• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.62-69
• /
• 2012

Purpose: To evaluate the treatment outcome and prognostic factor of postoperative radiotherapy for extremity soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Materials and Methods: Forty three patients with extremity STS were treated with conservative surgery and postoperative radiotherapy from January 1981 to December 2010 at Korea University Medical Center. Median total 60 Gy (range, 50 to 74.4 Gy) of radiation was delivered and 7 patients were treated with chemotherapy. Results: The median follow-up period was 70 months (range, 5 to 302 months). Twelve patients (27.9%) sustained relapse of their disease. Local recurrence occurred in 3 patients (7.0%) and distant metastases developed in 10 patients (23.3%). The 5-year overall survival (OS) was 69.2% and disease free survival was 67.9%. The 5-year local relapse-free survival was 90.7% and distant relapse-free survival was 73.3%. On univariate analysis, no significant prognostic factors were associated with development of local recurrence. Histologic grade (p = 0.005) and stage (p = 0.02) influenced the development of distant metastases. Histologic grade was unique significant prognostic factor for the OS on univariate and multivariate analysis. Severe acute treatment-related complications, Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) grade 3 or 4, developed in 6 patients (14.0%) and severe late complications in 2 patients (4.7%). Conclusion: Conservative surgery with postoperative radiotherapy achieved a satisfactory rate of local control with acceptable complication rate in extremity STS. Most failures were distant metastases that correlate with tumor grade and stage. The majority of local recurrences developed within the field. Selective dose escalation of radiotherapy or development of effective systemic treatment might be considered.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.57-61
• /
• 2013

Background: Olfactory dysfunction, including anosmia and hyposmia is difficult to treat. Although the mechanism is not well known, stellate ganglion block (SGB) is used to treat olfactory dysfunction. There are no prior studies on the long-term effects of SGB on olfactory dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the continuity of therapeutic effects and patient satisfaction with SGB treatment. Methods: This was a follow-up study carried out via a telephonic survey. The olfactory function of the patient was evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS). We checked VAS three times: VAS-I (pre-treatment VAS), VAS-A (post-treatment VAS), and VAS-C (VAS at follow up telephone survey). We divided the subjects into 2 groups according to their responsiveness to SGB: the responsive (R group) and the unresponsive groups (UR group). Patient satisfaction was evaluated using a Likert scale. Results: Out of the 40 subjects, 37 responded to the telephone survey. In the UR group, there was difference in the olfactory function. However, in the R group, there were significant VAS differences; VAS-I was $9.6{\pm}0.7$, VAS-A was $5.1{\pm}4.2$, and VAS-C was $2.7{\pm}$2.7 (P < 0.05). On the Likert scale, patient satisfaction was as follows: grade 1, 17 patients (45.9%); grade 2, 6 patients (16.2%); grade 3, 6 patients (16.2%); and grade 4, 8 patients (21.6%). Conclusions: SGB is a safe, long-lasting, and effective therapeutic modality for olfactory dysfunction treatment.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.283-292
• /
• 2016

Objective: Acne scarring is the most common sequela after dermal inflammation caused by acne. Many methods are currently used to treat acne scarring; doctors using traditional Korean medicine have also attempted to treat acne scarring in a new way that was developed from traditional methods. This study examines the effectiveness of re-cell therapy.Method: Eleven patients with various types of acne scars were treated by re-cell therapy. We used the global acne scarring classification (GASC) and ECCA (from the French “echelle d’evaluation clinique des cicatrices d’acne”), both of which are generally used to measure and grade the degree of acne scarring.Results: As a result of the treatment, the conditions of all patients were conspicuously improved in both scales. The GASC scores of the patients changed from grade 19.6±10.4 to grade 4.9±3.3 (p=0.001), and the ECCA scores changed from grade 120.9±28.7 to grade 41.8±18.3.Conclusion: Re-cell therapy showed effectiveness in treating acne scarring and could be applied in clinical cases.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.135-142
• /
• 2019

The objective of this study is to propose Korean Medicine treatment for recurrent limb weakness after Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) improvement by intraveinous immunoglobulin, and to report its effectiveness. Manual muscle test (MMT), Korean modified Bathel index (K-MBI), and tendon reflex were used to evaluate the patient. The patient was improved hip joint, knee joint, ankle joint MMT from grade 3-/3- to grade 5/5 and in the upper limb the patient can do big joint exercise but cannot do micromovement like writing or using cell phone. When discharge date the patient's wrist joint MMT grade is improved grade 5-/5- to grade 5/5. The K-MBI score is improved from 71 to 86 and there was a big change in walking and chair/bed transfer, there was no change in tendon reflex. This study suggests that Korean Medicine can be effective for patients who have recurrent limb weakness after GBS improvement.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.177-184
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the patterns of care and treatment outcomes in patients with primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) in a single institution. Materials and Methods: Medical records of 29 patients with PTL treated between April 1994 and February 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy (n = 17) or thyroidectomy (n = 12). Treatment modality and outcome were analyzed according to lymphoma grade. Results: The median follow-up was 43.2 months (range, 3.8 to 220.8 months). The median age at diagnosis was 57 years (range, 21 to 83 years) and 24 (82.8%) patients were female. Twenty-five (86.2%) patients had PTL with stage IEA and IIEA. There were 8 (27.6%) patients with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma and the remaining patients had high-grade lymphoma. Patients were treated with surgery (n = 2), chemotherapy (n = 7), radiotherapy (n = 3) alone, or a combination of these methods (n = 17). Treatment modalities evolved over time and a combination of modalities was preferred, especially for the treatment of high-grade lymphoma in recent years. There was no death or relapse among MALT lymphoma patients. Among high-grade lymphoma patients, 5-year overall survival (OS) and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) were 75.6% and 73.9%, respectively. Complete remission after initial treatment was the only significant prognostic factor for OS (p = 0.037) and PFS (p = 0.003). Conclusion: Patients with PTL showed a favorable outcome, especially with MALT lymphoma. Radiotherapy alone for MALT lymphoma and chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy for high-grade lymphoma can be effective treatment options for PTL.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.63-84
• /
• 2000

Primary school is regarded as an important period when many health-related behaviors and life-styles begin to be formed. Acquiring them through school heath education has a strong influence on the health promotion of not only the family but also the community. Primary school health education in Korea has a systematic flaw in that health-related subjects are divided and taught under various subjects in primary school. In order to develop a proper school health curriculum, it is essential to assess what is currently being taught. In this study the current health education of the 6th grade primary curriculum was investigated to improve school health education. The purpose of this study is to identify the health education contents and time in textbooks of the 6th grade primary school curriculum. In this study, the textbooks & teacher's teaching manuals of the 6th grade curriculum were analyzed with a health instruction framework for Korean schools developed by the Korean Nurse Association & Korean School Health Education Association in 1993 and health care framework for health education curriculum presented by Kim in 1991. The results are as follows ; 1) Health education hours of the curriculum are 206 hours, about 34.3 hours a year. 2) The contents of health education were divided into nine subjects at primary schools. Organizing principles of learning experience(eg, integrity, sequence and continuity) were not considered sufficiently. The physical education & natural science subjects include a lot of health education contents. 3) The major content areas are community & environmental health areas and daily healthy life areas. 4) The major areas at each grade level are daily healthy concerns and safety & first-aid 5) The remarkable contrast to the 5th primary school curriculum are that environmental health is offered to the first grade step by step, and that drug use & abuse and mental health education are included in the 6th primary school curriculum. 6) The main contents of health education in 1st, 2nd. and 3rd grade curricula consist of treatment & recovery health functions. Those of the 4th grade curriculum consist of treatment & recovery health functions, and daily healthy life functions. Those of the 5th grade consist of growth & development functions. Those of the 6th grade consist of treatment & recovery health, growth & development functions. Most health care functions belong to physical health care. The results above suggest that we put together the divided contents of health education and manage them on the basis of systematic integration.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.197-205
• /
• 2020

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of malocclusion with respect to grade, sex, and year among Korean pre-adolescent and adolescent students during 2012-2017. Methods: A total of 165,996 students (first grade [E1, 6-7 years of age], fourth grade [E4, 9-10 years], seventh grade [M1, 12-13 years], and tenth grade [H1, 15-16 years]) were selected by stratified sampling method and underwent the nationwide oral health examination performed by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea. The malocclusion assessments based on dentists' judgments were "no malocclusion," "needs orthodontic treatment (N-OTx)," and "under orthodontic treatment (U-OTx)." The sum of N-OTx and U-OTx cases was determined as the number of students with malocclusion. After analyzing the prevalence of malocclusion according to grade, sex, and year-by-year differences, Pearson correlation analyses and two-way analyses of variance were performed. Results: The prevalence of malocclusion was 18.7%, which increased with the grades (E1 [8.3%] < E4 [15.8%] < M1 [22.9%] < H1 [25.3%], p < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of malocclusion in each grade group for the period (p > 0.05) without significant correlation (E1, ρ = 0.129; E4, ρ = -0.495; M1, ρ = 0.406; H1, ρ = -0.383; all p > 0.05). The prevalence of malocclusion within each grade group over the six-year period was more prominent in the female (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Further studies are necessary to modify the malocclusion assessment method to account for specific types of malocclusion in pre-adolescent and adolescent students.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.12
• /
• pp.5303-5307
• /
• 2016

Objective: Brain tumors cause great mortality and morbidity worldwide, and success rates with surgical treatment remain very low. Several recent studies have focused on introduction of novel effective medical therapeutic approaches. Genistein is a member of the isoflavonoid family which has proved to exert anticancer effects. Here we assessed the effects of genistein on the expression of MMP-2 and VEGF in low and high grade gliomas in vitro. Materials and Methods: High and low grade glioma tumor tissue samples were obtained from a total of 16 patients, washed with PBS, cut into small pieces, digested with collagenase type I and cultured in DMEM containing 10% FBS. When cells reached passage 3, they were exposed to genistein and MMP-2 and VEGF gene transcripts were determined by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR). Results: Expression of MMP-2 demonstrated 580-fold reduction in expression in low grade glioma cells post treatment with genistein compared to untreated cells (P value= 0.05). In cells derived from high grade lesions, expression of MMP-2 was 2-fold lower than in controls (P value> 0.05). Genistein caused a 4.7-fold reduction in VEGF transcript in high grade glioma cells (P value> 0.05) but no effects were evident in low grade glioma cells. Conclusion. Based on the data of the present study, low grade glioma cells appear much more sensitive to genistein and this isoflavone might offer an appropriate therapeutic intervention in these patients. Further investigation of this possibility is clearly warranted.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.75-84
• /
• 2004

Objective: To evaluate the treatment effect of Bee-venom Acupuncture on Neck Pain, which is well known for anti-inflammatory effect and function of activating immune system. Methods : We investigated 22 cases of patients with Neck Pain induced by soft tissue injury. One group was treated by Bee-venom Acupuncture therapy (Bee-venom Acupuncture Group :BA), the other group was treated by General Acupuncture therapy (None Bee-venom Acupuncture Group :GA). We evaluated the treatment effect of each group by few statistical analysis such as frequency analysis, Mann Whitney U test and spearman correlation analysis. Results : 1. In the age distribution of both groups, we found the highest frequency at the interval 35 to 45 years old. And in the number of medical treatment, Both groups show the highest frequency at the interval of less than four times. 2. BA was significantly decreased in VAS and clinical grade compared with GA. 3. We found significant correlation between period and number of treatment. So did we between VAS and clinical grade. Conclusion : As a result of thorough investigation, we could come to a conclusion that Bee-venom Acupuncture Group might have a notable effect on VAS and clinic grade.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.11
• /
• pp.5041-5045
• /
• 2016

Background: Patients with recurrent or progressive lung cancer experience a significant symptom burden, negatively affecting quality of life and reducing life expectancy. Thoracic re-irradiation can be used for palliative treatment to relieve symptoms or as a curative treatment. Methods: Using patient charts, we identified and reviewed 28 cases that had received palliative thoracic re-irradiation for recurrent lung cancer. Results: Before re-irradiation, 32% of patients had stage III non-small cell lung cancer and six had small cell lung cancer. The median interval between treatments was 18.7 months. Median follow-up was 31.2 months from the initial radiotherapy and 5 months after re-irradiation. A better performance status before re-irradiation (<80 vs >80, p=0.09) and a lower overlap 90% isodose (<70 vs >70, p=0.09) showed trends toward improved survival. Grade 1-2 toxicity from re-irradiation was recorded in 12/28 patients, and no grade 3 or 4 acute toxicity was encountered. Conclusion: The role of palliative treatment in survival is not clear but it can provide symptomatic relief in patients, with no high grade toxicity. Further studies with greater patient numbers and longer follow-up times should facilitate determination of the role of this treatment in toxicity and effects on survival.