• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 2007

Purpose: We analyzed to find out prognostic factors in the conservative treatment for the plantar fasciitis. Materials and Methods: The data were collected from 145 patients, 159 feet (M:F = 51:108) with conservative treatment and analyzed for possible prognostic factors : sex, age of onset, the duration of symptom before treatment, pain score before treatment, the duration for symptom remission, medication period, calcaneal pitch angle, and presence of calcaneal spur. Results: The duration of symptom before conservative treatment is affected to the prognosis, and the borderline of the effective period was about 6 months. Conclusion: With the conservative treatment of the plantar fasciitis, we found that (1) the duration of symptom before the conservative treatment was a prognostic factor, and (2) if the period before the conservative treatment was more than 6 months, the other treatment option such as surgery should be considered for this chronic group.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.1803-1806
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• 2013

Purpose: Carbohydrate antigen (CA) 242 is inversely related to prognosis in many cancers. However, few data regarding CA 242 in esophageal cancer (EC) are available. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of CA 242 and propose an optimum cut-off point in predicting survival difference in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 192 cases. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for survival prediction was plotted to verify the optimum cuf-off point. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate prognostic parameters for survival. Results: The positive rate for CA 242 was 7.3% (14/192). The ROC curve for survival prediction gave an optimum cut-off of 2.15 (U/ml). Patients with CA 242 ${\leq}$ 2.15 U/ml had significantly better 5-year survival than patients with CA 242 >2.15 U/ml (45.4% versus 22.6%; P=0.003). Multivariate analysis showed that differentiation (P=0.033), CA 242 (P=0.017), T grade (P=0.004) and N staging (P<0.001) were independent prognostic factors. Conclusions: Preoperative CA 242 is a predictive factor for long-term survival in ESCC, especially in nodal-negative patients. We conclude that 2.15 U/ml may be the optimum cuf-off point for CA 242 in predicting survival in ESCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1507-1512
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• 2016

Background: Risk of developing breast cancer increases with short breastfeeding and the use of hormones. The prognosis of breast cancer is better if the tumours are hormone receptor positive. Since breast feeding affects estrogen and progesterone receptors, we wanted to investigate how such reproductive factors as breastfeeding and the use of hormones interact with known prognostic markers and specific tumour characteristics in women with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 250 women treated for breast cancer from a larger cohort completed a questionnaire on breastfeeding, number and age at births and use of hormones. A logistic regression analysis was made to search for connections between known prognostic markers on the one hand (type of cancer, grade, tumor size, estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor, lymphovascular invasion and DNA-ploidy) and reproductive data, breastfeeding, and hormone use on the other. Results and Conclusions: Hormone use, but not breastfeeding, was significantly associated, also on multivariate analysis, with the prognostic variable lymphovascular invasion, connected to a worse prognosis. No other hormone use or breast feeding correlations with prognostic variables were found.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.92-96
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• 2011

Objective : We retrospectively evaluated the prognostic factors that can influence long-term survival in patients who suffered acute large cerebral infarction. Methods : Between June 2003 and October 2008, a total of 178 patients were diagnosed with a large cerebral infarction, and, among them, 122 patients were alive one month after the onset of stroke. We investigated the multiple factors that might have influenced the life expectancies of these 122 patients. Results : The mean age of the patients was $70{\pm}13.4$ years and the mean survival was $41.7{\pm}2.8$ months. The mean survival of the poor functional outcome group ($mRS{\geq}4$) was $33.9{\pm}3.3$ months, whereas that of the good functional outcome group ($mRS{\leq}3$) was $58.6{\pm}2.6$ months (p value=0.000). The mean survival of the older patients (270 years) was $29.7{\pm}3.4$ months, whereas that of the younger patients (<70 years) was much better as $58.9{\pm}3.2$ months (p value=0.000). Involvement of ACA or PCA territory in MCA infarction is also a poor prognostic factor (p value=0.021). But, other factors that are also known as significant predictors of poor survival (male gender, hypertension, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus, a previous history of stroke, smoking, and dyslipidemia) did not significantly influence the mean survival time in the current study. Conclusion : Age (older versus younger than 70 years old) and functional outcome at one month could be critical prognostic factors for survival after acute large cerebral infarction. Involvement of ACA or PCA territory is also an important poor prognostic factor in patients with MCA territorial infarction.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3149-3152
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• 2012

Objective: The prognostic significance of perineural invasion (PNI) in gastric cancer has been previously investigated but not clearly clarified. The objective of our study was to investigate the role of PNI as prognostic factor in patients undergoing curative surgical resection and without distant metastasis in comparison with other clinicopathological factors. Methods: Between 2001 and 2010, 287 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma underwent radical gastrectomy recorded in hospital based registries. PNI was assessed as positive when cancer cells were seen in the perinerium or neural fascicles intramurally. Categorical and continuous variables were summarized using descriptive statistics and compared using chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests, respectively. Cancer related survival rates were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: PNI was positive in 211 of 287 cancers (73%), with a positive relation to lymph node metastases and advanced stage (p=0.0001, p=0.0001, respectively), mural invasion, and lymphatic and blood vessel invasion (p=0.0001, p=0.0001, respectively). The median survival of the PNI positive patients was significantly shorter than that of their PNI negative counterparts (24.1 versus 38.2 months, p=0.008). In the multivariate analysis, we detected PNI was an independent prognostic factor (p=0.025, HR=1.21, 95% CL 1.08-2.3) along with classical clinicopathological variables such as lymph node involvement (p=0.001), pT stage (p=0.03), and LVI (p=0.017), but not age, gender, tumour localization, stage, histologic type, and surgery procedure. Conclusions: PNI positivity in gastric cancers was related mural invasion, lymph node involvement, advanced stage and lymphatic and venous blood vessels. The presence of PNI appeared as an independent prognostic factor on survival on multivariate analysis, not influenced by tumor stage, lymph node metastases and other classical factors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.1841-1844
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• 2012

Background: The majority of patients with pancreatic cancer present with advanced disease. Systemic chemotherapy has limited impact on overall survival (OS) so that eligible patients should be selected carefully. The aim of this study was to analyze prognostic factors for survival in Turkish advanced pancreatic cancer patients who survived more than one year from the diagnosis of recurrent and/or metastatic disease and receiving gemcitabine (Gem) alone or gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GemCis). Methods: This retrospective evaluation was performed for patients who survived more than one year from the diagnosis of recurrent and/or metastatic disease and who received gemcitabine between December 2005 and August 2011. Twenty-seven potential prognostic variables were chosen for univariate and multivariate analyses to identify prognostic factors associated with survival. Results: Among the 27 variables in univariate analysis, three were identified to have prognostic significance: sex (p = 0.04), peritoneal dissemination (p =0.02) and serum creatinine level (p=0.05). Multivariate analysis by Cox proportional hazard model showed only peritoneal dissemination to be an independent prognostic factor for survival. Conclusion: In conclusion, peritoneal metastasis was identified as an important prognostic factor in metastatic pancreatic cancer patients who survived more than one year from the diagnosis of recurrent and/or metastatic disease and receiving Gem or GemCis. The findings should facilitate pretreatment prediction of survival and can be used for selecting patients for treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.743-746
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• 2013

Background: Some studies have indicated an inverse relationship between cancer risk and sunlight exposure. Others have reported that the prognosis of some cancers such as prostate, colon, ovarian and non melanoma skin cancer, were affected by the season in which the cancer was diagnosed. In our study, we evaluated whether season is prognostic in Turkish patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 517 patients from Kayseri Training and Research Hospital were analysed retrospectively. Patients were divided into 4 groups according to season of cancer diagnosis: winter, spring, summer and autumn. The prognostic factors for disease free survival and overall survival were investigated. Results: No significant differences were found among groups regarding prognostic factors overall. Only estrogen receptor status and lymphovascular invasion were independent prognostic factors (p=0.001 and p=0.001 respectively). We found significantly differences for mean disease free survival among groups (p=0.019). Winter group had better mean DFS while summer group had worse DFS. Mean overall survival was similar in the four groups (p=0.637). Conclusions: The season is not an independent predictive factor. However, due to interaction with other factors, we think that the season of cancer diagnosis is important for cancer prognosis.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.sup1
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• pp.91-98
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• 2001

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic factors in patients who suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH) due to a ruptured middle cerebral artery(MCA) aneurysm. Methods : Among 148 case of ruptured MCA aneurysm, ruptured MCA aneurysm with ICH was compared with ruptured MCA aneurysm alone. According to factors, the prognosis in these two groups was analyzed. Prognosis was evaluated postoperatively by applying Glasgow Outcome Scale(GOS) at discharge. Prognostic factors were evaluated with Chi square test, Mann-Whitney test and ANOVA test with differences being considered significant for value less than 0.05. Results : Ruptured MCA aneurysm alone revealed better consciousness on admission and final outcome than those combined with ICH. Ruptured MCA aneurysm alone showed 74% in H-H grade I, II and 82% in GOS I, II. But ruptured MCA aneurysm with ICH showed 63% in H-H grade IV, V and 52% in GOS IV, V. Age, sex, lesion site, aneurysmal size, temoporary clipping time, interval to operation, operative approach were statistically not significant in prognosis(p>0.05). But H-H grade on admission(p<0.05), complication(esp. cerebral infarction)(p<0.05), preoperative ICH volume and site(p<0.01), preoperative midline shifting(p<0.01), remained ICH volume(p<0.05) showed significance statistically. Conclusion : Prognostic factors are helpful to neurosurgeon to estimate clinical and neurological outcome postoperatively. We suggest that the good prognostic factors in ruptured MCA aneurysm with ICH were good H-H grade on admission, cerebral infarction(-), preoperative ICH volume <25cc, temporal and intrasylvian ICH, preoperative midline shifting <5mm, remained ICH volume <10cc.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2805-2810
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• 2016

Background: Differentiated thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy with a generally good prognosis. Knowing long-term outcomes of each patient helps management planning. The study was conducted to develop and validate a clinical prognostic score for predicting disease remission in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer based on patient, tumor and treatment factors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 1,217 differentiated thyroid cancer patients from two tertiary-care hospitals in the Northeast of Thailand was performed. Associations between potential clinical prognostic factors and remission were tested by Cox proportional-hazards analysis in 852 patients (development cohort). The prediction score was created by summation of score points weighted from regression coefficients of independent prognostic factors. Risks of disease remission were estimated and the derived score was then validated in the remaining 365 patients (validation cohort). Results: During the median follow-up time of 58 months, 648 (76.1%) patients in the development cohort had disease remission. Five independent prognostic factors were identified with corresponding score points: duration from thyroid surgery to $^{131}I$ treatment (0.721), distant metastasis at initial diagnosis (0.801), postoperative serum thyroglobulin level (0.535), anti-thyroglobulin antibodies positivity (0.546), and adequacy of serum TSH suppression (0.293). The total risk score for each patient was calculated and three categories of remission probability were proposed: ${\leq}1.628$ points (low risk, 83% remission), 1.629-1.816 points (intermediate risk, 87% remission), and ${\geq}1.817$ points (high risk, 93% remission). The concordance (C-index) was 0.761 (95% CI 0.754-0.767). Conclusions: The clinical prognostic scoring model developed to quantify the probability of disease remission can serve as a useful tool in personalized decision making regarding treatment in differentiated thyroid cancer patients.

• Annals of Laboratory Medicine
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.495-502
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• 2018

Background: Molecular genetic abnormalities are observed in over 90% of chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) cases. Recently, several studies have demonstrated the negative prognostic impact of ASXL1 mutations in CMML patients. We evaluated the prognostic impact of ASXL1 mutations and compared five CMML prognostic models in Korean patients with CMML. Methods: We analyzed data from 36 of 57 patients diagnosed as having CMML from January 2000 to March 2016. ASXL1 mutation analysis was performed by direct sequencing, and the clinical and laboratory features of patients were compared according to ASXL1 mutation status. Results: ASXL1 mutations were detected in 18 patients (50%). There were no significant differences between the clinical and laboratory characteristics of ASXL1-mutated ($ASXL1^+$) CMML and ASXL1-nonmutated ($ASXL1^-$) CMML patients (all P >0.05). During the median follow-up of 14 months (range, 0-111 months), the overall survival (OS) of $ASXL1^+$ CMML patients was significantly inferior to that of $ASXL1^-$ CMML patients with a median survival of 11 months and 19 months, respectively (log-rank P =0.049). An evaluation of OS according to the prognostic models demonstrated inferior survival in patients with a higher risk category according to the Mayo molecular model (log-rank P =0.001); the other scoring systems did not demonstrate a significant association with survival. Conclusions: We demonstrated that ASXL1 mutations, occurring in half of the Korean CMML patients examined, were associated with inferior survival. ASXL1 mutation status needs to be determined for risk stratification in CMML.