• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.85-89
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• 2017

A 62-year-old female patient had goiter for twenty years. She visited out-patient clinic with a hoarse voice and intermittent breathing difficulties. About protruding 15cm sized mass located the anterior neck and right vocal cord paralysis was observed. Preoperative CT scan was strongly suspected of thyroid gland cancer and cervical lymph node metastasis. Therefore, fine needle aspiration test was performed and surgical treatment was planned with the histopathologic results (papillary thyroid carcinoma). Surgery was performed with total thyroidectomy, bilateral cervical lymph node dissection, and right selective nodal lymph node dissection (level II-V). During operation right thyroid seemed to be adherent to surrounding tissue and the blood vessels were extremely engorged. There was hypotensive crisis because of intraoperative excessive bleeding. However it was managed by repetitive transfusion. The operation was completed without abnormalities. She underwent 4 times of bleeding control operation due to postoperative bleeding. After complications were improved, we are currently undergoing out-patient follow up without morbidity.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 1996

We studied the clinical charcteristics of 265 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinomas diagnosed at Korea Cancer Center Hospital over a span of 8 years from Jan. 1987. Male were 187 and Female were 78 and male: female ratio was 2.4 : 1. The age distribution ranged from 2nd decade to 9th decade evenly and mean age was 46.1 years old. Histopathologically squamous cell carcinoma (WHO type 1, 2, 60.8%) were 161 cases and undifferentiated carcinoma (WHO type 3, 39.2%) were 104 cases. Main symptoms and signs were neck mass 199 cases (75.1%), ear symptoms 126(47.5%), nasal symptom 101 (38.1%). The distribution of anatomical subsites were posterior wall 75 (24.7%), lateral wall 175 (72.8%), Inferior wall 15 (2.5%). Tumor staging by AJCC classification, 1992, distributed with stage I 3 cases (1.1%), stage II 5 cases (1.9%), stage III 24 cases (9.1%), stage IV 233 cases (87.9%).

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.34-36
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• 2012

In case of lateral cervical cystic lesions, the differential diagnoses include branchial cleft cyst(BCC), teratoma, dermoid, hemangioma and lymphangioma etc. But sometimes metastatic cystic lymph nodes may exist in lateral neck. In such circumstance, the primary lesions are known to stem from oropharynx, nasopharynx, salivary and thyroid gland etc. A-66-year-old-male came to our clinic, due to the lateral cervical mass for 5 years. We performed the neck CT, sonography and sono-guided FNAC. He was initially diagnosed with the benign cyst such as BCC. We performed the excisional biopsy on left level II, but the pathologic report was revealed as metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC). And then he received the total thyroidectomy with neck dissection. The final diagnosis was cystic metastasis from PTC. We learn a valuable lesson form this case in the following. Even if the simple cervical cyst is presumed with radiology and clinical pattern, more careful considerations on the basis of history and radiologic findings are mandatory.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2002

Objectives: Expression of HMGI(Y), a nucleoprotein that binds to A/T rich sequences in the minor groove of the DNA helix, is observed in neoplastically transformed cells but not in normal cells. We have analyzed HMGI(Y), p53 expression and Ki-67 labelling index in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck, and evaluated its clinicopathologic significance. Materials and Methods: 40 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were entered on the study of immunohistochemical stains for HMGI(Y), p53 and Ki-67. We analyzed the relationship between HMGI(Y), p53, Ki-67 expression and age, sex, primary tumor site, stage, survival rate, recurrence. Results: HMGI(Y) expression evidenced by immunohistochemical staining was observed in 35 of 40 (87.5%) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. But no significant correlation was observed between HMGI(Y) expression and other clinical factors such as primary site, tumor stage, differenciation, cervical lymph node, metastasis, recurrence and immunohistochemical status of p53. The Ki-67 labelling index was significantly correlated with recurrence and HMGI(Y) expression (p<0.05). Conclusion: This results suggest the Ki-67 is a good prognostic factor and the HMGI(Y) expression plays some roles in carcinogenesis and cellular proliferation of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. HMGI(Y) gene can be used as a cancer marker, the correlation between the gene expression and the prognosis of the cancer patient should be proved in the future studies.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.147-155
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• 2004

Objectives: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the most common head and neck malignant tumor. The molecular genetic changes involving both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes are known to be involved in head and neck squamous cell carcinogenesis, but the roles of the known tumor suppressor genes in carcinogenesis are not fully elucidated. The objectives of this study are to demonstrate the genetic alterations including the loss of heterozygosity (LOH) , amplification, and microsatellite instability of known tumor suppressor genes in HNSCC and to evaluate the relationship between genetic alterations of tumor suppressor genes and clinicopathologic features. Materials and Methods: Genetic alterations of 10 micro satellite markers of the 6 known tumor suppressor genes (APC, EXT1, DPC4, p16, FHIT, and PTEN) were analysed by DNA-PCR in paraffin-embedded histologically confirmed HNSCC specimens. Results: The genetic alterations of tumor suppressor genes were found frequently. Among the genetic alterations, LOH was most frequently found one. LOH was found frequently in APC (45.4%), EXT1 (36.4%), DPC4 (54.5%), and p16 (50%), but not found in FHIT. Also, the author found that abnormalities of APC gene was related to cervical lymph node metastasis and recurrence and that abnormalities of EXT1 gene were coexisted with those of APC gene or DPC4 gene. But these coexistences had no correlation with clinical features. Conclusion: These results suggested that APC, EXT1, p16, and DPC4 genes might play important roles and multiple tumor suppressor genes may participate dependently or independently in the carcinogenesis of HNSCC. These results also suggested that APC gene might relate to prognosis.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 2002

Background and Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of the neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy in treatment of patients with advanced hypopharyngeal cancer, which is notorious for its poor prognosis and severe surgical morbidity with functional deficits. Materials and Methods: Medical records and radiologic findings of 107 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx, Stage III or IV (AJCC, 1997), were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy showed 74% complete remission (CR) rate. The patients who did not show CR after chemotherapy had a high likelihood of treatment failure, even though they achieved CR following subsequent radiotherapy. Twenty-eight of 57 patients were able to preserve their larynges for more than three years by chemotherapy and radiation. Conclusions: This approach appeared to be as effective as radical surgery with postoperative radiation therapy without comprising of survival. To improve the cure rates, we need to develop better strategies to increase CR rates with chemotherapy and determine the best treatment option for patients who are partially or nonresponsive to chemotherapy.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.62-64
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• 2013

The distant metastasis is found out in about 25-57% of the patients with renal cell carcinoma at the time of diagnosis. But, the incidence of metastases to the head and neck region, especially to the thyroid gland, is rare. Most of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma to the thyroid gland are asymptomatic at presentation as patients with primary thyroid carcinoma. In the presence of clear cell tumor of the thyroid gland, the diagnostic considerations must include metastatic renal cell carcinoma. We report a case of thyroid metastasis from renal cell carcinoma at the time of diagnosis.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.30-34
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• 1997

Objectives: Calcification of the thyroid nodule has been reported to have a close relationship with differentiated thyroid carcinoma, however there are limited studies on the relationship between the calcified thyroid nodule and thyroid malignancy. The authors studied the clinical significance of calcification within the thyroid nodule. Materials and Methods: There were total of 60 patients who underwent surgery for calcified thyroid nodules which were identified from plain neck X-ray, ultrasound and computed tomography during the period January 1991 to June 1996 at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of Korea University Hospital. Six patients were not included because of recurrence and previous thyroid surgery. Histopathologic and radiologic analysis was done on the remaining 54 patients. Results: Results showed that 25 of 54 cases(46%) to be malignant histopathologically. Of the 25 malignant cases, papillary carcinoma was the most common with 22 cases followed by 2 cases of undifferentiated carcinoma and I case of medullary carcinoma. Statistically high incidence of malignancy was observed when the consistency of calcified thyroid nodule was solid, shape of calcification was irregular and inhomogenous, and adhesion of calcified thyroid nodule to the regional structure was present. Conclusion: The probability that a thyroid nodule is malignant has been reported to be 3­20%. However, about half of the thyroid nodules with calcification found to be malignant on this study, calcification of the thyroid nodule can be used as a guideline for detecting thyroid malignancy.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

The 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, which took place May 31-June 4 in Chicago, drew more than 32,000 oncology specialists from around the world. The theme of 2019 ASCO conference was "Caring for Every Patient, Learning from Every Patient". Among the topics of interest covered were new approaches to surmount limited access to cancer care and the latest advances in targeted therapies for pancreatic, prostate cancers and soft tissue sarcomas. In the field of head and neck cancer, 8 oral abstracts and 75 poster abstracts were presented at this meeting. In this review, we are going to summarize the eight studies that have been presented orally. The topics are recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma for two abstracts (#6000, #6002), salivary duct carcinoma for one abstract (#6001), locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma for two abstracts (#6003, #6004), oropharyngeal carcinoma for two abstracts (#6006, #6008), and oral cavity cancer for one abstract (#6007).

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.sup1
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• pp.6-13
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• 2008

Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common type of human cancer worldwide. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common cancer of the head and neck. Since $^{18}F-FDG$ PET is very sensitive to detecting squamous cell carcinoma, it has been widely used in patients with head and neck cancers for initial staging, management of recurrent cancers, and therapeutic monitoring. According to clinical research data, $^{18}F-FDG$ PET is expected to be a very helpful diagnostic tool in the management of head and neck cancer.