• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate whether prophylactic extended-field pelvic radiotherapy (EF-PRT) yields better results than standard whole pelvic radiotherapy (WPRT) in patients with pelvic lymph node-positive cervical cancer treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Materials and Methods: A total of 126 cases of stage IB-IVA cervical cancer that had pelvic lymph node involvement in magnetic resonance imaging and were treated with CCRT between 2000 and 2016 were reviewed. None of the patients had para-aortic lymph node (PALN) metastases. The patients were classified to two groups, namely, those treated with EF-PRT, including prophylactic para-aortic radiotherapy, and those treated only with WPRT. The median dose to the PALN area in patients treated with EF-PRT was 45 Gy. All patients received concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Results: Overall, 52 and 74 patients underwent EF-PRT and WPRT, respectively. Patient characteristics and irradiated dose were not significantly different, except the dose to the para-aortic area, between the two groups. The median follow-up period was 75.5 months (range, 5 to 195 months). The 10-year cumulative recurrence rate of PALN for EF-PRT vs. WPRT was 6.9% and 10.1% (p = 0.421), respectively. The 10-year disease-free survival and overall survival for EF-PRT vs. WPRT were 69.7% vs. 66.1% (p = 0.748) and 71.7% vs. 72.3% (p = 0.845), respectively. Acute gastrointestinal complications were significantly higher in EF-PRT (n = 21; 40.4%) than WPRT (n = 26; 35.1%) (p = 0.046). Late toxicities were not significantly different in both groups. Conclusion: In this study, prophylactic radiotherapy for PALN does not have an additional benefit in patients with pelvic lymph node-positive cervical cancer treated with CCRT.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.6 s.263
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• pp.470-474
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• 2006

Background: Mediastinal lymph node metastasis is an important factor for staging and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), so accurate diagnosis is essential for treatment. Mediastinoscopy provides histopathological diagnosis of mediastinal lymphnode metastasis in NSCLC. The efficacy of mediastinoscopy was investigated. Material and Method: From Jun, 1999 to Aug, 2005, mediastinoscopic lymph node biopsy was performed to 348 patients with NSCLC. Patients characteristics, radiologic findings, mediastinoscopic results and pathologic stages were evaluated for investigation of safety and efficacy of modiastinoscopy in NSCLC. Result: There was 263 male and 85 female patients and the mean age was $62.1{\pm}8.5$ years. By radiologic study for mediastinal lymph node metastasis, 203 patients were negative and 145 patients were positive. Mean procedure time was $55.5{\pm}16.5$ minutes and biopsy was peformed at $2.2{\pm}1.0$ lymph node stations. There were only transient complications (1.7%) during the procedure, without other complication and mortality. There was 7.8% of false negative result in mediastinoscopy. Sensitivity (77.5% vs 71.9%, p=0.012), specificity (100% vs 74.4%, p=0.00), and accuracy (92.2% vs 73.6%, p=0.00) of mediastinoscopy were more superior than that of radiologic study for the diagnosis of mediastinal lymph node metastasis in NSCLC. Conclusion: Mediastinoscopy is a safe and effective modality for diagnosis of mediastinal lymph node metastasis in NSCLC.

• 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.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.250-255
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) for detecting the lymph node (LN) metastasis of gastric cancer. Materials and Methods: 119 patients (M : F=89 : 30; mean age: 64) with gastric cancer were referred for preoperative FDG-PET/CT scanning and spiral enhanced abdominal pelvic CT from June 2006 to July 2008, and these were the subjects of our study. All the patients underwent curative radical gastrectomy and lymph node dissection. A final diagnosis was made for all the patients by the histology of the surgical specimens. Results: Both PET/CT and enhanced CT showed similar sensitivity for detecting regional lymph node metastasis (32.6% vs 39.5%, respectively). PET/CT was more accurate than enhanced CT for detecting regional lymph node metastasis (67.2% vs 63.0%, respectively), and PET/CT showed better specificity (86.8% vs 76.3, respectively) and a better positive predictive value (PPV) (58.3% vs 48.6%, respectively). PET/CT showed better specificity (98.0% vs 88.2%, respectively) and accuracy (79.4% vs 73.9%, respectively) than enhanced CT for detecting early gastric cancer. PET/CT showed better specificity (64.0% vs 52.0%, respectively), a better PPV (60.9% vs 57.1%), a better negative predictive value (NPV) (48.5% vs 46.4%, respectively) and better accuracy (53.6% vs 51.8%, respectively) than enhanced CT for detecting advanced gastric cancer. Conclusion: FDG-PET/CT is more usefulness than enhanced CT for making the preoperative diagnosis of regional LN metastases from gastric cancers.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2001

Purpose: The most important prognostic factors in gastric cancer are depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis. Therefore, the prognosis for serosa and lymph node negative gastric cancer is favorable. However, there is no general agreement on the prognostic factors in this subset of patients. This study was undertaken to evaluate the prognostic significances of venous invasion (VI), lymphatic invasion (LI), and perineural invasion (NI) in T1 and T2 gastric cancer without lymph node involvement. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 206 patients with T1 and T2, lymph node negative gastric cancer who underwent a curative resection from 1989 to 1993 at Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, Seoul, Korea. The Chi-square test was used to determine the statistical significance of differences, and the Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival rates. Significant differences in the survival rates were assessed using the log-rank test, and the Cox regression method was used to evaluate independent prognostic significance. Results: The rate of VI, LI and NI correlated well with the depth of tumor invasion. The rates of VI (+) for T1 vs T2 was $0\%\;vs\;5.1\%$, of LI (+) was $5.6\%\;vs\;26.8\%$, and of NI (+) was $1.6\%\;vs\;26.8\%$ in NI (+). There were 13 recurrent cases, 10 cases out of the 13 were T2 gastric cancers, and the recurrence rate was higher in LI (+) and NI (+) cases than in LI (-) and NI (-) cases. The 5-year survival rates were $93.4\%$ in LI (-) cases, $77.4\%$ in LI (+) cases, $92.5\%$ in NI (-) cases, $74\%$ in NI(+) cases, $95.9\%$ in LI (-) NI (-) cases, and $73.9\%$ in LI (+) NI (+) cases. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that simultaneous LI and NI was the only significant factor influencing the prognosis. Conclusion: These results suggest that simultaneous lymphatic and perineural invasion may be an independent prognostic factor in patients with T1 and T2 gastric cancer without lymph node metastasis.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2018

Purpose: Pre-operative lymph node (LN) size is a valuable parameter for determining treatment strategy for gastric cancer. However, a correlation between LN size and metastasis has not been established. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six LN-positive (LNP) and matched 36 LN-negative (LNN) patients were included, and pathology slides of the LNs of these patients were reviewed. All the LNs were measured along the long-axis (LA) and short-axis (SA), manually. Results: Average retrieved LNs were $37.3{\pm}19.8$ and $40.5{\pm}11.6$ in the LNN and LNP groups, respectively. In total 2,800 LNs, including 136 metastatic LNs (MLNs) and 2,664 non-metastatic LNs (nMLNs), were evaluated. Mean length was significantly more in MLNs along both, the LA and SA (MLN_LA vs. nMLN_LA: $4.97{\pm}3.84$ vs. $3.37{\pm}2.40mm$, MLN_SA vs. nMLN_SA: $3.86{\pm}3.19$ vs. $2.43{\pm}1.59mm$; P<0.001). However, 92.6% (126/136) and 95.6% (130/136) of MLNs were <10 mm along the LA and SA, respectively. In addition, only 22.2% of the LNP group exhibited an MLN as the largest LN. Conclusions: Pre-operative multi-detector computed tomography has limited ability in estimating the presence of metastasis in LNs because most MLNs are less than 10 mm, and only a small proportion of the LNP group exhibits an MLN as the largest MLN.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.231-242
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the recurrence patterns in patients who underwent curative surgery for gastric cancer (GC) and analyze their prognostic value for post-recurrence survival (PRS). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 204 patients who experienced GC recurrence following curative gastrectomy for GC at a single institution between January 2012 and December 2017. Specific recurrence patterns (lymph node, peritoneal, and hematogenous) and their multiplicity were analyzed as prognostic factors of PRS. Results: The median PRS of the 204 patients was 8.3 months (interquartile range [IQR]: 3.2-17.4). For patients with a single recurrence pattern (n=164), the difference in each recurrence pattern did not show a significant prognostic value for PRS (lymph node vs. peritoneal, P=0.343; peritoneal vs. hematogenous, P=0.660; lymph node vs. hematogenous, P=0.822). However, the patients with a single recurrence pattern had significantly longer PRS than those with multiple recurrence patterns (median PRS: 10.2 months [IQR: 3.7-18.7] vs. 3.9 months [IQR: 1.8-10.4]; P=0.037). In the multivariate analysis, multiple recurrence patterns emerged as independent prognostic factors for poor PRS (hazard ratio, 1.553; 95% confidence interval, 1.092-2.208; P=0.014) along with serosal invasion, recurrence within 1 year after gastrectomy, and the absence of post-recurrence chemotherapy. Conclusions: Regardless of the specific recurrence pattern, multiple recurrence patterns emerged as independent prognostic factors for poor PRS compared with a single recurrence pattern.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.73-83
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• 2017

In this paper, we discuss the differences between an ordinary B-tree and B-tree implemented by NTFS. There are lots of distinctions between the two B-tree, if not understand the distinctions fully, it is difficult to utilize and analyze artifacts of NTFS. Not much, actually, is known about the implementation of NTFS, especially B-tree index for directory management. Several items of B-tree features are performed that includes a node size, minimum number of children, root node without children, type of key, key sorting, type of pointer to child node, expansion and reduction of node, return of node. Furthermore, it is emphasized the fact that NTFS use B-tree structure not B+structure clearly.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.152-160
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• 2018

Purpose: Totally laparoscopic gastrectomy (TLG) for advanced gastric cancer (AGC) is a technically and oncologically challenging procedure for surgeons. This study aimed to compare the oncologic feasibility and technical safety of TLG for AGC versus early gastric cancer (EGC). Materials and Methods: Between 2011 and 2016, 535 patients (EGC, 375; AGC, 160) underwent curative TLG for gastric cancer. Clinicopathologic characteristics and surgical outcomes of both patient groups were analyzed and compared. Results: Patients with AGC required a longer operation time and experienced more intraoperative blood loss than those with EGC did. However, patients from both the AGC and EGC groups demonstrated similar short-term surgical outcomes such as postoperative morbidity (14.4% vs. 13.3%, P=0.626), mortality (0% vs. 0.5%, P=0.879), time-to-first oral intake (2.7 days for both groups, P=0.830), and postoperative hospital stay (10.2 days vs. 10.1 days, P=0.886). D2 lymph node dissection could be achieved in the AGC group (95%), with an adequate number of lymph nodes being dissected ($36.0{\pm}14.9$). In the AGC group, the 3-year overall and disease-free survival rates were 80.5% and 73.7%, respectively. Conclusions: TLG is as safe and effective for AGC as it is for EGC.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2005

Purpose: Early gastric cancer (EGC) has an excellent prognosis compared to advanced gastric cancer. The 5-year survival rate for EGC now exceeds $90\%$, and EGC is recognized as a curable malignancy. The important prognostic factor in EGC is the status of lymph-node metastasis. Despite conserving surgery being suggested for EGC at present, it is of vital importance to select a surgical method appropriate to each individual case. This retrospective study was undertaken to clarify clinicopathologic features and factors related to lymph-node metastasis in submucosal gastric cancer in order to determine an appropriate therapy. Materials and Methods: This study analyzed the clinicopathologic features for 279 patients with a submucosal gastric carcinoma (Group I) and compared with those of patients with mucosal (Group II) or muscularis proprial gastric carcinoma (Group III). All patients were operated on from 1981 to 1999 at Chonnam University Hospital. There were no statistically significant differences among the groups with respect to age, gender, tumor location, hepatic metastasis, or peritoneal dissemination. Results: Positive lymph node metastasis was found in 47 ($16.8\%$) of the 279 patients with a submucosal gastric carcinoma. The incidence of lymph-node metastasis was significantly higher in patients with a submucosal gastric carcinoma than in patients with a mucosal gastric carcinoma ($16.8\%\;vs.\;3.9\%\;$; P<0.01). Therefore, depth of invasion was a significant factor affecting in lymph-node metastasis. The 5-year survival rates were $88.6\%$ for patients in Group I, $95.2\%$ for patients in Group II, and $72.7\%$ for patients in Group III (P<0.01 for Group I vs. Group II; Group I vs. Group III). In patients with a submucosal gastric carcinoma, the survival rate with positive lymph nodes was significantly poorer than that of patients without lymph-node metastasis ($87.3\%\;vs.\;94.2\%$; P<0.01). Conclusion: Gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection is an appropriate operative procedure for patients with a submucosal gastric carcinoma.