines. Plant-derived compounds have shown promise in cancer treatment for their anti-carcinogenic and anti-proliferative properties. Rosmarinic acid (RA) and carnosic acid (CA) are potent polyphenolic compounds found in rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) extract. They have been extensively studied for their biological properties, which include anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. In addition, RA and CA have demonstrated effective anti-proliferative properties against various cancers, making them promising targets for extensive research to develop candidate or leading compounds for cancer treatment. This review discusses and summarizes the anti-tumor effect of RA and CA against various cancers and highlights the involved biochemical and mechanistic pathways.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.42-49
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• 2003

Purpose : In order to study the effectiveness of East-West pain treatment on central poststroke pain(CPSP), we evaluated its effect on alleviation of pain and rehabilitation of CPSP patients who were treated with eletroacupuncture and west pain treatment for four weeks. Methods : Twenty four patients diagnosed by their pain characteristics of central pain form stroke were treated with sympathetic nerve block, gabapentin, amitriptyline, and electroacupuncture for four weeks. Pain intensity through the visual analogue scale(VAS), and improvements of mobility and rehabilitation through the modified Barthel index(MBI) and Rankin scale(RS), respectively, before and after pain treatment were also assessed. Results : VAS pain scores were significantly improved from $7.7{\pm}1.7$ to $4.4{\pm}2.0$ with pain treatment(p<0.05). In accordance with improvement of ain scores, RS and MBI scores ere also improved from $2.88{\pm}0.95$ to $2.13{\pm}1.01$ and from $83.0{\pm}16.9$ to $94.7{\pm}9.5$(p<0.05), respectively, with pain treatment(p<0.05). Conclusions : It was suggested that the active pain treatment was contributed to the rehabilitation of CPSP patients, resulting in improvement of quality of life of CPSP patients. Futhermore, East pain treatment in combination with West pain treatment may be useful modality to alleviate CPSP.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1089-1101
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• 2022

Immunotherapy has revolutionized and opened a new paradigm for cancer treatment. In the era of immunotherapy and molecular targeted therapy, precision medicine has gained emphasis, and an early response assessment is a key element of this approach. Treatment response assessment for immunotherapy is challenging for radiologists because of the rapid development of immunotherapeutic agents, from immune checkpoint inhibitors to chimeric antigen receptor-T cells, with which many radiologists may not be familiar, and the atypical responses to therapy, such as pseudoprogression and hyperprogression. Therefore, new response assessment methods such as immune response assessment, functional/molecular imaging biomarkers, and artificial intelligence (including radiomics and machine learning approaches) have been developed and investigated. Radiologists should be aware of recent trends in immunotherapy development and new response assessment methods.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1822-1833
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• 2021

This is a narrative review of various treatment modalities for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with a focus on recent updates in radiological treatments, as well as novel treatment concepts related to immune checkpoint inhibitors and combination therapies with locoregional treatments. Interventional radiologists have made efforts toward developing alternative and/or combination treatments for first-line systemic treatment of patients with advanced HCC. Locoregional treatments with or without systemic therapy may be considered in the selected patients. Various treatment modalities for advanced HCC are emerging, and several randomized controlled trials, including those of combination treatments with immunotherapy, are ongoing.