• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권14호
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• pp.5643-5645
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• 2015

Background: The aim was to see compliance to minimum data set information in carcinoma cervix histopathology reports from a team of 13 pathologists; and also to analyse the distribution of parameters like tumor size, grade, depth of cervical stromal invasion, lymph node yield and pTNM stage. Materials and Methods: All pathology reports of radical hysterectomy for carcinoma cervix operated in house within a three year duration (2010-2012), (n=204) were retrieved from medical records and analyzed for the above parameters. Results: In 2010- 59 cases, in 2011- 67 cases and in 2012- 78 cases of carcinoma cervix underwent operations in our hospital. The median age was 50.5 years and the maximum T diameter was 2.8 cms in the reports of three years. Squamous carcinoma was the commonest subtype amongst all the tumors. It was noted that 60.8% of cases had cervical stromal involvement more than half the thickness of the cervical stroma. Parametrial involvement was seen in 4.82% of cases. pTNM Staging was not mentioned in 65.06% of the cases. The mean bilateral pelvic lymph node yield count in our study was 16.6 inclusive of all the three years. Conclusions: Compliance with provision of a minimum dataset in our team of 13 pathologists was generally good. Lymph node yield in our hands is reasonable, but constant striving for greater numbers should be made. pTNM staging should be more meticulously documented. Use of proformas /checklists is recommended.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권7호
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• pp.3575-3581
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• 2016

Background: Cancer survival analysis is an essential indicator for effective early detection and improvements in cancer treatment. This study was undertaken to document colorectal cancer survival and associated prognostic factors in Malaysians. Materials and Methods: All data were retrieved from the National Cancer Patient Registry-Colorectal Cancer. Only cases with confirmed diagnosis through histology between the year 2008 and 2009 were included. Retrieved data include socio-demographic information, pathological features and treatment received. Survival curves were plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis of all variables was then made using the Log-rank test. All significant factors that influenced survival of patients were further analysed in a multivariate analysis using Cox' regression. Results: Total of 1,214 patients were included in the study. The overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were 59.1% and 48.7%, respectively. Patients with localized tumours had better prognosis compared to those with advanced stage cancer. In univariate analysis, staging at diagnosis (p<0.001), primary tumour size (p<0.001), involvement of lymph nodes (p<0.001) and treatment modalities (p=0.001) were found to be predictors of survival. None of the socio-demographic characteristics were found to exert any influence. In Cox regression analysis, staging at diagnosis (p<0.001), primary tumour size (p<0.001), involvement of lymph nodes (p<0.001) and treatment modalities (p<0.001) were determined as independent prognostic factors of survival after adjusted for age, gender and ethnicity. Conclusions: The overall survival rate for colorectal cancer patients in Malaysia is similar to those in other Asian countries, with staging at diagnosis, primary tumor size, involvement of lymph node and treatment modalities having significant effects. More efforts are needed to improve national survival rates in future.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권13호
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• pp.5365-5369
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• 2014

Background: The lymph node ratio (LNR) has been shown to be an important prognostic factor for colorectal cancer. However, studies focusing on the prognostic impact of LNR in rectal cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by curative resection have been limited. The aim of this study was to investigate LNR in rectal cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by curative resection. Materials and Methods: A total of 131 consecutive rectal cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant CRT and total mesorectal excision were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups according to the LNR (${\leq}0.2$ [n=86], >0.2 [n=45]) to evaluate the prognostic effect on overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Results: The median number of retrieved and metastatic lymph node (LN) was 14 (range 1-48) and 2 (range 1-10), respectively. The median LNR was 0.154 (range 0.04-1.0). In multivariate analysis, LNR was shown to be an independent prognostic factor for both overall survival (hazard ratio[HR]=3.778; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.741-8.198; p=0.001) and disease-free survival (HR=3.637; 95%CI 1.838-7.195; p<0.001). Increased LNR was significantly associated with worse OS and DFS in patients with <12 harvested LNs, and as well as in those ${\geq}12$ harvested LNs (p<0.05). In addition, LNR had a prognostic impact on both OS and DFS in patients with N1 staging (p<0.001). Conclusions: LNR is an independent prognostic factor in ypN-positive rectal cancer patients, both in patients with <12 harvested LNs, and as well as in those ${\geq}12$ harvested LNs. LNR provides better prognostic value than pN staging. Therefore, it should be used as an additional prognostic indicator in ypN-positive rectal cancer patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권9호
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• pp.5219-5223
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• 2013

The number of axillary lymph nodes involved and retrieved are important prognostic factors in breast cancer. The purpose of our study was to investigate whether the lymph node ratio (LNR) is a better prognostic factor in predicting disease-free survival (DFS) for breast cancer patients as compared with pN staging. The analysis was based on 804 breast cancer patients who had underwent axillary lymph node dissection between 1999 and 2008 in Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center. Optimal cutoff points of LNR were calculated using X-tile software and validated by bootstrapping. Patients were then divided into three groups (low-, intermediate-, and high-risk) according to the cutoff points. Predicting risk factors for relapse were performed according to Cox proportional hazards analysis. DFS was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the log-rank test. The 5-year DFS rate decreased significantly with increasing LNRs and pN. Univariate analysis found that the pT, pN, LNR, molecule type, HER2, pTNM stage and radiotherapy well classified patients with significantly different prognosis. By multivariate analysis, only LNR classification was retained as an independent prognostic factor. Furthermore, there was a significant prognostic difference among different LNR categories for pN2 category, but no apparent prognostic difference was seen between different pN categories in any LNR category. Therefore, LNR rather than pN staging is preferable in predicting DFS in node positive breast cancer patients, and routine clinical decision-making should take the LNR into consideration.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.1725-1730
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• 2014

Management of patients with stage II colorectal carcinomas remains challenging as 20 - 30% of them will develop recurrence. It is postulated that these patients may harbour nodal micrometastases which are imperceptible by routine histopathological evaluation. The aims of our study were to evaluate (1) the feasibility of multilevel sectioning method utilizing haematoxylin and eosin stain and immunohistochemistry technique with cytokeratin AE1/AE3, in detecting micrometastases in histologically-negative lymph nodes, and (2) correlation between nodal micrometastases with clinicopathological parameters. Sixty two stage I and II cases with a total of 635 lymph nodes were reviewed. Five-level haematoxylin and eosin staining and one-level cytokeratin AE1/AE3 immunostaining were performed on all lymph nodes retrieved. The findings were correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Two (3.2%) lymph nodes in two patients (one in each) were found to harbour micrometastases detected by both methods. With cytokeratin AE1/AE3, we successfully identified four (6.5%) patients with isolated tumour cells, but none through the multilevel sectioning method. Nodal micrometastases detected by both multilevel sectioning and immunohistochemistry methods were not associated with larger tumour size, higher depth of invasion, poorer tumour grade, disease recurrence or distant metastasis. We conclude that there is no difference between the two methods in detecting nodal micrometastases. Therefore it is opined that multilevel sectioning is a feasible and yet inexpensive method that may be incorporated into routine practice to detect nodal micrometastases in centres with limited resources.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.206-212
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• 2007

목적: 조기 위암 환자에 대한 복강경 보조 원위부 위절제술은 삶의 질 향상을 위한 치료의 하나로 점차 많이 시행되고 있다. 하지만, 복강경 보조 위 전절제술은 위아전절제술에 비해 술기상의 복잡성 등의 이유로 그 빈도가 높지 않다. 이에 저자 등은 본 교실에서 시행한 복강경 보조위 전절제술의 초기 경험을 분석하여 술기상의 가능성과 안정성 및 수술 결과를 평가하고자 한다. 대상 및 방법: 연세대학교 의과대학 외과학교실에서 조기 위암으로 2003년 7월부터 2007년 6월까지 한 명의 술자에 의해 수술 전 조기위암으로 진단받고 복강경 보조 위 전절제술과 D1+$\beta$ 림프절 절제술 및 Roux-en-Y 재건술을 시행받은 77명의 환자를 대상으로 임상병리학적 특징, 수술 후 경과, 합병증을 후향적으로 분석하였다. 결과: 환자들의 평균 나이는 61세였고 남자와 여자의 수는 각각 49명, 28명이었다. 평균 수술시간은 210분(범위 100-400)이었고 각 수술 시간은 수술 경험이 많아짐에 따라서 점 차 감소하였다. 수술 후 13예(16.9%)에서 합병증이 발생하였고 사망한 예는 없었다. 장관 운동은 평균 수술 후 3.2일에 회복되었고, 수술 후 연식을 시작한 시기는 4.4일, 수술 후 평균 재원일은 10일이었다. 위의 절제연은 근위부 원위부 각각 평균 3.1 cm, 10.7 cm로 충분한 절제연을 확보하였으나 한 예에서 원위부 절제연에 현미경적 암세포의 침윤이 있었다. 림프절 절제 범위는 D1+$\alpha$가 2예(2.6%), D1+$\beta$가 55예(71.4%), D2가 20예(26.0%)이었고 평균 절제된 림프절 수는 41.8개이었다. 결론: 복강경 보조 위 전절제술의 초기 경험을 분석하였을 때 조기위암의 치료에 있어 효과적이고 안전한 술식임을 확인하였다. 그 적용 범위의 확대를 위해서는 앞으로 복강경 보조 위 전절제술과 개복 수술의 전향적인 비교 연구와 장기 생존율 등 종양학적인 치료결과에 대한 연구가 필요하다.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제13권1호
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• pp.51-57
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• 2013

Purpose: Additional gastrectomy is needed after endoscopic resection for early gastric cancer when pathology confirms any possibility of lymph node metastasis or margin involvement. No studies depicted the optimal type of surgery to apply in these patients. We compared the short-term and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic gastrectomy with those of open gastrectomy after endoscopic resection to identify the optimal type of surgery. Materials and Methods: From 2003 to 2010, 110 consecutive patients who underwent gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy either by laparoscopic (n=74) or by open (n=36) for gastric cancer after endoscopic resection were retrospectively analyzed. Postoperative and oncological outcomes were compared according to types of surgical approach. Results: Clinicopathological characteristics were comparable between the two groups. Laparoscopic group showed significantly shorter time to gas passing and soft diet and hospital day than open group while operation time and rate of postoperative complications were comparable between the two groups. All specimens had negative margins regardless of types of approach. Mean number of retrieved lymph nodes did not differ significantly between the two groups. During the median follow-up of 47 months, there were no statistical differences in recurrence rate (1.4% for laparoscopic and 5.6% for open, P=0.25) and in overall (P=0.22) and disease-free survival (P=0.19) between the two groups. Type of approach was not an independent risk factor for recurrence and survival. Conclusions: Laparoscopic gastrectomy after endoscopic resection showed comparable oncologic outcomes to open approach while maintaining benefits of minimally invasive surgery. Thus, laparoscopic gastrectomy can be a treatment of choice for patients previously treated by endoscopic resection.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.255-262
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• 2013

Purpose: Robotic surgery for gastric cancer is a promising alternative to laparoscopic surgery, but the data are limited. We aimed to evaluate whether gaining experience in robotic gastrectomy could improve surgical outcomes in the treatment of gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: Two hundred and seven consecutive cases of patients with clinical stage I gastric cancer who underwent robotic surgery at the National Cancer Center of Korea between February 2009 and February 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Surgical outcomes were analyzed and compared between the initial 100 and later 100 cases. Results: Seven patients required conversion to open surgery and were excluded from further analysis. The mean operating time for all patients was 248.8 minutes, and mean length of hospitalization was 8.0 days. Twenty patients developed postoperative complications. Thirteen were managed conservatively, while 6 had major complications requiring invasive procedures. One mortality occurred owing to myocardial infarction. Operating time was significantly shorter in the latter 100 cases than in the initial 100 cases (269.9 versus 233.5 minutes, P<0.001). The number of retrieved lymph nodes was significantly greater in the latter cases (35.9 versus 39.9, P=0.032). The hospital stay of patients with complications was significantly longer in the initial cases than in the latter cases (16 versus 7 days, P=0.005). Conclusions: Increased experience with the robotic procedure for gastric cancer was associated with improved outcomes, especially in operating time, lymph node retrieval, and shortened hospital stay of complicated patients. Further development of surgical techniques and technology might enhance the role of robotic surgery for gastric cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제14권3호
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• pp.173-179
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• 2014

Purpose: The prevalence of gastric cancer in the elderly is increasing. The purpose of this study was to clarify factors related to morbidity following gastric cancer surgery in elderly patients. Materials and Methods: For this study, data from 411 patients who underwent curative gastrectomies with lymph node dissections between March 2010 and January 2013 were retrospectively studied using a prospectively designed database. Patients were divided into 2 groups (<70 years vs. ${\geq}70$ years). For each group, perioperative factors were analyzed to determine if they were associated with postoperative morbidity and mortality. Results: Comorbidities were more prevalent in the elderly group (${\geq}70$ years). Intraoperative and postoperative transfusions were also more frequently required in the elderly group. There was no significant difference in the number of retrieved lymph nodes between the 2 groups (44.3 vs. 46.6 nodes). In a comparison of the elderly versus non-elderly groups, the postoperative morbidity rates were 22.7% versus 8.9% (P<0.001) and the postoperative mortality rates were 4.2% versus 0% (P=0.002), respectively. Of the possible non-surgical complications, pulmonary problems were predominately found in the elderly group (P<0.001). Surgical complications were evenly distributed between the 2 groups (P=0.463). Postoperative morbidity was significantly associated with older age and postoperative transfusion. Multivariate analysis showed that higher body mass index (BMI) and postoperative transfusion were important factors associated with postoperative complications in the elderly group. Conclusions: Pulmonary complications were frequently problematic in elderly patients. Higher BMI and postoperative transfusion were significant risk factors for postoperative complications in elderly patients with gastric cancer.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제19권1호
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• pp.83-91
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the oncologic and short-term outcomes of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) and open distal gastrectomy (ODG) for advanced gastric cancer (AGC). Materials and Methods: From July 2006 to November 2016, 384 patients underwent distal gastrectomy for AGC. Data on short- and long-term outcomes were prospectively collected and reviewed. Propensity score matching was applied at a ratio of 1:1 to compare the LDG and ODG groups. Results: The operative times were longer for the LDG group than for the ODG group. However, the time to resumption of diet and the length of hospital stay were shorter in the LDG group than in the ODG group (4.7 vs. 5.6 days, P=0.049 and 9.6 vs. 11.5 days, P=0.035, respectively). The extent of lymph node dissection in the LDG group was more limited than in the ODG group (P=0.002), although there was no difference in the number of retrieved lymph nodes between the 2 groups. The 3-year overall survival rates were 98% and 86.9% (P=0.018), and the 3-year recurrence-free survival rates were 86.3% and 75.3% (P=0.259), respectively, in the LDG and ODG groups. Conclusions: LDG is safe and feasible for AGC, with earlier recovery after surgery and longterm oncologic outcomes comparable to those of ODG.