• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3183-3186
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• 2013

Purpose: The 7th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging Manual for esophageal cancer (EC) categorizes N stage according to the number of metastatic lymph nodes (LNs), irrespective of the site. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of subcarinal LN metastasis in patients undergoing esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: A retrospective analysis of 507 consecutive patients with ESCC was conducted. Potential clinicopathological factors that could influence subcarinal LN metastasis were statistically analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were also performed to evaluate the prognostic parameters for survival. Results: The frequency of subcarinal LN metastasis was 22.9% (116/507). Logistic regression analysis showed that tumor length (>3cm vs ${\leq}3cm$; P=0.027), tumor location (lower vs upper/middle; P=0.009), vessel involvement (Yes vs No; P=0.001) and depth of invasion (T3-4a vs T1-2; P=0.012) were associated with 2.085-, 1.810-, 2.535- and 2.201- fold increases, respectively, for risk of subcarinal LN metastasis. Multivariate analyses showed that differentiation (poor vs well/moderate; P=0.001), subcarinal LN metastasis (yes vs no; P=0.033), depth of invasion (T3-4a vs T1-2; P=0.014) and N staging (N1-3 vs N0; P=0.001) were independent prognostic factors. In addition, patients with subcarinal LN metastasis had a significantly lower 5-year cumulative survival rate than those without (26.7% vs 60.9%; P<0.001). Conclusions: Subcarinal LN metastasis is a predictive factor for long-term survival in patients with ESCC.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.241-248
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• 2017

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of extended-field radiation therapy for patients with thoracic superficial esophageal cancer (SEC). Materials and Methods: From May 2007 to October 2016, a total of 24 patients with thoracic SEC (T1a and T1b) who underwent definitive radiotherapy and were analyzed retrospectively. The median total radiotherapy dose was 64 Gy (range, 54 to 66 Gy) in conventional fractionation. All 24 patients received radiotherapy to whole thoracic esophagus and 23 patients received elective nodal irradiation. The supraclavicular lymph nodes, the celiac lymph nodes, and both of those nodal areas were included in 11, 3, and 9 patients, respectively. Results: The median follow-up duration was 28.7 months (range 7.9 to 108.0 months). The 3-year overall survival, local control, and progression-free survival rates were 95.2%, 89.7%, and 78.7%, respectively. There were 5 patients (20.8%) with progression of disease, 2 local failures (8.3%) and 3 (12.5%) regional failures. Three patients also experienced distant metastasis and had died of disease progression. There were no treatment-related toxicities of grade 3 or higher. Conclusion: Definitive extended-field radiotherapy for thoracic SEC showed durable disease control rates in medically inoperable and endoscopically unfit patients. Even extended-field radiotherapy with elective nodal irradiation was safe without grade 3 or 4 toxicities.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.335-344
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• 2015

Background: A raised carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) may be associated with significant pathology during the postoperative follow-up of lung adenocarcinoma. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 305 patients who underwent surgical resections for primary lung adenocarcinoma at a single institution between April 2006 and February 2013. Results: Preoperative CEA levels were significantly associated with age, smoking history, pathologic stage including pT (pathologic tumor stge), pN (pathologic nodal stage) and overall pathological stage, tumor size and differentiation, pathologically positive total lymph node, N1 and N2 lymph node, N2 nodal station (0/1/2=1.83/2.94/7.21 ng/mL, p=0.019), and 5-year disease-free survival (0.591 in group with normal preoperative CEA levels vs. 0.40 in group with high preoperative CEA levels, p=0.001). Preoperative CEA levels were significantly higher than postoperative CEA levels (p<0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Postoperative CEA level was also significantly associated with disease-free survival (p<0.001). A follow-up serum CEA value of >2.57 ng/mL was found to be the appropriate cutoff value for the prediction of cancer recurrence with sensitivity and specificity of 71.4% and 72.3%, respectively. Twenty percent of patients who had recurrence of disease had a CEA level elevated above this cutoff value prior to radiographic evidence of recurrence. Postoperative CEA, pathologic stage, differentiation, vascular invasion, and neoadjuvant therapy were identified as independent predictors of 5-year disease-free survival in a multivariate analysis. Conclusion: The follow-up CEA level can be a useful tool for detecting early recurrence undetected by postoperative imaging studies. The perioperative follow-up CEA levels may be helpful for providing personalized evaluation of lung adenocarcinoma.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.153-155
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• 2013

A 57-year-old man was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent pneumonectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection. He was discharged without acute complications, but on a regular outpatient follow-up, he was readmitted with postpneumonectomy empyema. He was successfully treated with a vacuum-assisted closure device and for 1 year period of outpatient follow-up, there was no recurrence of empyema or lung cancer.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.506-512
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• 2010

Background: This study was designed to evaluate the FDG uptake ratio of mediastinal node and primary tumors using integrated PET/CT imaging combined with Glut-1 expression of the primary tumor in order to predict the N2 status more accurately in NSCLC patients. Material and Method: Patients who underwent integrated PET/CT scanning with a detectable mSUV for both primary tumors and mediastinal lymph nodes were eligible for this study. The FDG uptake ratio between the mediastinal node and the primary tumor was calculated. Result: The average mSUV of primary tumors and mediastinal nodes were, respectively, $7.4{\pm}2.2$ and $4.2{\pm}2.2$ in N2-positive patients and $7.6{\pm}3.7$ and $2.8{\pm}6.9$ in N2-negative patients. The mean FDG uptake ratio of mediastinal node to primary tumor were $0.58{\pm}0.23$ for malignant N2 lymph nodes and $0.45{\pm}0.20$ for benign lymph nodes (p<0.05). Models which combined Glut-1 expression with an FDG ratio have better diagnostic power than models that use the FDG uptake ratio alone. Conclusion: In some patients with a previous history of pulmonary tuberculosis or other inflammatory lung diseases, an FDG uptake ratio combined with Glut-1 expression may be useful in diagnosing mediastinal node metastasis more exactly.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1082-1086
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• 1992

Adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung is a rare disease entity and its clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognosis are poorly described. Stage I disease are amenable to operation as in bronchogenic carcinoma of non-small cell type, but stage III adenosquamous carcinoma shows highly aggressive behavior with rapid progression. We have experienced a case of stage III adenosquamous carcinoma of the lung in a 38-year-old male with a large mass in the right upper lobe with multiple metastasis in the mediastinal lymph nodes. Interestingly, all of the metastatic lymph nodes proved to be adenous component histologically. After right pneumonectomy and extensive lymph node dissection, the patient had received one cycle of chemotherapy. However, clinical signs of distant metastasis to bone and brain were discovered within 5 months postoperatively.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1144-1149
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• 1995

Adenocarcinoma involving esophago-gastric junction[EGJ is usually originated from the gastric cardia and it presents unique clinical manifestations, requires special surgical care, and bears a much poor prognosis. We analyse the clinical data of 109 adenocarcinoma involving EGJ operated between August, 1987 and March, 1994. Curative resection of primary tumor including esophagus and lymph node dissection was possible on 102 cases[93.5% . Among these cases, 89 cases were advanced state over the stage III. The operative mortality was 1.8% and postoperative morbidity was 16.5%. The overall 3 year and 5 year survival rate was 48.5%, 34.1% each, and median survival was 27.5 month in the curative resected cases. The treatment failure was mainly distant metastsis including lymph node, except one local recurrence.Among many factors influencing long term results of resected adenocarcinoma involving EGJ, the only effort a surgeon can make is to attain completeness of tumor removal by dissecting all involved lymph node and ensuring adequate tumor free margins of both esophageal and cardiac side.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2013

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the survival rate of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were preoperatively diagnosed with a negative N2 lymph node, but postoperatively confirmed as a positive N2 node based on a pathological evaluation. Materials and Methods: The hospital records of 248 patients from 1994 to 2009 with resected primary NSCLC who were preoperatively diagnosed with negative N2 lymph node, were retrospectively reviewed. Of these, after surgery, there were 148 (59.7%) patients with pathological N0, 54 (21.8%) with pathological N1 and 46 (18.5%) with pathological N2. Results: The median follow-up period was 24 months (range, 1 to 132 months). The 5-year disease free survival rates were 60% in pN0, 44% in pN1, and 29% in pN2. The 5-year overall survival rates were 63.1% in pN0, 51.9% in pN1, and 33.5% in pN2. There were no statistically significant differences between pN1 and pN2 (p=0.326 and p=0.106, respectively). Thirty-three (71.7%) of the 46 pN2 patients had single-zone metastasis, and 13 patients (28.3%) had multiple-zone metastases over the two nodal zone metastasis. There were no statistical differences in the 5-year disease free survival rate and the 5-year overall survival rates between the two groups. Conclusion: The 5-year disease free survival and the overall survival rate of the patients with unsuspected N2 disease were statistically similar with that of the patients with pathological N1 disease. There was no statistically significant difference between the patients with a single-zone metastasis and a multiple zone metastasis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.199-201
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• 2012

Castleman's disease is a rare disorder characterized by benign tumors that may develop in the lymph node tissue throughout the body. Castleman's disease associated with myasthenia gravis is an especially rare disease. Only less than 10 cases have been reported in the world literature. The cause of Castleman's disease is associated with immune mediated reaction, and myasthenia gravis also develops due to an antibody-mediated process. The cause of myasthenia gravis is the immune activity of Castleman's disease, which may be the promoter of the antibody-mediated process. We report here a case of Castleman's disease, which was incidentally found in a patient diagnosed with myasthenia gravis.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.922-929
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• 1994

This research represents an attempt to study the postoperative results among 32 patients who underwent complete resections of primary lung and involved mediastinal lymph nodes between January 1988 and June 1993. Ages ranged from 34 to 73 years with a mean age of 51.31 $\pm$ 8.17 years. There were 29 male patients[90.6%]. Left lung cancers were more frequent than right lung cancers. There were 19 cases of left lung cancers accounting for 59.4% of the total lung cancers. The difference, however, was insignificant. There was no T1 lesion. T2 and T3 lesions were 21[65.6%] and 11 cases[34.4%], respectively. As for cell type, squamous cell carcinomas were reported in 25 cases making up 78.1% of the cell types. Pneumonectomy was conducted on 20[62.5%] cases. Lobectomy and sleeve lobectomy were conducted on 12[37.5%] cases respectively. Mediastinal lymph node involvemednts were most frequent in subcarinal lymph node[9/13] among right lung cancers, while subaortic lymph noce[12/19] was most frequent among left lung cancers. Postoperative complications were reported in 18.9% of the total cases, including 2 cases each of paralysis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve and 1 case each of chylothorax and pyothorax. They were more frequent among patients who underwent pneumonectomy. The operative mortality stood at 3.1% with 1 patient who underwent pneumonectomy dying of pulmonary edema. The 1-year and 5-year survival rates were 50.8% and 30.1%, respectively. Patients treated with squamous cell carcinoma, involvement of single level mediastinal lymph node and lobectomy showed a higher level of survival. These fidings suggest that a long-term survival can be expected of a considerable number of N2 non-small cell lung cancer patients with a selective complete surgical resection of primary lung cancers involved mediastinal lymph nodes.