BACKGROUND/AIMS: Hepatic cysts are incidentally found at laparotomy or through abdominal imaging studies. When they become symptomatic, treatment is indicated. The aim of this study is to evaluate many options of their management, especially about surgical methods. METHODS: Data were retrospectively analyzed from the clinical charts of 21 patients undergoing surgery for symptomatic hepatic cysts from January, 1995, through December, 2002 in department of Surgery, Pusan University Hosipital. Charts were obtained from the original hosipital referral. We considered the following variables for analysis: age, sex, symptoms, hepatic cyst location, size, operative methods, histological confirm, postoperative morbidity and mortality, length of postoperative hosipital stay, and follow-up outcome. RESULTS: Mean age of the 21 patients was 53 years. The ratio of male and female was 1:4.3. Their main symptoms were right upper quadrant pain or discomfort, epigastric pain, and abdominal distension. Rarely, palpable mass, dyspepsia, mild jaundice, and acute abdominal pain from ruptured hepatic cyst were observed. Preoperative abdominal ultrasound and computed tomographic scannig were done in all patients. The mean size of hepatic cysts was 9.04 cm in computed tomographic scanning. The 61.9% of patients had the location in right lobe. Simple cyst was characterized by homogeneous, low attenuated and unilocular mass in computed tomographic scanning: in difference, biliary cystadenoma, internal intervening septation and papillary infoldings with cyst itself. Fifteen patients underwent partial cystectomy and 4, complete cystectomy and 1, non-anatomical hepatic resection and 1, left lateral segmentectomy. Hepatic cysts were consisting of 15 cases of simple cyst, 4 cases of biliary cystadenoma, 1 case of Caroli's disease and 1 case of polycystic liver disease. Postoperative complication was bile leakage in one case. No symptomatic recurrence occured during a mean follow-up period of 42.5 months. CONCLUSION: According to the characteristics of symptomatic hepatic cyst, proper operative methods of management were considered. More long-term follow-up is necessary but in simple cyst in histological type, partial cystectomy can be the acceptable technique, complete cystectomy or hepatic resection should be perfomed in biliary cystadenoma for recurrence and malignant potential.
Abdominal Pain ; Bile ; Busan ; Caroli Disease ; Cystadenoma ; Cystectomy ; Dyspepsia ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Jaundice ; Laparotomy ; Liver Diseases ; Male ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Mortality ; Postoperative Complications ; Recurrence ; Referral and Consultation ; Retrospective Studies ; Ultrasonography

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of different commercial quality assurance (QA) systems for the pretreatment verification plan of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) with volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) technique using a flattening-filter-free beam. The verification for 20 pretreatment cancer patients (seven lung, six spine, and seven prostate cancers) were tested using three QA systems (EBT3 film, I’mRT MatriXX array, and MapCHECK). All the SBRT-VMAT plans were optimized in the Eclipse (version 11.0.34) treatment planning system (TPS) using the Acuros XB dose calculation algorithm and were delivered to the Varian TrueBeam® accelerator equipped with a high-definition multileaf collimator. Gamma agreement evaluation was analyzed with the criteria of 2% dose difference and 2 mm distance to agreement (2%/2 mm) or 3%/3 mm. The highest passing rate (99.1% for 3%/3 mm) was observed on the MapCHECK system while the lowest passing rate was obtained on the film. The pretreatment verification results depend on the QA systems, treatment sites, and delivery beam energies. However, the delivery QA results for all QA systems based on the TPS calculation showed a good agreement of more than 90% for both the criteria. It is concluded that the three 2D QA systems have sufficient potential for pretreatment verification of the SBRT-VMAT plan.
Humans ; Lung ; Prostate ; Radiosurgery* ; Spine

PURPOSE: We examined the respiratory morbidities in late-preterm infants compared to those of the early-preterm infants and term infants throughout the first year of life. METHODS: Data were retrospectively collected for 87 late-preterm, 72 early-preterm, and 608 term infants who were admitted to NICU and the nursery of Busan St. Mary's Medical Center from Jan 2007 to Oct 2009. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the proportions of the out-born infants, twin pregnancy, small for gestational age, and Caesarean section in the three groups (P<0.05). Late-preterm and early-preterm infants had longer duration of hospitalization, larger proportions of respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical ventilation at birth, oxygen therapy after 48 hours of birth, oxygen dependency at 28 days, and continuous positive airway pressure support at 28 days compared to term infants during the neonatal period (P=0.000). Late-preterm infants and early-preterm infants were re-admitted more often than term infants during the first year of life (P=0.000). Also Late-preterm and early-preterm infants had increased chance of respiratory tract illness than term infants (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated that there are higher chances of respiratory morbidities in the late-preterm infants than the term infants either during the neonatal period or throughout the first year of life, although early-preterm infants showed greatest respiratory morbidities.
Cesarean Section ; Continuous Positive Airway Pressure ; Dependency (Psychology) ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Infant ; Nurseries ; Oxygen ; Parturition ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Twin ; Respiration, Artificial ; Respiratory System ; Retrospective Studies

Background/Aims: The abscopal effect, a rare phenomenon induced by radiation, can be reinforced by immunotherapy. Although radiation therapy and immunotherapy are increasingly being utilized for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), whether immunotherapy could boost the abscopal effect remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the immunological mechanisms underlying the abscopal effect induced by the combination of irradiation and immunotherapy in a murine HCC model. Methods: A syngeneic HCC mouse model was established by transplanting murine Hepa 1–6 HCC cells into both hind legs of immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice. The tumors on the right hind legs were irradiated, and abscopal effects were observed in the non-irradiated tumors on the left hind leg with or without the coadministration of anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibodies. Flow cytometric analyses were performed to analyze the distributions of immune cells infiltrating both irradiated and non-irradiated tumors and the tumor-draining lymph nodes (TDLNs). Results: Administration of 16 Gy in two fractions more effectively inhibited the growth of both irradiated and nonirradiated tumors with higher tumor infiltration of cytotoxic T cells than 8 Gy did in a single fraction. The higher dose also increased activated dendritic cells in TDLNs, which had higher expression of the programmed cell death ligand 1. Coadministration of anti-PD-1 antibodies significantly enhanced the abscopal effect and increased infiltration of activated cytotoxic T cells in both irradiated and non-irradiated tumors. Conclusions Our findings show that adding anti-PD-1 therapy to radiation enhanced the abscopal effect in a syngeneic murine model of HCC.

PURPOSE: This study is to investigate the effect of captopril when combined with irradiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 4T1 (mouse mammary carcinoma) cells were injected in the right hind leg of Balb/c mice. Mice were randomized to four groups; control (group 1), captopril-treated (group 2), irradiated (group 3), irradiated and captopril-treated concurrently (group 4). Captopril was administered by intraperitoneal injection (10 mg/kg) daily and irradiation was delivered on the tumor-bearing leg for 15 Gy in 3 fractions. Surface markers of splenic neutrophils (G-MDSCs) and intratumoral neutrophils (tumor-associated neutrophils [TANs]) were assessed using flow cytometry and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) of tumor was evaluated by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. RESULTS: The mean tumor volumes (±standard error) at the 15th day after randomization were 1,382.0 (±201.2) mm³ (group 1), 559.9 (±67.8) mm³ (group 3), and 370.5 (± 48.1) mm³ (group 4), respectively. For G-MDSCs, irradiation reversed decreased expression of CD101 from tumor-bearing mice, and additional increase of CD101 expression was induced by captopril administration. Similar tendency was observed in TANs. The expression of tumor-necrosis factor-associated molecules, CD120 and CD137, are increased by irradiation in both G-MDSCs and TANs. Further increment was observed by captopril except CD120 in TANs. For IHC staining, VEGF and HIF-1α positivity in tumor cells were decreased when treated with captopril. CONCLUSION: Captopril is suggested to have additional effect when combined to irradiation in a murine tumor model by modulation of MDSCs and angiogenesis.
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors ; Animals ; Captopril* ; Flow Cytometry ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Leg ; Mice ; Neutrophils ; Radiotherapy ; Random Allocation ; Triacetoneamine-N-Oxyl ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

No abstract available.
Adult ; Anemia, Aplastic/*surgery ; Antiprotozoal Agents/therapeutic use ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Encephalitis/diagnosis/drug therapy/*parasitology ; Female ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/*adverse effects ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents/adverse effects ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Parasitology/methods ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Republic of Korea ; Toxoplasma/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Toxoplasmosis, Cerebral/diagnosis/drug therapy/*parasitology ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Treatment Outcome

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a group of malignancies arising from neuroendocrine cells and frequently originate in the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. Although curative resection is the main treatment for localized disease, systemic therapy is needed for relapsed or metastatic/unresectable gastroenteropancreatic NETs (GEP-NETs). Although there are several NET treatment guidelines from various countries, the geographical discrepancies between patient clinical characteristics, the regulatory approval status for therapeutic agents, and medical practices necessitate specific guidelines for Korean patients. We here provide a consensus review of the diagnosis, staging and systemic treatment of Korean GEP-NET patients. Systemic therapy options and the current Korean expert consensus on these treatments, including somatostatin analogs, targeted therapies such as everolimus and sunitinib, peptide receptor radionuclide treatments, and cytotoxic chemotherapies are addressed.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a group of malignancies arising from neuroendocrine cells and frequently originate in the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. Although curative resection is the main treatment for localized disease, systemic therapy is needed for relapsed or metastatic/unresectable gastroenteropancreatic NETs (GEP-NETs). Although there are several NET treatment guidelines from various countries, the geographical discrepancies between patient clinical characteristics, the regulatory approval status for therapeutic agents, and medical practices necessitate specific guidelines for Korean patients. We here provide a consensus review of the diagnosis, staging and systemic treatment of Korean GEP-NET patients. Systemic therapy options and the current Korean expert consensus on these treatments, including somatostatin analogs, targeted therapies such as everolimus and sunitinib, peptide receptor radionuclide treatments, and cytotoxic chemotherapies are addressed.

Purpose: We investigated the feasibility of using an anatomically localized, target-enriched liquid biopsy (TLB) in mouse models of lung cancer. Materials and Methods: After irradiating xenograft mouse with human lung cancer cell lines, H1299 (NRAS proto-oncogene, GTPase [NRAS] Q61K) and HCC827 (epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR] E746-750del), circulating (cell-free) tumor DNA (ctDNA) levels were monitored with quantitative polymerase chain reaction on human long interspersed nuclear element-1 and cell line-specific mutations. We checked dose-dependency at 6, 12, or 18 Gy to each tumor-bearing mouse leg using 6-MV photon beams. We also analyzed ctDNA of lung cancer patients by LiquidSCAN, a targeted deep sequencing to validated the clinical performances of TLB method. Results: Irradiation could enhance the detection sensitivity of NRAS Q61K in the plasma sample of H1299-xenograft mouse to 4.5- fold. While cell-free DNA (cfDNA) level was not changed at 6 Gy, ctDNA level was increased upon irradiation. Using double-xenograft mouse with H1299 and HCC827, ctDNA polymerase chain reaction analysis with local irradiation in each region could specify mutation type matched to transplanted cell types, proposing an anatomically localized, TLB. Furthermore, when we performed targeted deep sequencing of cfDNA to monitor ctDNA level in 11 patients with lung cancer who underwent radiotherapy, the average ctDNA level was increased within a week after the start of radiotherapy. Conclusion TLB using irradiation could temporarily amplify ctDNA release in xenograft mouse and lung cancer patients, which enables us to develop theragnostic method for cancer patients with accurate ctDNA detection.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: It was demonstrated that the fractional flow reserve (FFR) with partial balloon obstruction may have implications for assessing viable myocardium. In a different way, the index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) was introduced as a useful indicator for assessing microvascular function. We evaluated the relationship between the FFR0.8 and the IMR. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We studied 48 consecutive patients who had undergone coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). After revascularization using stent(s), an undersized short balloon was positioned inside the stent and inflated to create a specific normalized pressure drop of FFR (distal coronary/aortic pressure=0.80) at rest. The FFR0.8 was obtained during hyperemia with the fixed state balloon-induced partial obstruction. IMR was measured by three injections of saline. The association between the FFR0.8 and the IMR was investigated. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 60+/-12 years and 36 (75%) overall presented with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. The mean FFR0.8 was 0.68+/-0.06. A statistically significant correlation between the FFR0.8 and the log-transformed IMR(true) (LnIMR(true)) was found through a multivariable linear regression analysis (beta=0.056, p<0.001). Both the FFR0.8 and the LnIMR(true) had a positive correlation with the log-transformed peak troponin I (TnI) with statistical significance (r2=0.119, p=0.017; r2=0.225, p=0.006, respectively). CONCLUSION: There was a positive correlation between the LnIMR(true) and the FFR0.8. Both of the values were associated with peak TnI. Those values may be used as appropriate surrogate measures of microvascular function after AMI.
Fractional Flow Reserve, Myocardial ; Humans ; Hyperemia ; Linear Models ; Microcirculation ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardium ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Stents ; Troponin I