• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10241-10244
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• 2015

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and side effects of Bifidobacterium tetragenous viable bacteria tablets in treating cancer patients with functional constipation during chemotherapy. Methods: A consecutive cohort of 100 cancer patients with functional constipation were divided into two equal groups: patients in the experimental group were given Bifidobacterium tetragenous viable bacteria tablets combined with chemotherapy, while patients in the control group received chemotherapy alone. After 4 weeks, the efficacy and side effects in treating functional constipation were evaluated. Results: Constipation in 48 patients in experimental group was controlled (9 returned to normal), with a total response rate of 96%, and 1 patient reported diarrhea (2%). In contrast only 16 patients in the control group demonstrated improvement and 34 were still constipated after chemotherapy, with a response rate of 32%. The difference in response rate was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study suggested that Bifidobacterium tetragenous viable bacteria tablets are effective and safe in treating cancer patients with functional constipation during chemotherapy.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.155-165
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• 2000

This paper is based on the records of researching the patients with cancer in the Chunnam National University Hospital from January 1990 to December 1999 and referred to the Korea Cancer Center Hospital's annual report. The results are as the following : 1. Along the total O.P.D 5,680,284, the patients of therapeutic radiology are 201,367 in $3.55\%$ 2. Among the 12,404 cancer patients, stomach cancer patients are $2,048(16.51\%),\;liver\;cancer\;patients\;are\;1,490(12.01\%),\;lung\;cancer\;patients\;are\;1,418(11.43\%)\;cervix\;and\;uterus\;cancer\;patients\;are\;1,102(8.88\%)$ and sexual ratio of male to female appeared 1.38 : 1 Therefore, male cancer patients are more than female patients. 3. The age distribution of cancer was $2,791(22.50\%)\;by\;55{\sim}64\;age,\;2,582(20.82\%)\;by\;45{\sim}54\;age,\;and\;2,530(20.40\%)\;by\;65{\sim}74\;age.\;Therefore,\;the\;60\%\;of\;all\;cancer\;patients\;were\;45{\sim}75$ ages. 4. Among the 9,815 therapeutic radiology patients, $1,755(17.89\%)\;are\;in\;the\;uterus\;system,\;1,534(15.63\%)\;are\;in\;the\;head\;and\;neck,\;1,519(15.48\%)$ are in the lung. Therefore, the proportion of three kinds of therapeutic radiology patients is about $50\%$. 5. The occupational distributions of 12,404 cancer patients$(90{\sim}99\;year)\;are\;2,795(22.53\%)\;by\;orderly\;farmers,\;2,763(22.28\%)\;by\;house\;wives,\;586(4.71\%)\;by\;businessmen,\;and\;391(3.15\%)$ by public service personnel. Industrial, miners, forest men, soldiers didn't nearly appear. 6. The number of patients of cancer diagnosis was $9,431(76.03\%)\;by\;the\;biopsy\;of\;primary\;region,\;and\;2,201(17.74\%)$ by clinical examination Therefore, those two kinds of methods took a propertion of about $94\%.\;The\;number\;of\;deceases\;on\;departments\;was\;153(32.42\%)\;in\;PD,\;133(28.18\%)\;in\;GI,\;63(13.35\%)$ in GS. Therefore, those three kinds of deceases took a proportion of about $74\%$.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.5237-5240
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• 2012

Objective: This observational study was to identify risk factors for vulvar cancer recurrence. Materials and Methods: In the study 107 patients with primary vulvar cancer were analyzed. Surgical treatment consisted of radical excision of the primary tumor in combination with unilateral or bilateral superficial and deep inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy through separate incisions. Patients with deeper tumor invasion >1 mm or wider than 2 cm and/or groin lymphnode metastases were referred for adjuvant radiotherapy. Those with large privary vulvar tumors received neoadjuvant radiotherapy of 30Gy followed by surgical treatment and adjuvant radiotherapy. Results: Most of patients had only primary radiotherapy to the vulva and inguinal lymph nodes and only 34.5% of patients were eligible for surgical treatment. In 5 year follow-up period 25.2% (27) patients were alive without the disease, 15.0% (16) were alive with the disease and 59.8% (64) were dead. 60.7% (65) patients experienced local recurrence and 2.8% (3) patients had distant metastases. Median survival for patients without recurrent disease was $38.9{\pm}3.2$ months and $36.0{\pm}2.6$ months with no statistically significant difference. Patients with early stage vulvar cancer had longer mean survival rates-for stage I $53.1{\pm}3.4$ months, $38.4{\pm}4.4$ months for stage II and $33.4{\pm}2.6$ and $15.6{\pm}5.2$ months for patients with stage III and stage IV vulvar cancer, respectively. The only signifficant prognostic factor predicting vulvar cancer recurrence was involvement of the midline. Conclusions: Patients having midline involvement of vulvar cancer has lower recurrence risk, probably because of receiving more aggressive treatment. There is a tendency for lower vulvar cancer recurrence risk for patients over 70 years of age and patients who are receiving radiotherapy as an only treatment without surgery, but tendency for higher risk of recurrence in patients with multifocal vulvar cancer.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.479-487
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• 2006

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to measure the degree of uncertainty in illness, hope, and spiritual well-being and to examine the relationship among uncertainty in illness, hope, and spiritual well-being of cancer patients. Method: The data were derived from answers to questionnaires obtained from 93 cancer patients at one general hospital in J area from April 6, 2004 to May 8, 2004. The collected data were analyzed by SSPS 10.0. Results: The mean score of uncertainty in illness of cancer patients was 55.96. The mean score of hope of cancer patients was 79.77, and spiritual well-being was 55.20. Uncertainty in illness of cancer patients was related negatively to hope(r=-.57, p=.000). Also uncertainty in illness of cancer patients was related negatively to spiritual well-being(r=-.57, p=.000). However, hope of cancer patients was related positively to spiritual well-being(r=.67, p=.000). Conclusion: Higher uncertainty in illness was related to lower hope and spiritual well-being of cancer patients. Based upon these results, nurses should help patients to improve their hope and spiritual well-being through mediation of uncertainty in illness.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.152-160
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• 2004

Objective : Recently, an increasing portion of cancer patients use various therapies of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) including traditional oriental medicine, which is believed to improve the consequence of cancer according to clinical experience and laboratory data. But the clinical-based systemic statistic validity of these therapies is lacking, so this study was aimed to validate the traditional oriental therapies (TOT) for terminally ill cancer patients. Patients and methods : This retrospective study was performed on 273 patients who were diagnosed with terminally ill cancer in Korea and treated with TOT in the oriental hospital of Daejeon University, from March 1997 to June 2003. We examined the median duration of the terminal period and the correlations between 9 factors and survival of terminally ill cancer patients. Results : During the study period, we could confirm 142 patients' death (52.01%) in 273 subjects. The median length of survival in terminally ill cancer patients was 16 weeks (95%CI 14.0∼20.0) and 40.15% (95%CI 40.07∼40.22) of patients had survived more than 24 weeks. According to Cox's proportional hazard model including gender, age, conventional therapies (chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery), performance status and clinical symptoms as independent variables, history of conventional therapies (RR 0.581, 95%CI 0.381∼0.885), higher performance status (RR 1,855, 95%CI 1.454∼2.366) and absence of ascites and pleural effusion (RR 1.631, 95%CI 1.047∼2.538) showed independent prognostic value of survival. Conclusion : Our findings suggest that TOT offer potential benefits for cancer patients at the terminal stage.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2014

Cancer, especially GI cancer itself and any associated treatments have profound effect on the patient's nutritional status. It is therefore very important to understand various nutritional issues in GI cancer patients for the cure and for increasing the compliance during the course of the treatment. Screening and identification of nutritional risk for the GI cancer patients is very essential and is plays a critical part of the treatment to help improve patient outcomes. Maintaining optimal nutritional status is an important goal in the management of individuals diagnosed, treated with cancer. Maintenance of adequate nutritional intake is important whether patients are undergoing active therapy, recovering from cancer therapy, or are in remission and striving to avoid cancer recurrence. The goals of nutrition therapy are to prevent or reverse nutrient deficiencies, preserve lean body mass, help patients better tolerate treatments and minimize nutrition-related side effects and complications, etc. Recent interest in clinical settings is also in maximizing quality of life of the patients which can also be modulated by appropriate nutrition.

• Asian Oncology Nursing
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.52-62
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• 2005

Purpose: This study was to analyze the research trend centering on the theses to cancer nursing research in digestive system released in Korea. Method: The researcher collected the academic degrees and theses published on the book of the academic soceity from January 1993 to August, 2004, and examined 38 domestic papers of cancer nursing research in digestive system. Results: 1) As for the subject, the results were : patients with stomach cancer 25(66%), colon cancer 4(11%), rectal cancer 3(8%), and others(taxi drivers 2, family of cancer patents. 2) As for the research designs the result were : quantitative studies were 33(87%), and qualitative studies were 9(23%). 3) As for key concepts of survey, the results were : life patterns of patients with rectal cancer, oral intake of stomach cancer patients, fatigue of stomach cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, nursing needs when discharging from hospital after operation with gastrectomy, and so on. 4) As for the comparative studies, the results were : risk factors between colorectal patients and general population, early symptom and risk factors between stomach cancer patients and general population, and risk factors between stomach cancer and patients with gastritis. 5) As for main concepts of correlational studies, the results were : quality of life, health belief, fatigue, health promotion behavior, social support, straitanxiety. 6) The treatment of experimental research, the results were : information services, arc reflex massage, acupressure, educational program for discharge, 7)As for the qualitative studies, in terms of subjects, stomach cancer patients were 2, spouse of patients with stomach cancer was 1, rectal cancer patients were 2. In the theme of the qualitative studies, the results were: experience of family of patients with stomach cancer, experience of long term survival of patients with rectal cancer, experience of disease process of rectal cancer patiens. 8) As for the used instrument in studies, the results were : Strait-anxiety Scale by Spielberger, Nausea and Vomiting Scale by Rhodes, Social support by Tae and Lee, Health belief by Champion, Becker, and Moon. QOL by NCCN, Roh, Pdilla, Kwon, Revised Fatigue Scale by Piper, Health Locus of Control by Wallston and Wallston, Uncertainty Scale by Mishel. Conclusions: More research needs to be encouraged in various subject of cancer patients in digestive system. More nonexperimental and experimental researches should be conducted for the establishment of the basis of practical and theoretical framework and the providing good quality of care for cancer patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4157-4160
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• 2013

Objectives: Understanding the situation of cancer awareness which doctors give to patients might lead to prognostic prediction in cases of of colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Subsets of 10,779 CRC patients were used to screen the risk factors from the Cancer Registry in Pudong New Area in cancer awareness, age, TNM stage, and gender. Survival of the patients was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and assessed by Cox regression analysis. The views of cancer awareness in doctors and patients were surveyed by telephone or household. Results: After a median observation time of 1,616 days (ranging from 0 to 4,083 days) of 10,779 available patients, 2,596 of the 4,561 patients with cancer awareness survived, whereas 2,258 of the 5,469 patients without cancer awareness and 406 of the 749 patients without information on cancer awareness died of the disease. All-cause and cancer-specific survival were poorer for the patients without cancer awareness than those with (P < 0.001 for each, log-rank test). Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that cancer concealment cases had significantly lower cancer-specific survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.299; 95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.200-1.407)and all-cause survival (HR = 1.324; 95 % CI: 1.227-1.428). Furthermore, attitudes of cancer awareness between doctors and patients were significantly different (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Cancer concealment, not only late-stage tumor and age, is associated with a poor survival of CRC patients.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.238-246
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• 2014

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcome of high-dose-rate (HDR) interstitial brachytherapy (IBT) in patients with oral cavity cancer. Materials and Methods: Sixteen patients with oral cavity cancer treated with HDR remote-control afterloading brachytherapy using $^{192}Ir$ between 2001 and 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. Brachytherapy was administered in 11 patients as the primary treatment and in five patients as salvage treatment for recurrence after the initial surgery. In 12 patients, external beam radiotherapy (50-55 Gy/25 fractions) was combined with IBT of 21 Gy/7 fractions. In addition, IBT was administered as the sole treatment in three patients with a total dose of 50 Gy/10 fractions and as postoperative adjuvant treatment in one patient with a total of 35 Gy/7 fractions. Results: The 5-year overall survival of the entire group was 70%. The actuarial local control rate after 3 years was 84%. All five recurrent cases after initial surgery were successfully salvaged using IBT ${\pm}$ external beam radiotherapy. Two patients developed local recurrence at 3 and 5 months, respectively, after IBT. The acute complications were acceptable (${\leq}grade$ 2). Three patients developed major late complications, such as radio-osteonecrosis, in which one patient was treated by conservative therapy and two required surgical intervention. Conclusion: HDR IBT for oral cavity cancer was effective and acceptable in diverse clinical settings, such as in the cases of primary or salvage treatment.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2021

Background: As a descriptive study targeting 2,068 cancer patients as men of national merit in 2013, this study aims to provide the basic data for systematizing the early diagnosis and treatment of cancer by comparatively analyzing the 5-year survival rate. Methods: This study researched the survival of cancer patients through Electronic Medical Record and Patriots-Veterans Qualification Program, targeting 2,068 newly-diagnosed cancer patients verified in five veterans hospitals and consigned management system. This study verified differences between general characteristics of cancer patients as men of national merit and analyzed their survival rate. Results: The cancer patients as men of national merit were super-aged as their average age was 72.5. In the analysis of general characteristics of five major prevalent cancers, there were statistically significant differences according to age, region, cancer diagnostic path, differentiation, diagnostic method, treatment method, SEER stage, and survival period, except for the types of the man of national merit (p<0.001). The whole survival rate of cancer patients as men of national merit was 50%. The 5-year survival rates of predisposing cancers were shown as prostate cancer (79%), colorectal cancer (64%), gastric cancer (57%), liver cancer (32%), and lung cancer (12%). In the cancer diagnostic path, all the predisposing cancers showed the highest survival rate in medical examination. In the treatment method, the surgery showed the highest survival rate. The cancer patients as men of national merit showed a lower survival rate than the general cancer patients of Korea. Conclusion: It would be needed to guarantee the honorable and happy life through health recovery as special treatment of contribution and sacrifice of super-aged men of national merit by increasing the cancer survival rates through regular checkup, early diagnosis, and high-quality treatment system that could have important effects on the survival rate according to the occurrence of cancers.