• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.312-315
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• 2008

Purpose: Amelanotic melanoma represents a melanoma with an absence or a small number of melanin pigments and comprises 2% of all melanomas. These melanomas are frequently misdiagnosed, probably because of its nonspecific clinical features and difficulty in diagnosis, resulting in delayed diagnosis and treatment. We report a patient with amelanotic melanoma, who underwent surgical treatment with sentinel lymph node biopsy using gamma probe. Methods: A 32-year-old female was presented with a slowly growing ill-defined, hypopigmented nonerythematous lesion with nail defect on right index finger tip. Preoperative punch biopsy was performed, showing an amelanotic melanoma. Sentinel lymph node biopsy was done using gamma probe(Crystal probe system, CRYSTAL PHOTONICS GmbH, Germany) and confirmed no evidence of regional lymph node metastases. The patient underwent amputation at the proximal interphalangeal joint. Results: Histopathologic findings showed superficial spreading melanoma. There were no melanin pigments in Hematoxylin & Eosin stain but positive immunohistochemical stainings for S-100 protein and Hmb45, which were consistent with amelanotic melanoma. Patient's postoperative course was uneventful without any complication and had no evidence of recurrence of tumor in 6 months follow-up period. Conclusion: Amelanotic melanoma is extremely rare subtype of malignant melanoma with histopathologic findings of atypical melanocytes without melanin pigments. Early detection is crucial since survival is strongly related to tumor thickness and tissue invasion at the time of diagnosis. Wide excision is the treatment of choice and other conjunctive therapy has not been successful.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2013

Environmental medicine has interest in the effect of natural environment on the human health. Nature is usually understoodas' sky(天)' and 'earth(地)' which implies the harmony of humankind and nature(天地相應). As can be shown above, environment concept is the basic in Korean Medicine which originate in "Huangdi's Internal Classic" as clear medical form. According to "Huangdi's Internal Classic" man ought to abide by the nurturing 'Tao(道)' which is the way of life. This can be explained as the principle of balance, specially of yin(陰) and yang(陽) as is represented by the transformation of the energies from the universe. Life through the four seasons is also referred in the classic upon when four different climates have some effect on people, and the regional effect on health is also written there. Under the strict modem view, the achievement of the classic in the field of environmental medicine may be treated as primitive, but it was induced through long-term observation, so that once was state-of-the-art result at that time. But to solve the intrinsic weak points in traditional environmental medicine and also to harmonize with modern science to contribute to national health, the way of modem research can be applied to traditional concept on environmental medicine. Natural scientific approach is to avoid superstition and incantation. Strict method approach is to enhance accuracy and reliance in clinical observation. Overall, predictability can help develop the effectiveness and efficiency of diagnosis, treatment, recurrence, and prevention in environmental disease with holy method of Korean Medicine.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.339-342
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• 2009

Adenoid cystic carcinoma(ACC) is the second most common malignant neoplasm in the salivary gland. In spite of ACC shows slowly growing nature, it is sometimes highly detrimental that it readily invades adjacent tissues and metastasize to distant organs at the early stage of disease. Hence, treatment outcome may be misfortunate due to wide regional infiltration, pathognomonic perineural spread and the tendency of hematogenous metastasis. We present a unusal case of ACC of the scalp in which the patient initially presented with bumpy mass of the scalp who had been diagnosed as the primarily developed ACC of the right hard palate that extended to infratemporal fossa, nasal cavity, and paranasal sinuses and had been treated by total excision and post-operative chemotherapy and radiation therapy for 10 years ago. Although this lesion occured at the scalp, which is a frequent site of primary dermatologic ACC, its histomorphology was the same with that of previous tumor. Complete clinical examination showed no recurrence sign at the primary site and suggested the scalp as a sole treatment failure site. Accordingly, it would be reasonable to consider the present case as either a scalp metastasis or a second primary lesion of salivary gland ACC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6821-6832
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• 2013

Background: Soft-tissue sarcomas require tailored and multidisciplinary treatment and management. However, little is known about how sarcomas are treated and managed throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Materials and Methods: MEDLINE was systematically searched using prespecified criteria. Publications (previous 10 years) that reported tumour characteristics, treatment patterns, survival outcomes, and/or safety outcomes of patients with soft-tissue sarcoma were selected. Exclusion criteria were studies of patients <18 years of age; ${\leq}10$ patients; countries other than Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, or Thailand; >20% benign tumours; sarcomas located in bones or joints; gastrointestinal stromal tumour; Kaposi's sarcoma; or not reporting relevant outcomes. Results: Of the 1,822 publications retrieved, 35 (32 studies) were included. Nearly all patients (98%, 1,992/2,024; 31 studies) were treated with surgery, and more studies used adjuvant radiotherapy than chemotherapy (24 vs 17 studies). Survival outcomes and recurrence rates varied among the studies because of the different histotypes, sites, and disease stages assessed. Only 5 studies reported safety findings. Conclusions: These findings highlight the lack of specific data available about soft-tissue sarcomas in the Asia-Pacific region. Better efforts to understand how the sarcoma is managed and treated will help improve patient outcomes in the region.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6573-6578
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• 2013

Background: The goal of this retrospective study was to evaluate patient characteristics, treatment modalities and prognostic factors in Turkish patients with pancreatic cancer. Materials and Methods: Between January 1997 and December 2012, 64 patients who presented to the Department of Radiation Oncology, Karadeniz Technical University, Faculty of Medicine with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer were evaluated. The E/K ratio of the cases was 2.4/1 and the median age was 59.6 (32-80) years, respectively. Some 11 cases (18%) were stage 1, 21 (34.4%) were stage 2, 10 (16.4%) were stage 3, and 19 (31.1%) were metastatic. Results: The mean follow-up time was 15.7 months (0.7-117.5) and loco-regional recurrence was noted in 11 (40.7%) who underwent surgery while metastases were observed in 41 patients (66.1%). The median overall survival (OS) was 11.2 months and the 1, 3 and 5-year OS rates were 41.7%, 9.9% and 7.9% respectively. The median disease-free survival (DFS) was 5.2 month and the1, 2 and 5 year DFS were 22.6%, 7.6% and 3.8% respectively. On univariate analysis, prognostic factors affecting OS included status of the operation (p<0.001), tumor stage (p=0.008), ECOG performance status (p=0.005) and CEA level (p=0.017).On multivariate analysis, prognostic factors affecting survival included status of the operation (p=0.033) and age (p= 0.023). Conclusions: In the current study, age and operation status were independent prognostic factors for overall survival with pancreatic patients. Thus, the patients early diagnosis and treatment ars essential. However, prospective studies with more patients are needed for confirmation.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.123-127
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• 2004

Objectives: The tall cell variant is an uncommon variant and has been known as more aggressive form of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Owing to the rarity of these thyroid cancers, their clinical behavior remains incompletely understood. To elucidate the clinicopathologic characteristics of tall cell variant, we retrospectively reviewed our surgical experience of patients with tall cell variant. Methods: Between August 1993 and July 2004, a total of 11 consecutive patients who were pathologically diagnosed with tall cell variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent total (8 cases) or subtotal thyroidectomy (3 cases) with central compartment node dissections. The lateral neck dissection was added in 6 patients. After the operation, neck ultrasound and serum thyroglobulin were checked regularly during the follow-up period. Results: The mean age of the patients was 56.6years (range, 30-74years) at the time of diagnosis. 3 patients were men, and 8 were women. The mean diameter of tumor was 3.7cm(range, 1.5-6.0cm), and 6 patients had lateral neck node metastasis. Extrathyroidal extension was seen in 5 patients (45%). Loco-regional recurrence was found in 2 patients (18%), and distant metastasis in 1 patient (9%). The 5-year disease free survival rate was 68%. Conclusion: The tall cell variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma is an uncommon disease. Clinicopathologic feature and prognosis of this disease show more aggressive behaviors than ordinary papillary thyroid carcinoma. More aggressive treatment and close follow-up should be undertaken in the tall cell variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.149-153
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• 1984

Postoperative radiotherapy of breast cancer makes it possible to reduce loco-regional recurrence of breast cancer. The treatment technique, which can reduce the low-dose region at the junction and lung, is required. To produce proper dose distribution of internal mammary chain and chest wall, authors tried to find the method to expose $^{60}Co\;\gamma-ray$ on internal mammary region and 7MeV electron on chest wall. Exposure time of $^{60}Co\;\gamma$ and monitor unit of 9MeV were selected so that dose of $^{60}Co$ at 4cm depth was the same as that of 7Mev electron at $80\%$ dose depth. The position and direction of electron beam were changed for $^{60}Co$ beam: $0^{\circ},\;5^{\circ}$ for 0cm seperation; $0^{\circ},\;5^{\circ},\;10^{\circ}$ for 0.5cm seperation; $5^{\circ},\;10^{\circ},\;15^{\circ}$ for 1cm seperation. The results are as followings. 1. When the seperation of two fields was increased, dose on the axis of $^{60}Co$ beam was increased and dose at the junction region decreased while the volume of lung to be exposed to high dose and hot spot size were irregularly changed. 2. The dose distribution in the target volume of internal mammary and chest wall was most ideal when the seperation of two fields was $0\~0.5cm$ and the direction of electron beam was parallel to $^{60}Co$ beam.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.67-90
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• 2005

In this study, to improve the quality of school lunch in local colleges, we conducted a survey on students who attend 2 year colleges in Jeju region. With its own unique regional characteristics and the change of its school lunch program from direct management to consignment, there were some questions about how each factor in school lunch program affects on students' satisfaction with it and we tried to present helpful data to improve school lunch programs in each region. The survey took place from May 5 to May 10, 2005 covering the colleges only in Jeju region. There were 200 sets of questionnaires issued and distributed to the students who are currently using school lunch programs. Only 168 sets were retrieved and processed statistically. 2 sets out of 168 questionnaires had to be thrown away because there were wrong entries of some questions, which made overall retrieving rate 83%. In this study, SPSS 10.0 , one of the statistical package programs, was used as an analyzing tool to make Frequency Analysis. To verify credibility, Cronbach's Alpha Element Analysis was done and T-test and ANOVA was also made. After Recurrence Analysis for elements of satisfaction regarding main factors that is considered to be important to customers, we found that importance of following factors: appearance of food, incongruity between main and side dishes, availability of seasonal food, availability of preferred menu, absence of food stock, waiting time, accessibility of food counters, space between chairs, presentation of a menu, food tray's shape, and color of food trays. The importance of those showed high but satisfaction with the same factors was low. So the primary improvement on these factors should be made to increase satisfaction. Finally we concluded that in large extent, importance of each factor definitely affects on students' satisfaction.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.2945-2950
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• 2014

Background: This study compared risk factors for depression and suicidal ideas among cancer patients for comparison with the general population, and identified influencing factors. Materials and Methods: We analyzed data from 2,472 cancer patients in the National Cancer Center and nine Regional Cancer Centers and frequency-matched data for age and sex from 2,349 members of the general population who completed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2008. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors affecting depression and suicidal ideas. Results: Cancer patients were not likely to have more depression (OR=0.96, 95%CI=0.79-1.18) and were less likely to have suicidal ideas (OR=0.64, 95%CI=0.53-0.79) compared to the general population. Female sex, more stress, and lower quality of life were influencing factors. The additional risk factors for suicidal ideas among cancer patients included income (OR=0.62, 95%CI=0.43-0.91), smoking (OR=1.63, 95% CI=1.06-2.50), recurrence (OR=1.50, 95%CI=1.15-1.95), and chemotherapy (OR=1.66, 95%CI=1.26-2.19). Conclusions: No differences appeared in depression rates between cancer patients and the general population, and cancer patients were less likely to have suicidal ideas. However, cancer patients were likely to have more risk factors than the general population, and those classified as being at high risk of suicide should receive distress management and social economic support, from early in the treatment process.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 1983

To evaluate the significance of assay of serum thyroglobulin(Tg) in monitoring the course of the thyroid cancer or its response to treatment, serum thyroglobulin levels were measured in 41 patients with thyroid cancer who visited Seoul National University Hospital from August, 1981 to August, 1982. The results were as follows: 1) Serum Tg levels $1\sim3$ months after thyroidectomy was $31{\pm}23$ ng/ml$(mean{\pm}S.D.)$ in 14 patients without metastasis, $66{\pm}41$ ng/ml in 21 patients with regional metastasis and $176{\pm}59$ ng/ml in 6 patients with distant metastasis and there were significant differences among three groups(p<0.01). 2) Serum Tg levels in 13 patients with metastasis before and after $^{131}I$ treatment were $134{\pm}62ng/ml$ and $67{\pm}52ng/ml$ respectively. 3) In the follow-up measurement of serum Tg levels every 3 months for about 1 year, almost all serum Tg levels were below 60 ng/ml in 12 patients without distant metastasis and serum Tg levels were elevated above 60 ng/ml in 5 of 6 patients with distant metastasis. 4) In 6 patients with distant metastasis, serum Tg levels were elevated in 5 patients and $^{131}I$ whole body scan showed definite metastatic evidence in 3 patients and suspicious evidence in 1 patient. From above results, we concluded that serum Tg level is very useful as an indicator of recurrence or metastasis in patients with thyroid cancer after operation.