PURPOSE: Placenta growth factor (PlGF) is a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family. PlGF is implicated in several pathologic processes, including the growth and spread of cancer and tumor angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression and the clinical implications of PlGF in colorectal cancer. METHODS: In order to ascertain the clinical significance of PlGF expression in colorectal cancer, the researcher analyzed the expression pattern of PlGF by using an immunohistochemical method and attempted to establish if a relationship existed between PlGF expression and microvessel density (MVD), and subsequently between PlGF expression and the predicted prognosis. A total of 83 patients with colorectal cancer were included for immunohistochemical staining. Clinicopathological characteristics were defined according to the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) criteria of the Union for International Cancer Control. Clinicopathologic factors, such as age, sex, histological types of tumors, tumor cell grade, TNM stage, lymphovascular invasion, and lymph-node metastasis, were reviewed. RESULTS: In this study, the PlGF protein expression level was significantly correlated with MVD, patient survival, and clinicopathological factors such as lymph-node metastasis, TNM staging, lymphatic invasion and vascular invasion. CONCLUSION: PlGF may be an important angiogenic factor in human colorectal cancer, and in this study, PlGF expression level was significantly correlated with positive lymph-node metastases, tumor stage, and patient survival. These findings suggest that PlGF expression correlates with disease progression and may be used as a prognostic marker for colorectal cancer.
Angiogenesis Inducing Agents ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Microvessels ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Pathologic Processes ; Placenta ; Pregnancy Proteins ; Prognosis ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prognostic significance of the tumor volume reduction rate (TVRR) measured during adaptive definitive radiation therapy (RT) for nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the RT records of 159 NPC patients treated with definitive RT with or without concurrent chemotherapy between January 2006 and February 2013. Adaptive re-planning was performed in all patients at the third week of RT. The pre- and mid-RT gross tumor volumes (GTVs) of the primary tumor and the metastatic lymph nodes were measured and analyzed for prognostic implications. RESULTS: After a median follow-up period of 41.5 months (range, 11.2 to 91.8 months) for survivors, there were 43 treatment failures. The overall survival and progression-free survival (PFS) rates at 5 years were 89.6% and 69.7%, respectively. The mean pre-RT GTV, mid-RT GTV, and TVRR were 45.9 cm3 (range, 1.5 to 185.3 cm3), 26.7 cm3 (1.0 to 113.8 cm3), and -41.9% (range, -87% to 78%), respectively. Patients without recurrence had higher TVRR than those with recurrence (44.3% in the no recurrence group vs. 34.0% in the recurrence group, p=0.004), and those with TVRR > 35% achieved a significantly higher rate of PFS at 5 years (79.2% in TVRR > 35% vs. 53.2% in TVRR ≤ 35%; p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, TVRR was a significant factor affecting PFS (hazard ratio, 2.877; 95% confidence interval, 1.555 to 5.326; p=0.001). CONCLUSION: TVRR proved to be a significant prognostic factor in NPC patients treated with definitive RT, and could be used as a potential indicator for early therapeutic modification during the RT course.
Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Multivariate Analysis ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms* ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Survivors ; Treatment Failure ; Tumor Burden*

PURPOSE: High dose definitive radiation therapy (RT) alone is recommended to patients with cT1-3N0 non-small cell lung cancer, who are unfit for surgery or stereotactic RT. This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness following RT alone using two different modest hypofractionation dose schemes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between 2001 and 2014, 124 patients underwent RT alone. From 2001 till 2010, 60 Gy in 20 fractions was delivered to 79 patients (group 1). Since 2011, 60 Gy in 20 fractions (group 2, 20 patients), and 60 Gy in 15 fractions (group 3, 25 patients) were selectively chosen depending on estimated risk of esophagitis. RESULTS: At follow-up of 16.7 months, 2-year rates of local control, progression-free survival, and overall survival were 62.6%, 39.1%, and 59.1%, respectively. Overall survival was significantly better in group 3 (p=0.002). In multivariate analyses, cT3 was the most powerful adverse factor affecting clinical outcomes. Incidence and severity of radiation pneumonitis were not different among groups, while no patients developed grade 2 esophagitis in group 3 (p=0.003). Under current Korean Health Insurance Policy, RT cost per person was 22.5% less in group 3 compared with others. CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrated that 60 Gy in 15 fractions instead of 60 Gy in 20 fractions resulted in comparable clinical outcomes with excellent safety, direct cost saving, and improved convenience to the patients with tumors located at ≥ 1.5 cm from the esophagus.
Appointments and Schedules* ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Cost Savings ; Disease-Free Survival ; Dose Fractionation ; Esophagitis ; Esophagus ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insurance, Health ; Multivariate Analysis ; Radiation Pneumonitis ; Radiotherapy

Pneumothroax may occur during and after general anesthesia unexpectedly, and the diagnosis may be difficult when the manifestations are non-specific. An early diagnosis and treatment is important to prevent tension pneumothorax. Pneumothorax can be occurred from injury to the chest wall, airway, lung, and diaphragm. We report a case of a 50-year-old female patient who underwent segmentectomy of liver under general anesthesia and developed pneumothorax after restoration of spontaneous respiration from unexpected diaphragm injury.
Anesthesia, General ; Diaphragm ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Liver ; Lung ; Mastectomy, Segmental ; Middle Aged ; Pneumothorax ; Respiration ; Thoracic Wall

A 28-year old woman in DM (Ed note: Define DM) and chronic renal failure underwent an uneventful open reduction and internal fixation for an ankle fracture under spinal anesthesia. PCA with fentanyl and tramadol was started in the operating room with a background infusion of 2 ml/hr (10 microgram/h of fentanyl and 6 mg/h of tramadol), a bolus dose of 2 ml and a lockout interval of fifteen minutes. Approximately eight hours after initiating PCA the patient was found unresponsive in the ward with respiratory failure. Resuscitation was started with endotracheal intubation and cardiac massage with an injection of epinephrine and atropine. The patient made a full and immediate recovery two hours later.
Analgesia, Patient-Controlled ; Anesthesia, Spinal ; Animals ; Ankle ; Atropine ; Epinephrine ; Female ; Fentanyl ; Heart Massage ; Humans ; Intubation, Intratracheal ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Operating Rooms ; Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Resuscitation ; Tramadol

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the treatment outcomes of locally recurrent nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) patients following moderate hypo-fractionation re-irradiation (re-RT). Materials and Methods: Sixty locally recurrent NPC patients underwent hypo-fractionation re-RT. Forty-eight point three percentage had rT3-4, and 30.0% did keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), with or without intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT), was used in 66.7% of patients. Results: With the median follow-up of 22 months (range, 2 to 254 months), 31 patients (51.7%) died, 38 (63.3%) developed further treatment failure, and 30 (50.0%) developed ≥ grade 3 toxicity (including seven grade 5) at time of analysis. The 2- and 5-year rates of overall survival, local failure-free survival, and ≥ grade 3 toxicity-free survival were 57.9% and 45.8%, 64.1% and 52.5%, and 54.8% and 44.9%, respectively. In multivariate analyses, worse factors for overall survival (OS) were iT3-4 (p=0.010) and age at re-RT ≥ 53 years (p=0.003), those for local failure-free survival (LFFS) were rT3-4 (p=0.022) and rN0-1 (p=0.035), and those for toxicity-free survival (TFS) were iT3-4 (p=0.020) and re-IMRT/IMPT (p=0.030), respectively. Cumulative dose or fraction size ≥ 3 Gy at re-RT, however, showed no significance for OS, LFFS and TFS. Conclusion Current re-RT with modern RT techniques by moderate hypo-fractionation scheme seemed feasible in treating locally recurrent NPC patients.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes and toxicities of salvage proton beam therapy (PBT) in patients with locoregional recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 53 patients who received salvage PBT for locoregionally recurrent NSCLC between January 2016 and December 2019. The median clinical target volume (CTV) was 71.2 cm3 (range, 13.3 to 1,200.7 cm3). The median prescribed dose was 64.0 cobalt gray equivalent (CGE) (range, 45.0 to 70.0 CGE). One-third of the patients (32.1%) received concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Results: The patients’ median age was 67 years (range, 44 to 86 years). The initial treatments were surgery in 31 (58.5%), definitive CCRT in 12 (22.6%), and definitive radiotherapy in 10 (18.9%) patients. The median disease-free interval (DFI) was 14 months (range, 3 to 112 months). Thirty-seven patients (69.8%) had a previous radiotherapy history. Among them, 18 patients (48.7%) had in-field recurrence. The median follow-up time after salvage PBT was 15.0 months (range, 3.5 to 49.3 months). During the follow-up period, 26 patients (49.1%) experienced disease progression: local in 13 (24.5%), regional in 14 (26.5%), and distant metastases in 15 (26.5%). The 2-year overall survival (OS) rate, local control rate, and progression-free survival rate were 79.2%, 68.2%, and 37.1%, respectively. Shorter DFI (≤12 months; p = 0.015) and larger CTV (>80 mL; p = 0.014) were associated with poor OS. Grade 3 toxicities occurred in 8 patients (15.1%): esophagitis in 2, dermatitis in 3, and pulmonary toxicities in 4. Conclusion Salvage PBT for locoregionally recurrent NSCLC was effective, and treatment-related toxicities were tolerable.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes and toxicities of salvage proton beam therapy (PBT) in patients with locoregional recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 53 patients who received salvage PBT for locoregionally recurrent NSCLC between January 2016 and December 2019. The median clinical target volume (CTV) was 71.2 cm3 (range, 13.3 to 1,200.7 cm3). The median prescribed dose was 64.0 cobalt gray equivalent (CGE) (range, 45.0 to 70.0 CGE). One-third of the patients (32.1%) received concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT). Results: The patients’ median age was 67 years (range, 44 to 86 years). The initial treatments were surgery in 31 (58.5%), definitive CCRT in 12 (22.6%), and definitive radiotherapy in 10 (18.9%) patients. The median disease-free interval (DFI) was 14 months (range, 3 to 112 months). Thirty-seven patients (69.8%) had a previous radiotherapy history. Among them, 18 patients (48.7%) had in-field recurrence. The median follow-up time after salvage PBT was 15.0 months (range, 3.5 to 49.3 months). During the follow-up period, 26 patients (49.1%) experienced disease progression: local in 13 (24.5%), regional in 14 (26.5%), and distant metastases in 15 (26.5%). The 2-year overall survival (OS) rate, local control rate, and progression-free survival rate were 79.2%, 68.2%, and 37.1%, respectively. Shorter DFI (≤12 months; p = 0.015) and larger CTV (>80 mL; p = 0.014) were associated with poor OS. Grade 3 toxicities occurred in 8 patients (15.1%): esophagitis in 2, dermatitis in 3, and pulmonary toxicities in 4. Conclusion Salvage PBT for locoregionally recurrent NSCLC was effective, and treatment-related toxicities were tolerable.

Purpose: This retrospective study aimed to compare clinical outcomes and dosimetric parameters between radiation therapy (RT) techniques in patients with thymic epithelial tumor (TET). Materials and Methods: From January 2016 to December 2020, 101 patients with TET received adjuvant RT (median, 52.8 Gy; range, 48.4 to 66.0). Three different RT techniques were compared: three-dimensional conformal RT (3D-CRT; n = 59, 58.4%), intensity-modulated RT (IMRT; n = 23, 22.8%), and proton beam therapy (PBT; n = 19, 18.8%). Results: The median age of the patients and the follow-up period were 55 years (range, 28 to 79) and 43.4 months (range, 7.7 to 77.2). Patients in the PBT group were of the youngest age (mean age, 45.4 years), while those in IMRT group had the largest clinical target volume (mean volume, 149.6 mL). Patients in the PBT group had a lower mean lung dose (4.4 Gy vs. 7.6 Gy vs. 10.9 Gy, respectively; p < 0.001), lower mean heart dose (5.4 Gy vs. 10.0 Gy vs. 13.1 Gy, respectively; p = 0.003), and lower mean esophageal dose than patients in the 3D-CRT and IMRT groups (6.3 Gy vs. 9.8 Gy vs. 13.5 Gy, respectively; p = 0.011). Twenty patients (19.8%) showed disease recurrence, and seven patients (6.9%) died. The differences in the survival rates between RT groups were not statistically significant. Conclusion In patients with TET who underwent adjuvant RT, PBT resulted in a lower dose of exposure to adjacent organs at risk. Survival outcomes for patients in PBT group were not significantly different from those in other groups.

BACKGROUND: The hindlimb unweighting (HLU) rat model mimics cardiovascular deconditioning following microgravity or human bed rest, particularly for the development of orthostatic intolerance. We have examined vascular responses to alpha1 adrenergic and non-alpha1 adrenergic agonists in vitro. We have also explored the reversibility of the contractile abnormalities observed. METHODS: Dose-response curves were generated to phenylephrine (PE) and norepinephrine (NE) (10(-9) to 10(-4) M), U46619 (U4) (10(-10) to 10(-6) M) at one-half log order intervals in controls (n = 6), HLU (n = 6), or recovered rats (n = 6). EC(50)s and maximal responses (E(max)) were calculated by nonlinear logistic regression analysis with PRIZM software (Graphpad, Mountain View, CA). RESULTS: Simulated microgravity results in attenuated contractile responses to both alpha1 adrenergic and non-alpha1 adrenergic agonists, but the impaired contractile phenomenon reverses with time. CONCLUSIONS: The decreased vascular reactivity after microgravity and prolonged bed rest could cause attenuated baroreflex function and produce orthostatic intolerance, but that problem resolved with time.
15-Hydroxy-11 alpha,9 alpha-(epoxymethano)prosta-5,13-dienoic Acid ; Adrenergic Agonists ; Animals ; Baroreflex ; Bed Rest ; Cardiovascular Deconditioning ; Hindlimb ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Norepinephrine ; Orthostatic Intolerance ; Phenylephrine ; Rats ; Weightlessness