• Asian Oncology Nursing
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.221-229
• /
• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify correlates influencing cognitive impairment in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Methods: Study subjects consisted of 102 breast cancer patients who received chemotherapy. Subjects were the members of a breast cancer self-help group. Data were collected using structured self-reporting questionnaires including scales of cognitive impairment, physical status, fatigue, quality of life, emotional status, sleeping, family support, and menopausal symptoms. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for statistical analyses. Results: Breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy appeared to show a high level of cognitive impairment. Among demographic characteristics, the effects of economic status and family type on cognitive impairment were found to be statistically significant. Among disease related characteristics, the effect of duration of chemotherapy on cognitive impairment was statistically significant. Menopausal symptoms were positively associated with cognitive impairment. The model including postmenopausal symptoms and caregiver type explained about 66% of variability in cognitive impairment. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of contextual factors in understanding cognitive impairment in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and can be used to develop appropriate, effective nursing interventions.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.8
• /
• pp.3829-3833
• /
• 2012

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the practice and associated factors of breast self-examination (BSE) among Malaysian women. Methods: For this cross-sectional study 250 women were selected by a simple random sampling technique. The questionnaire was consisted of three parts: socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge about BSE, and practice of BSE. Obtained data was analyzed using SPSS version 13. T-test and ANOVA test were used to explore the relation between socio-demographic characteristics and the practice of BSE. Results: About 32% of the participants reported that they have had family history of cancer and about 20% of the participants reported that they have had family history of breast cancer. The majority of the participants (88.8%) have heard about breast cancer and 78.4% of the participants have heard about BSE. Race, marital status, residency, regular exercise, awareness about breast cancer, belief that breast cancer can be detected early, belief that early detection improves the chance of survival, family history of cancer, family history of breast cancer, awareness about BSE, and belief that BSE is necessary, significantly influenced the practice of BSE among women. Practice of BSE on monthly basis was found to be 47.2% among the study participants. Conclusions: The socio-demographic characteristics significantly influence the practice of BSA among women in Malaysia. The findings of this study might not only influence the planning of specific screening interventions and strategies in Malaysia but might also be important for the relevant international communities, interested in the peculiarities of BSE incidence in different countries.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.1881-1886
• /
• 2012

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that is affected by ethnicity of patients. According to hormone receptor status and gene expression profiling, breast cancers are classified into four molecular subtypes, each showing distinct clinical behavior. Lack of sufficient data on molecular subtypes of breast cancer in Iran, prompted us to investigate the prevalence and the clinicopathological features of each subtype among Iranian women. A total of 428 women diagnosed with breast cancer from 2002 to 2011 were included and categorized into four molecular subtypes using immunohistochemistry. Prevalence of each subtype and its association with patients' demographics and tumor characteristics, such as size, grade, lymph-node involvement and vascular invasion, were investigated using Chi-square, analysis of variance and multivariate logistic regression. Luminal A was the most common molecular subtype (63.8%) followed by Luminal B (8.4%), basal-like (15.9%) and HER-2 (11.9%). Basal-like and HER-2 subtypes were mostly of higher grades while luminal A tumors were more of grade 1 (P<0.001). Vascular invasion was more prevalent in HER-2 subtype, and HER-2 positive tumors were significantly associated with vascular invasion (P=0.013). Using muti-variate analysis, tumor size greater than 5 cm and vascular invasion were significant predictors of 3 or more nodal metastases. Breast cancer was most commonly diagnosed in women around 50 years of age and the majority of patients had lymph node metastasis at the time of diagnosis. This points to the necessity for devising an efficient screening program for breast cancer in Iran. Further, prospective surveys are suggested to evaluate prognosis of different subtypes in Iranian patients.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.85-97
• /
• 1996

The purpose of this study was to analyze the differences of breast shapes by age, to classify breast types, and to investigate the characteristics of breast shapes by type and the distributions of types by age group, using comparative analysis for women in 20's and 40's. The subjects of anthropometry were 323 women in 20's and 40's. The anthropometric measurements were analyzed by mean, standard deviation, frequency, T-test, F-test, Duncan test, factor and cluster analysis. The results are as follws : 1) According to the increase of age, the items of height were decreased and the items of width, depth, circumference and length were increased, being obeser and breast points were dropped. So the volume and bottom area of 40's women's breast were larger than 20's women's and the breast point to breast point width of 40's women was being wider by the increase of the intereior of breast. 2) 6 factor were extracted from factor analysis by age group. There was no significant difference in consist of factor between age group. There was no significant difference in consist of facotr between age group, but were differences in the connection of factor extracted items and factor loading. Through factor analysis of all age froup, 5 factors were extracted as important factor of breast shapes (obesity of breast and location of breast point ; breast height and volume ; upper dimensions of breast/lower dimensions of breast ; interior dimensions of breast/exterior dimensions of breast ; volume of the lower part and drop of breast). 3) The breast shapes were classified into 4 types by cluster analysis. The frequency of 20's women's breast types appeared in order of type1(53.0%), type3(32.0%), type2(11.0%), type4(4.0%), but that of breast types of 40's women appeared in order of type2(37.9%), type3(31.1%), type4(26.5%), type1(4.5%). Namely, there was few type4 in 20's women and few type1 in 40's women. 20's women's breast types were characterized as type1·3 and type2·3·4 in 40's women. So 40's women had more various breast types than 20's women's.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.571-575
• /
• 2014

This study was aimed to obtain epidemiological information of cancer patients treated with Oriental medicine. 58 breast and gynecological cancer patients treated in Cancer Center of Daeguhanny Oriental Hospital from August 2012 to August 2013 were reviewed. Careful investigations were done by categorizing these patients by their origin, stage, treatment, conventional treatment type, chief complaint, etc. In tumor origin, breast cancer showed the largest proportion in total patients(74.1%) and inpatients(81.8%). 63.8% of the patients' tumors were stage III and IV. 48.3% of patients visited Oriental hospital for combination treatment with conventional medicine. 91.4% of the patients have under 5 years of cancer duration. Their cheif complaints are general weakness, postoperative pain and abdominal discomfort in general. This study presented the characteristics of breast and gynecological cancer patients treated by Oriental medical therapies, and thus would be valuable for futher studies of Oriental medical cancer treatments.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.55-64
• /
• 1998

This study was carried out to investigate the postmortem changes in physico-chemical characteristics of chicken meat with different breeds. Thigh and breast meats from Korean Native Chicken(KNC, 15-wk old), Wangchoo(15-wk old), and broiler(7-wk old) were stored at 5 ˚C. Differences in postmortem pH changes were not recognized among breeds, and pH showed by the lowest value at the 1st day of postmortem in all breeds. Breast meat had tendency to drop pH faster than thigh meat. Heme pigment contents showed no differences among breeds. KNC showed the lowest cholesterol contents in all breeds, total collagen contents showed the lowest value at the 1st day of postmortem, and thereafter it was gradually increased. Heat soluble collagen contents was lowest in Wangchoo. Water soluble and salt soluble protein showed the lowest extractability at the 1st day of storage. Broiler showed the highest extractability of these proteins and Wangchoo showed the lowest. Water holding capacity(WHC) had increasing tendency whilst cooking loss had decreasing tendency by the ageing. WHC of breast and thigh meat showed the highest values in KNC and broiler, respectively. Myofibrillar fragmentation index (MFI) was significantly increased in all breeds by the ageing. Breast and thigh meat showed almost same MFI in KNC and broiler, and in KNC and Wangchoo, respectively. Hardness of breast meat showed decreasing tendency by the ageing.

• 모자간호학회지
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.52-67
• /
• 1994

This study was done to investigate mother's attitude to breast feeding and the type of feeding according to the general characteristics of mother. The study sample consisted of 1696 mothers who had an infant and who were visiting five Hospitals or ten Public Health Centers in Seoul. Data was collected through a question aire from June, 1 to June, 30, 1993. The results are as follows : 1. The types of feeding were artificial feeding 2%), mixed feeding(21.7%) and breast feeding (26.1%). 2. The attitude of mothers to breast feeding was very positive for behavior tendency and cognitive attitude but the emotional attitude was low to moderate. 3. The attitude scores for the mothers were from 27 to 60 and 65% the mothers had scores that were high, 50-60 and mean was 49.86. 4. There was the significance between the general characteristics (type of delivery, obtaining in formation on breast feeding, type of feeding and baby's birth order) and the attitude score of mothers. 5. The attitude scores for the mothers by the general characteristics and type of feeding was not a 2-way interaction but the type of feeding had a main effects.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.15
• /
• pp.6673-6679
• /
• 2015

Background: Male breast cancer is a rare neoplasm, and its treatments are based on those of female breast cancer. This study aimed to analyze 20 years of male breast cancer clinical characteristics and treatment results from the Middle Black Sea Region of Turkey. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of 16 male breast cancer patients treated in our tertiary hospital between 1994 and 2014 was performed. Epidemiologic data, tumor characteristics, and treatments were recorded and compared with 466 female breast cancer ((premenopausal; n = 230) + (postmenopausal n = 236)) patients. The 5-year disease-free and overall survival rates were calculated. Results: Male breast cancer constituted 0.1% of all malignant neoplasms in both sexes, 0.2% of all malignant neoplasms in males, and 0.7% of all breast cancers. The mean patient age in this study was $59.8{\pm}9.5$ (39-74) years. The mean time between first symptom and diagnosis was $32.4{\pm}5.3$ (3-60) months. Histology revealed infiltrative ductal carcinoma in 81.3% of patients. The most common detected molecular subtype was luminal A, in 12 (75%) patients. Estrogen receptor rate (93.8%) in male breast cancer patients was significantly higher than that in female breast cancer (70.8% in all females, p = 0.003; 68.2% in postmenopausal females, p = 0.002) patients. Most of the tumors (56.3%) were grade 2. Tumor stage was T4 in 50% of males. The majority (56.3%) of the patients were stage III at diagnosis. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine-therapy were applied to 62.5%, 62.5%, 81.2% and 73.3%, respectively. Loco-regional failure did not occur in any of the cases. All recurrences were metastastic. The 5-year disease-free and overall survival rates in male breast cancer patients were 58% and 68%, respectively. Conclusions: Tumors found in male breast cancer patients were similar in size to tumors found in females, but they advanced to T4 stage more rapidly because of the lack of breast parenchymal tissues. The rate of estrogen receptor expression tended to be higher in male breast cancer patients than in female breast cancer patients. Metastasis is the most important problem in initially non-metastatic male breast cancer patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.2109-2114
• /
• 2012

Background: Ethnic variation in tumor characteristics and clinical presentation of breast cancer is increasingly being emphasized. We studied the tumor characteristics and factors which may influence the presentation and prognosis of triple negative breast cancers (TNC) in a cohort of Chinese women. Methods: A prospective cohort of 1800 Chinese women with breast cancer was recruited in a tertiary referral unit in Hong Kong between 1995 and 2006 and was followed up with a median duration of 7.2 years. Of the total, 216 (12.0%) had TNC and 1584 (88.0%) had non-TNC. Their clinicopathological variables, epidemiological variables and clinical outcomes were evaluated. Results: Patients with TNC had similar age of presentation as those with non-TNC, while presenting at earlier stages (82.4% were stage 1-2, compared to 78.4% in non-TNC, p=0.035). They were likely to be associated with grade 3 cancer (Hazard Ratio(HR)=5.8, p<0.001). TNC showed higher chance of visceral relapse (HR=2.69, p<0.001), liver metastasis (HR=1.7, p=0.003) and brain metastasis (HR=1.8, p=0.003). Compared with non-TNC group, TNC had similar 10-year disease-free survival (82% vs 84%, p=0.148), overall survival (78% vs 79%, p=0.238) and breast cancer-specific mortality (18% vs 16%, p=0.095). However, TNC showed poorer 10-year stage 3 and 4 specific survival (stage 3: 53% vs. 67%, p=0.010; stage 4: 0% vs. 40%, p=0.035). Conclusions: Chinese women with triple negative breast cancer do not have less aggressive biological behavior compared to the West and presentation at a later stage results in worse prognosis compared with those with non triple negative breast cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.75-81
• /
• 2000

Cathepsin D is a protease which is known to facilitate invasion and metastasis of breast carcinoma. Overexpression of cathepsin D is associated with poor clinical outcome and biologic aggressiveness of the breast cancer. We underwent immunocytochemical assay(ICA) for cathepsin D in fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC) specimens from the breast carcinoma and benign breast diseases. In FNAC specimens cathepsin D was expressed in 21(42.9%) out of 49 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma, whereas negative result was observed in all 15 cases of benign breast diseases including 7 fibroadenomas, 6 fibrocystic diseases, and 2 benign ductal hyperplasias. Among the 11 FNAC specimens from ductal carcinoma in situ(DCIS), cathepsin D was expressed in 3 cases(27.3%). In FNAC specimens immunocytochemistry for cathepsin D showed positive result in 24 out of 60 carcinomas(sensitivity, 40%) and negative result in 15 out of all 15 benign breast diseases(specificity, 100%). No significant correlation was noted between cathepsin D expression in FNAC specimen and clinicohistological characteristics of the breast carcinoma, such as hormone receptors and cell differentiation. In conclusion, ICA of cathepsin D in FNAC specimens thought to be a good adjunct to differentiate malignancy from benign breast diseases.