PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of additional 4-week chemotherapy with capecitabine during the resting periods after a 6-week neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. METHODS: Radiotherapy was delivered to the whole pelvis at a total dose of 50.4 Gy for 6 weeks. Oral capecitabine was administered at a dose of 825 mg/m2 twice daily for 10 weeks. Surgery was performed 2-4 weeks following the completion of chemotherapy. RESULTS: Between January 2010 and September 2011, 44 patients were enrolled. Forty-three patients underwent surgery, and 41 patients completed the scheduled treatment. Pathologic complete remission (pCR) was noted in 9 patients (20.9%). T down-staging and N down-staging were observed in 32 patients (74.4%) and 33 patients (76.7%), respectively. Grade 3 to 5 toxicity was noted in 5 patients (11.4%). The pCR rate was similar with the pCR rates obtained after conventional NCRT at our institute and at other institutes. CONCLUSION: This study showed that additional 4-week chemotherapy with capecitabine during the resting periods after 6-week NCRT was safe, but it was no more effective than conventional NCRT.
Chemoradiotherapy* ; Deoxycytidine ; Drug Therapy* ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Pelvis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rectal Neoplasms* ; Capecitabine

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of additional 4-week chemotherapy with capecitabine during the resting periods after a 6-week neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. METHODS: Radiotherapy was delivered to the whole pelvis at a total dose of 50.4 Gy for 6 weeks. Oral capecitabine was administered at a dose of 825 mg/m2 twice daily for 10 weeks. Surgery was performed 2-4 weeks following the completion of chemotherapy. RESULTS: Between January 2010 and September 2011, 44 patients were enrolled. Forty-three patients underwent surgery, and 41 patients completed the scheduled treatment. Pathologic complete remission (pCR) was noted in 9 patients (20.9%). T down-staging and N down-staging were observed in 32 patients (74.4%) and 33 patients (76.7%), respectively. Grade 3 to 5 toxicity was noted in 5 patients (11.4%). The pCR rate was similar with the pCR rates obtained after conventional NCRT at our institute and at other institutes. CONCLUSION: This study showed that additional 4-week chemotherapy with capecitabine during the resting periods after 6-week NCRT was safe, but it was no more effective than conventional NCRT.
Chemoradiotherapy* ; Deoxycytidine ; Drug Therapy* ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Pelvis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Rectal Neoplasms* ; Capecitabine

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of upper extremity musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases and to identify factors influencing disability among fruit tree farmers in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of the 1150 subjects of the Namgaram study, 460 fruit tree farmers completed a questionnaire and underwent clinical evaluations, including physical assessments, laboratory tests, simple radiographic examinations, and magnetic resonance imaging studies of the upper extremities. Disability was assessed using the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand outcome measure. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and regression analyses using SPSS Win 24.0. RESULTS: The prevalences of upper extremity MSK diseases were 60.4% for rotator cuff tear, 20.9% for golf elbow, 40.9% for tennis elbow, and 58.0% for hand osteoarthritis. Disability in fruit farmers was associated with female sex (B=−4.47, p<0.001), smoking (B=−4.00, p=0.026), depression (B=2.83, p<0.001), working hours (B=0.96, p=0.001), injuries of the arms (B=10.78, p<0.001) and shoulders (B=6.75, p<0.001), and numbers of upper extremity MSK diseases (B=2.02, p=0.001), with 26.5% of the variance explained (R2=0.265, Durbin-Watson test=1.81, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Fruit tree farmers remain at risk for MSK diseases of the upper extremities. Disability tended to worsen with more MSK diseases. It is necessary to not only educate farmers about prevention strategies, but also to develop an effective management system for agricultural work-related MSK diseases and a surveillance system at the government level for the health problems of farmers.
Arm ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Depression ; Elbow ; Farmers ; Female ; Fruit ; Golf ; Hand ; Humans ; Korea ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; Osteoarthritis ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Prevalence ; Rotator Cuff ; Shoulder ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Tears ; Tennis Elbow ; Trees ; Upper Extremity

BACKGROUND: In patients with mitral valvular disease with pulmonary hypertension (PHT) accompanying right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, mitral valve replacement (MVR) improves RV function and other hemodynamic variables in long term follow-up. However, there are controversies in improvement of RV function in the immediate postoperative period. We compared the RV function immediately after a MVR with a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) between patients with normal and decreased RV function with PHT preoperatively. METHODS: Twenty nine patients undergoing a MVR were included in the study. The patients (n = 14) with mean pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) < or = 25 mmHg were assigned to group I and the patients (n = 15) with mean PAP 25 mmHg were assigned to group II. A PAC with rapid response-thermistors which enables us to determine right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) was inserted in all patients and hemodynamic variables were measured before and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). RESULTS: After CPB, PAP, pulmonary vascular resistance index (PVRI), and RV end-diastolc volume (RVEDV) were significantly decreased and RVEF was significantly increased in group II compared with group I in which no hemodynamic variables were changed. CONCLUSIONS: A MVR decreased RV afterload and increased RV function more significantly in patients with preoperative PHT accompanying RV dysfunction than in patients with normal PAP preoperatively.
Arterial Pressure* ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Catheters ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Mitral Valve* ; Postoperative Period ; Pulmonary Artery ; Stroke Volume ; Vascular Resistance ; Ventricular Function, Right*