OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and outcome of surgical management of large benign ovarian cysts using ultra-minilaparotomy. METHODS: Twenty-five patients underwent ultra-minilaparotomy that involved a <3 cm skin incision for benign ovarian cysts with maximum diameter > or =10 cm. Patients' characteristics, operative time, estimated amount of blood loss (EBL), operative complications, postoperative outcomes and the pathological findings were examined. RESULTS: The mean age was 37 years (range 19 to 78 years). Body mass index were 23 (range 16 to 34). The maximum diameter of the ovarian cysts ranged from 10 to 28 cm (mean of 12 cm). The mean (range) operative time was 38 minutes (25 to 80 minutes). The median (range) EBL was 40 mL (20 to 120 mL). No patients received blood transfusion. The median (range) post-operative hospital stay was 2 days (1 to 3 days). There were no operative or post-operative complications. The surgical procedures performed were ovarian cystectomy (17 cases), unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (6 cases) and unilateral oophorectomy (2 cases). The pathology findings include eight endometriotic cysts, seven mucinous cystadenoma, five dermoid cysts, four serous cystadenoma and one ovarian fibroma. CONCLUSION: Utra-minilaparoptomy is feasible and safe minimally invasive strategy for managing patients with large ovarian cysts.
Blood Transfusion ; Body Mass Index ; Cystadenoma, Mucinous ; Cystadenoma, Serous ; Cystectomy ; Dermoid Cyst ; Female ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Length of Stay ; Operative Time ; Ovarian Cysts ; Ovariectomy ; Postoperative Complications ; Skin

PURPOSE: Thyroid cancer is the most common malignancy in Korean females and can be treated with good prognosis. However, drugs to treat aggressive types of thyroid cancer such as poorly differentiated or anaplastic thyroid cancer have not yet been established. To that end, we analyzed the effects of berberine on human thyroid cancer cell lines to determine whether this compound is useful in the treatment of aggressive thyroid cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The two thyroid cancer cell lines 8505C and TPC1, under adherent culture conditions, were treated with berberine and analyzed for changes in cell growth, cell cycle duration, and degree of apoptosis. RESULTS: Following berberine treatment, both cell lines showed a dose-dependent reduction in growth rate. 8505C cells showed significantly increased levels of apoptosis following berberine treatment, whereas TPC1 cells showed cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. Immunobloting of p-27 expression following berberine treatment showed that berberine induced a little up-regulation of p-27 in 8505c cells but relatively high up-regulation of p-27 in TPC1 cells. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that berberine treatment of thyroid cancer can inhibit proliferation through apoptosis and/or cell cycle arrest. Thus, berberine may be a novel anticancer drug for the treatment of poorly differentiated or anaplastic thyroid cancer.
Antineoplastic Agents/*pharmacology ; Apoptosis/drug effects ; Berberine/*pharmacology ; Cell Cycle/drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects ; Humans ; Thyroid Neoplasms/*metabolism

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to determine steroid sulfatase (STS) expression in endometrial cancer patients and its correlation with disease prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study in 59 patients who underwent surgery with histologically confirmed endometrial cancer from January 2000 to December 2011 at Hanyang University Hospital. Immuno-histochemical staining of STS was performed using rabbit polyclonal anti-STS antibody. RESULTS: Sixteen of the 59 patients (27.1%) were positive for STS expression. Disease free survival (DFS) was 129.83±8.67 [95% confidence interval (CI): 112.84-146.82] months in the STS positive group (group A) and 111.06±7.17 (95% CI: 97.01-125.10) months in the STS negative group (group B) (p=0.92). Overall survival (OS) was 129.01±9.38 (95% CI: 110.63-147.38) months and 111.16±7.10 (95% CI: 97.24-125.07) months for the groups A and B, respectively (p=0.45). Univariate analysis revealed that FIGO stage and adjuvant therapy are significantly associated with DFS and OS. However, in multivariate analysis, FIGO stage and adjuvant therapy did not show any statistical significance with DFS and OS. STS was also not significantly associated with DFS and OS in univariate and multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: STS expression was not significantly associated with DFS and OS, despite positive STS expression in 27% of endometrial cancer patients. Therefore, the role of STS as a prognostic factor in patients with endometrial cancer remains unclear and requires further research.
Adult ; Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Disease-Free Survival ; Endometrial Neoplasms/mortality/*surgery ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Steryl-Sulfatase/*metabolism ; Uterine Neoplasms/mortality/pathology/*surgery

Objective: Conditional relative survival (CRS) considers changes in prognosis over time and may offer more useful estimates for survivors. We aimed to investigate CRS among patients with cervical cancer stratified by various factors that influence survival probability. Methods: This nationwide retrospective study used data from the Korean Central Cancer Registry. We included 78,606 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer as their first cancer between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2015, and who were followed until December 31, 2016. CRS and the conditional probabilities of death for the following 1 year were stratified by age at diagnosis, histology, cancer stage, treatment, year of diagnosis, and social deprivation index. Results: The 5-year relative survival rate at the time of diagnosis was 80.6% for all cases. The probability of surviving an additional 5 years conditioned on having already survived 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years after diagnosis was 85.7%, 90.6%, 93.5%, 95.3%, and 94.3%, respectively.Patients with poorer initial survival estimates (older, advanced stage, non-squamous cell histology) generally showed the largest increases in CRS over time. Patients aged ≥70 years had the highest probability of death in the first year after diagnosis (24.5%), but the conditional probability of death in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th years declined abruptly to 13.1%, 7.5%, 5.4%, and 3.9%, respectively. Conclusions The CRS rates for patients with cervical cancer improved over time, particularly among patients with poorer initial prognoses. Our estimates enable patients to make better informed decisions regarding follow-up care and their personal life.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate 5-year conditional relative survival (5Y CRS) rates of endometrial cancer (EC) in Korea accounting for time already survived. Subgroup-specific estimates stratified by various patient characteristics were also presented. Methods: Using the data from the Korean Central Cancer Registry, 5Y CRS rates were calculated in patients who were diagnosed with EC between 1998 and 2017. The CRS rates were presented by year of diagnosis, age at diagnosis, histology, cancer stage, and treatment received. Results: The 5-year relative survival rate at the time of diagnosis was 89.0% for all cases. The probability of surviving an additional 5 years (i.e., 5Y CRS), if the patient survived 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years after diagnosis was 91.8%, 94.1%, 95.6%, 96.5%, and 97.3%, respectively. Patients with poor initial prognoses, i.e., those who were older, had non-endometrioid histology, and high stage, showed the largest improvements in 5Y CRS, reaching >90% for most subgroups, except those with serous histology (88.4%) and distant stage (77.7%). Patients aged ≥70 years had the highest probability of death in the 1st and 2nd years after diagnosis (13.8 and 11.0%), but the conditional probability of death in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th years declined rapidly to 7.3%, 4.5%, and 3.7%, respectively. Conclusion The CRS rates for patients with EC improved with increased time elapsed from diagnosis. The greatest improvements in 5Y CRS were observed among patients who were older, those with non-endometrioid histology, and those with more advanced disease.

Objective: We investigated the effects of fusidic acid (FA) on human cervical, thyroid, and breast carcinoma cell lines to determine the potential usefulness of FA in cancer treatment. Methods: Six cancer cell lines (cervical cancer: Caski, HeLa; thyroid cancer: 8505C, TPC1; and breast cancer: MCF-7, MDA-MB-231) were treated with FA. Furthermore the changes in cell growth, cell cycle duration, and extent of apoptosis were analyzed. Results: After FA treatment, the cancer cells showed a decrease in growth rate. In the cell death assay, the cell populations were similar in each cell type after treatment with FA, indicating that growth inhibition by FA was not related to the induction of apoptosis. FA induced cell cycle arrest at a dose that inhibited growth rate, which varied in different cell types. G0/G1 phase arrest occurs in breast cancer, S phase arrest in 8505C thyroid cancer, and G2/M phase arrest in cervical cancer. These results indicate that FA reduces growth rates by inducing cell cycle arrest. Conclusion FA treatment can interfere with cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest in human cervical, thyroid, and breast carcinoma cell lines. Thus, FA can be useful in treating human cervical, thyroid, and breast carcinomas.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the prognostic factors of secondary cytoreductive surgery on survival in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. METHODS: The medical records of all patients who underwent secondary cytoreductive surgery between May 2001 and October 2007 at the National Cancer Center, Korea were reviewed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were executed to evaluate the potential variables for overall survival. RESULTS: In total, 54 patients met the inclusion criteria. Optimal cytoreduction to <0.5 cm residual disease was achieved in 87% of patients who had received secondary cytoreductive surgery. Univariate analysis revealed that site of recurrence (median survival, 53 months for the largest tumors in the pelvis vs. 24 months for the largest tumors except for the pelvis; p=0.007), progression free survival (PFS) (median survival, 43 months for PFS> or =12 months vs. 24 months for PFS<12 months; p=0.036), and number of recurrence sites (median survival, 49 months for single recurred tumor vs 29 months for multiple recurred tumors; p=0.036) were significantly associated with overall survival. On multivariate analysis, prognostic factors that correlated with improved survival were site of recurrence (p=0.013), and PFS (p=0.043). CONCLUSION: In the author's analysis, a significant survival benefit was identified for the recurred largest tumors within the pelvis and PFS> or =12 months. Secondary cytoreductive surgery should be offered in selected patients and large prospective studies are needed to define the selection criteria for secondary cytoreductive surgery.
Disease-Free Survival ; Humans ; Korea ; Medical Records ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Patient Selection ; Pelvis ; Recurrence

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the presence of high risk-human papilloma virus (HR-HPV) after conization of the cervix was a risk factor for persistence or recurrence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and whether HR-HPV test could be a guideline for post-therapy surveillance. METHODS: The study retrospectively analyzed data from 243 patients who underwent LLETZ or CKC of the cervix due to CIN. RESULTS: A positive HR-HPV test result which was performed between 3 and 6 months after procedure was a risk factor for persistent or recurrent cytological (p<0.001, odds ratio [OR]=22.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]=9.74-52.02) and pathological (p<0.001, OR=18.28, 95% CI=5.55-60.20) abnormalities. CONCLUSION: HR-HPV positive patients between 3 and 6 months after procedure should undergo frequent and meticulous post-therapy surveillance, while HR-HPV negative patients do not require such high-level surveillance and could undergo routine surveillance.
Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia ; Cervix Uteri ; Conization ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Odds Ratio ; Papilloma ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Viruses