No abstract available.
Lymphoma, T-Cell* ; Nasal Cavity* ; T-Lymphocytes*

Hepatoma is one of the frequent cancers in Korea with an extremely poor prognosis. The prognostic factors in hepatoma are presence of venous invasion, multiplicity, size, and curative resection, but all things about prognosis are not elucidated yet. DNA ploidy pattern is one of the possible prognostic factors in HCC. Moreover, the study on DNA ploidy in Korean HCC is very scarce, so we studied DNA ploidy pattern in Korean HCC patients. We used formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues from resected hepatoma specimens and the DNA ploidy was analysed with a flow cytometry system. Of the total 40 cases studied, 27 cases(67.5%) showed evaluable Coefficient of Variation(CV) level(less than 10). Among them 13 cases(48.1%) had an aneuploidy pattern. There were significant correlations between DNA ploidy and tumor size, presence of portal thrombi and TNM stage, although other conventional clinicopathologic prognostic factors did not show any significant correlation with DNA ploidy. In cases of tumors larger than 5 cm or presence of portal vein invasion, aneuploidy pattern was more frequently detected(p<0.05). But the prognostic significance of DNA ploidy pattern was not detected in resected hepatoma patients(p>0.1). Because of some limitation of paraffin-embedded tissue in flowcytometric analysis and heterogeneity of DNA ploidy pattern in HCC, we think that we should study multiple fresh samples in a prospective manner.
Aneuploidy ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; DNA* ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Korea ; Ploidies* ; Population Characteristics ; Portal Vein ; Prognosis

PURPOSE: Primary sarcoma and SMC (sarcomatous metaplastic carcinoma) of the breast are very rare tumors, accounting for less than 1% of all breast malignancies. There are many controversies concerning the biological characteristics, prognosis and optimal treatment of these tumors owing to the rarity of incidence. The aims of this study were to elucidate the clinicopathologic characteristics of these tumors and to assist in elucidating the optimal treatment plan for the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 13 cases of primary sarcoma and 10 cases of SMC that had been treated at KCCH between 1984 and 2001 were retrospectively reviewed. Phyllodes tumors were excluded from our study. RESULTS: Among the 13 cases of primary sarcoma included, stromal sarcoma occurred in 5 cases, osteosarcoma in 3 cases, angiosarcoma in 3 cases and spindle cell sarcoma in 2 cases. The mean age of the patients with primary sarcoma and SMC was 39.7 years and 55.1 years respectively (p=0.002). When survival rates were compared according to histologic types, size of tumor, histologic grade, type of surgery and use of adjuvant therapy, both size of tumor (p=0.0256) and histologic grade (p=0.0197) were shown to be prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: There were no significantly different features between primary sarcoma and SMC in terms of biologic characteristics or survival rates, with the exception that patients with SMC were older than those with primary sarcoma. Histologic grade and size of tumor were significant prognostic factors of these tumors.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast* ; Hemangiosarcoma ; Humans ; Incidence ; Osteosarcoma ; Phyllodes Tumor ; Population Characteristics ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Sarcoma* ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: Malignant phyllodes tumors are rare breast tumors. Information on the prognosis and optimal treatment of these lesions is not yet sufficient. The aim of this study was to determine parameters that predict the recurrence of malignant phyllodes tumors of the breast. METHODS: Retrospectively, we reviewed the medical records and pathological slides of 23 patients with malignant phyllodes tumors that had undergone surgical treatment from 1988 to 2006. The age of the patients, tumor size, type of surgery, resection margin, adjuvant therapy and pathological characteristics of the tumors such as stromal hypercellularity, cellular phleomorphism, mitosis, margins, and stromal pattern were examined. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 41 yr. The tumor size ranged from 1 cm to 25 cm, with a median of 7.42 cm. The median follow-up time was 29.0 months. Recurrence was observed in 6 patients (26.1%) and the 5-yr disease free survival was 48.9%. Risk factors for recurrence of a malignant phyllodes tumor were a mitotic index greater than 10 per high-powered field (p=0.0242) and an invasive margin (p=0.0437). CONCLUSION: Frequent mitosis and an invasive margin were the principal determinants of recurrence. Patients with poor prognostic components should be treated more aggressively and the patients need more close follow-up.
Breast Neoplasms ; Breast* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Mitosis ; Mitotic Index ; Phyllodes Tumor* ; Prognosis ; Recurrence* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors*

Purpose: The incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) has increased, and staging and optimal therapeutic approaches are challenging. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the controversial treatment policy of stage T2 OPC according to the N category and determine the opinions of multidisciplinary experts in Korea. Materials and Methods: Five OPC scenarios were developed by the Subcommittee on Oropharyngeal Treatment Guidelines of the Korean Society for Head and Neck Oncology and distributed to experts of multidisciplinary treatment hospitals. Results: Sixty-five experts from 45 institutions responded. For the HPV-positive T2N0M0 scenario, 67.7% of respondents selected surgery followed by definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) or radiotherapy alone. For the T2N1M0 HPV-positive scenario, there was a notable difference in the selection of primary treatment by expert specialty; 53.9% of respondents selected surgery and 39.8% selected definitive CCRT as the primary treatment. For the T2N3M0 advanced HPV-positive scenario, 50.0% of respondents selected CCRT and 33.3% considered induction chemotherapy (IC) as the primary treatment. CCRT and IC were significantly more frequently selected for the HPV-related OPC cases (p=0.010). The interdepartmental variability showed that the head and neck surgeons and medical oncologists favored surgery, whereas the radiation oncologists preferably selected definitive CCRT (p < 0.001). Conclusion In this study, surgery was preferred for lymph node-negative OPC, and as lymph node metastasis progressed, CCRT tended to be preferred, and IC was administered. Clinical practice patterns by stage and HPV status showed differences according to expert specialty. Multidisciplinary consensus guidelines will be essential in the future.