• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.689-700
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• 2022

In the present study, iodine-131 S values (r_T ← thyroid) were calculated for 30 target organs and tissues using the most recently developed Korean reference computational phantoms. The calculated S values were then compared with those of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) reference computational phantoms to investigate the dosimetric impact of the Korean S values against those of the ICRP reference phantoms. The results showed significant differences in the S values due to the different anatomical/morphological characteristics between the Korean and ICRP reference phantoms. Most target organs/tissues showed that the S values of the Korean reference phantoms are lower than those of the ICRP reference phantoms, by up to about 4 times (male spleen and female thymus). Exceptionally, three target organs/tissues (gonads, thyroid, and extrathoracic region) showed that the S values of the Korean reference phantoms are greater, by 1.5-3.7 times. We expect that the S values calculated in the present study will be beneficially used to estimate organ/tissue doses of Korean patients under radioiodine therapy.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.76-81
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• 2021

Objectives: We aimed to collect and report data from all patients who have been diagnosed with mucosal malignant melanoma to obtain the epidemiology and principles of current treatments. Materials and Methods: Between January 2008 and December 2018, 20 patients underwent surgery or follow-up observations at Yonsei University Dental Hospital. The patients' clinical information was reviewed retrospectively. Results: Seventeen of 20 patients had undergone definitive surgery, while only 6 patients received adjuvant radiotherapy or systemic therapy. Eight of 20 patients, including those that had recurrent lesions, were provided immunotherapy. The 3-year survival for all stages was 50%, with a local recurrence rate of 75% and a metastasis rate of 65%. Conclusion: The overall survival of patients receiving surgical treatment was longer than that of patients who did not undergo surgical resection. Eight of 20 patients received immunotherapy as the first-line regimen at our clinic, and those patients exhibited longer overall survival compared to patients in reported keynote studies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1317-1320
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• 2012

Biliary tract cancers, broadly described as malignancies that arise from the biliary tract epithelia, are usually divided into two major clinical phenotypes: cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder cancer, differing in etiopathogenesis, risk factors, and perhaps molecular and genetic signatures. Atypical symptoms and lack of tumor biomarkers make it difficult to diagnose in early stages. At the time of presentation, few patients are candidates for potentially curative surgical resection. We here assessed and compared features of a total of 150 cases divided into extra- and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas and gallbladder cancers (GBC). Althought there were no significant differences in serum tumour marker levels, GBC patients had the poorest prognosis. Furthermore, gallbladder cancer respond poorly to chemotherapy or radiation therapy and approximately half of untreated patients died within 10 months. Therefore, treatment for patients with gallbladder cancer is still in challenge. Outcomes and survival of these patients had improved little over the past three decades - a period in which new successful treatments have greatly contributed to the prolonged patient survival for many other cancers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.263-268
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• 2016

Cervical cancer is the fourth common cancer among women worldwide. Pap smear screening has resulted in deceasing incidence of cervical cancer in developed countries but low uptake of Pap smear screening among women in developing countries is still a public health challenge. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the relationship between self-efficacy and timely uptake of Pap smear among Iranian women. A total of 580 married women referred to primary health care centers covered administratively by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran were administered a questionnaire by trained staff. Data were analyzed with SPSS (version 16) software, using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. The mean age for participants was $33.1{\pm}8.8years$. There was a significant association between self-efficacy and Pap smear screening (P<0.01). There was also a positive correlation between duration of marriage and husband's education with Pap smear uptake (P<0.01). In univariate analysis, there was a significant association between Pap smear uptake and level of selfefficacy (OR = 15.3 for intermediate and OR=7.4 for good level), duration of marriage (OR = 5.7 for 5-14 years and OR=10.4 for more than 15), age (OR =2.7 for 27-34 years and OR=7.4 for more than 35 years) and husband education level (OR=2.3 for more than 12 years of education). In multivariate analysis, significant associations persisted between Pap smear uptake and self-efficacy (OR = 23.8; 95% CI: 8.7, 65.5), duration of marriage (OR = 5.9; 95% CI: 2.8, 12.2), age (OR = 3.9; 95% CI: 1.2, 12.9) and husband's education (OR = 2.5; 95% CI: 2.0, 10.3). Efforts are needed to increase women's knowledge about cervical cancer and improve their self-efficacy and perceptions of the Pap smear screening in order to reduce cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1431-1434
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women worldwide and the HER2 receptor plays an important role in its development and progression. This systematic review aimed to summarize the role of HER2 in brain metastasis in patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: We conducted a literature search by advanced search in title field using the Scopus, Pubmed, and Google scholar databases until the end of June 2014. With metastasis, metastatic, HER2, brain, and breast cancer, as terms of search we selected 31 articles, which were reviewed by two independent and blinded expert reviewers. The studies were first selected according to their titles and abstracts. Quality of the studies were then assessed using the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) protocol for observational studies and CONSORT(Consolidation of Standards for Reporting Trials) protocol for clinical trials. For statistical analyses, we used STATA, version 11.0 software. Forest and funnel diagrams were drawn and for heterogeneity, index was also considered. Also we used meta regression analysis. Results: Finally, we reviewed 10 studies. The prevalence of brain metastasis in HER2-positive breast cancer patients was 24.9%. There was publication bias in the reviewed studies. Meta regression analysis showed that follow up time had no significant effect (p=0.396) on the prevalence of brain metastasis. Conclusions: The results showed a high prevalence of brain metastasis in HER2 positive breast cancer patients.

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

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.75-77
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• 2014

Ampulla of Vater (AOV) cancer is rare malignant tumor which arises within the vicinity of the AOV. Metastatic AOV adenocarcinoma has poor prognosis, with an overall survival rate at 2 years ranging from 5 to 10%. The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program of the National Cancer Institute indicated that lymph node metastasis was present in as many as half of patients which were associated with poor prognosis and liver was the second most common site of distant metastasis in AOV cancer. In this case report, we describe a case of complete resolution of AOV cancer, which was already spread to retroperitoneal lymph node and liver. The patient underwent gemcitabine plus cisplatin chemotherapy for palliative aim. After 12 month of chemotherapy, image study showed partial remission, so intraoperative radiofrequency ablation therapy and pylorus preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy was done. AOV cancer was completely resected and the patient was followed up without recurrence for 7 months.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8371-8376
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• 2014

Background: The use of statistical methods has become an imperative tool in breast cancer survival data analysis. The purpose of this study was to develop the best statistical probability model using the Bayesian method to predict future survival times for the black non-Hispanic female breast cancer patients diagnosed during 1973-2009 in the U.S. Materials and Methods: We used a stratified random sample of black non-Hispanic female breast cancer patient data from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional regression methods. Four advanced types of statistical models, Exponentiated Exponential (EE), Beta Generalized Exponential (BGE), Exponentiated Weibull (EW), and Beta Inverse Weibull (BIW) were utilized for data analysis. The statistical model building criteria, Akaike Information Criteria (AIC), Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC), and Deviance Information Criteria (DIC) were used to measure the goodness of fit tests. Furthermore, we used the Bayesian approach to obtain the predictive survival inferences from the best-fit data based on the exponentiated Weibull model. Results: We identified the highest number of black non-Hispanic female breast cancer patients in Michigan and the lowest in Hawaii. The mean (SD), of age at diagnosis (years) was 58.3 (14.43). The mean (SD), of survival time (months) for black non-Hispanic females was 66.8 (30.20). Non-Hispanic blacks had a significantly increased risk of death compared to Black Hispanics (Hazard ratio: 1.96, 95%CI: 1.51-2.54). Compared to other statistical probability models, we found that the exponentiated Weibull model better fits for the survival times. By making use of the Bayesian method predictive inferences for future survival times were obtained. Conclusions: These findings will be of great significance in determining appropriate treatment plans and health-care cost allocation. Furthermore, the same approach should contribute to build future predictive models for any health related diseases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6811-6817
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer risk prediction models are widely used in clinical practice. They should be useful in identifying high risk women for screening in limited-resource countries. However, previous models showed poor performance in derived and validated settings. Therefore, we aimed to develop and validate a breast cancer risk prediction model for Thai women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study consisted of derived and validation phases. Data collected at Ramathibodi and other two hospitals were used for deriving and externally validating models, respectively. Multiple logistic regression was applied to construct the model. Calibration and discrimination performances were assessed using the observed/expected ratio and concordance statistic (C-statistic), respectively. A bootstrap with 200 repetitions was applied for internal validation. Results: Age, menopausal status, body mass index, and use of oral contraceptives were significantly associated with breast cancer and were included in the model. Observed/expected ratio and C-statistic were 1.00 (95% CI: 0.82, 1.21) and 0.651 (95% CI: 0.595, 0.707), respectively. Internal validation showed good performance with a bias of 0.010 (95% CI: 0.002, 0.018) and C-statistic of 0.646(95% CI: 0.642, 0.650). The observed/expected ratio and C-statistic from external validation were 0.97 (95% CI: 0.68, 1.35) and 0.609 (95% CI: 0.511, 0.706), respectively. Risk scores were created and was stratified as low (0-0.86), low-intermediate (0.87-1.14), intermediate-high (1.15-1.52), and high-risk (1.53-3.40) groups. Conclusions: A Thai breast cancer risk prediction model was created with good calibration and fair discrimination performance. Risk stratification should aid to prioritize high risk women to receive an organized breast cancer screening program in Thailand and other limited-resource countries.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.16
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• pp.6619-6625
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• 2014

Background: Numerous studies have explored the influence of XPD Lys751Gln and/or Asp312Asn polymorphisms on skin cancer susceptibility. However, the results remain inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation, we conducted a comprehensive search to identify all available published studies and performed a meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Electronic literature searches of the PubMed, CBM and CNKI databases were performed up to March 2014. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to assess the strength of associations. Results: Seventeen case-control studies were included with a total sample size of 6, 113 cases and 11, 074 controls for the XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism, and 10 studies (3, 840cases and 7, 637 controls) for the XPD Asp312Asn polymorphism were pooled for analysis. Overall, no significant associations were found between the XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism and skin cancer risk in any genetic model. On stratified analysis by tumor type, XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism was not associated with increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer, but was significantly related with increased risk of cutaneous melanoma (Gln/Gln vs Lys/Lys: OR=1.15, 95%CI=1.02-1.29, p=0.023; dominant model: OR=1.09, 95%CI=1.01-1.18, p=0.036). For the XPD Asp312Asn polymorphism, no significant association with skin cancer risk was observed in overall or subgroup analyses. Conclusions: The present meta-analysis suggests that the XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism may contribute to the risk of cutaneous melanoma from currently available evidence. Further investigations are needed to obtain more insight into possible roles of these two polymorphisms in skin carcinogenesis.