PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess the oncologic outcomes after a laparoscopic resection in rectal cancer patients with minimum 2-year follow-up. METHODS: Among the 312 patients undergoing a laparoscopic rectal cancer resection between Jan. 2000 and Dec. 2004 at Hansol Hospital, 110 patients who had been followed-up for longer than 24 months (mean 33, range 24~56) after the curative resection were included in this study. Two patients (1.8%) received preoperative chemoradiation. Five patients (4.5%) received radiotherapy postoperatively. RESULTS: TNM stage was 0 in 5 patients, I in 25 (22.7%), II in 35 (31.8%), and III in 45 (40.9%). The T stage was as follows; Tis:T1:T2:T3:T4=4.5%:3.6%:25.5%:40.9%:25.5%. A protective ileostomy was performed in nine patients. The mean operative time was 208 minutes, and the mean blood loss was 179 ml. The mean number of removed lymph nodes was 18, and the mean distal margin was 3.0 cm. The radial margin was positive in one case. Conversion was required in three cases (2.7%). The overall morbidity rate was 17.2%. Anastomotic leak age occurred in five patients (5.5%). There was no operative mortality. During 33 months of mean follow-up, distant metastases and local recurrence were seen in 17 (15.5%) and 5 patients (4.5%), respectively. None had port-site recurrence. For the 94 patients with rectal cancer within 12 cm from the anal verge, the rate of local recurrence was 5.3%. The overall survival rate was 88.9% at 3 years (stage 0, I: 100.0%, stage II: 100.0%, stage III: 72.6%). The disease free survival rate was 78.8% at 3 years (stage 0, I: 100.0%, stage II: 88.6%, stage III: 56.9%). CONCLUSIONS: A laparoscopic resection of rectal cancer provides an acceptable safety profile. If the highly selective indications for radiotherapy (6.3%) and the rather high volume of advanced cancers (stage III 40.9%, T3/4 66.4%) of this study are considered, a 4.5% local recurrence rate is promising. Optimal surgery for rectal cancer by using a laparoscopic technique may reduce the need for radiotherapy.
Anastomotic Leak ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Ileostomy ; Lymph Nodes ; Mortality ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Operative Time ; Radiotherapy ; Rectal Neoplasms* ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate

Background/Aims: For the management of hilar malignant biliary obstruction (HMBO), endoscopic biliary drainage (EBD) is preferred over percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) because of its convenience. However, there is no established guideline for malignant hilar obstruction that requires multiple stenting. In this study, we compared the efficacy of bilateral metal stents (BMS) versus multiple plastic stents (MPS). Methods: In this retrospective study, we analyzed 102 patients who underwent EBD with either BMS or MPS due to HMBO caused by hilar cholangiocarcinoma between 1996 and 2018 at Samsung Medical Center. We compared the successful drainage rates, cholangitis events, overall complications, mortality, and conversion rates to PTBD between the two groups. Results: The successful drainage rates in the BMS group and the MPS group were 71.4% (25/35) and 65.6% (44/67), respectively, with no significant difference. The MPS group had a higher cholangitis risk (hazard ratio [HR], 2.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21 to 3.58) and higher 6-month mortality (HR, 2.91; 95% CI, 1.26 to 6.71) than the BMS group. There were no significant differences in overall complications or the conversion rate to PTBD between the groups. Conclusions In patients with malignant HMBO, the BMS group showed better outcomes in terms of the cholangitis rate and 6-month mortality than the MPS group. Therefore, if possible, bilateral metal stenting is recommended for HMBO caused by hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

PURPOSE: The first treatment of choice for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is radiotherapy as NPC is more responsive to radiotherapy than any other head and neck cancer. We analyzed the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of NPC patients treated at the Severance Hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Charts of 123 patients diagnosed with NPC at the Severance Hospital from 1995 to 2002 were reviewed and retrospectively analyzed. They were staged according to the 1997 AJCC criteria. According to the WHO classification, the type I included 14 cases, type II 44 cases, and type III 65 cases. Sixty-five cases were treated with radiotherapy only and 58 cases were treated with a combined modality of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. RESULTS: The factors for a poor prognosis were age over 47 years' old, histologic findings of WHO type I and advanced T, N stage. The overall 5 year survival rate was 66.22%. According to treatment modality, only the radiotherapy group was 68.6%, while the chemoradiotherapy group was 63.6%. There was no difference in survival (p>0.05). In chemoradiotherapy group, the survival of induction chemoradiotherapy group was 82.1% and the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group was 36.8%. There was significant difference in survival. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in the 5 year survival rate between the patients who were treated with radiotherapy only and those who were treated with both radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Chemoradiotherapy ; Classification ; Drug Therapy ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Humans ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Treatment Outcome*

PURPOSE: A multidisciplinary program for early recovery after colorectal surgery has been developed continuously since 2000. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the standardized postoperative enhanced recovery program (SPERP) after a colorectal resection. METHODS: The patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal resection for colorectal cancer were cared for by using the SPERP after surgery. The comparison group consisted of patients who had undergone similar surgery before establishment of the SPERP. The two groups were compared with respect to the patients' characteristics, operation methods, operation time, blood loss, amounts of intravenous fluid and intravenous antibiotics, complications, postoperative hospital stay, readmission rate, and reoperation rate. RESULTS: The number of patients being treated with the standardized postoperative recovery program, the standardized group (SG), was 63, and that of the traditional group (TG) was 61. Even though the day of oral feeding (1.02 vs. 2.67 days) was faster in the SG, the day of flatus and defecation was not different between two groups. The postoperative hospital stay in the SG (6.76 days) was significantly shorter than that in the TG (10.43 days). The total amount of intravenous fluid after surgery in the SG was 8,574.75 mL, compared with 19,568.22 mL in the TG. The duration of intravenous antibiotics was 2.69 days in the SG and 7.38 days in the TG (P=0.0001). The rates of complication (27.0% in SG vs. 39.3% in TG), reoperation (3.17% vs. 9.84%), and readmission (7.94% vs. 6.56%) did not increase after implementation of this program. CONCLUSION: The standardized postoperative recovery program reduced the amounts of postoperative intravenous fluid and antibiotics and the postoperative hospital stay without increasing either complications or the readmission rate. A prospective multi-center study of this program is needed.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Colorectal Surgery ; Defecation ; Flatulence ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Postoperative Complications ; Reoperation

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic herniorrhaphy (LH) has an advantage for evaluating the viability of incarcerated bowel. In this retrospective study, we aimed to review the data for use of the TEP technique in treating incarcerated hernias in order to document the feasibility of the laparoscopic procedure. METHODS: During a 2-year period from January 2008 to December 2009, one surgeon (C.S) at our institution operated on 27 patients with acutely (n=3) or chronically (n=24) incarcerated hernia. Incarcerated hernias were divided into acute or chronic types arbitrarily, based on who had symptoms of acute abdominal pain and signs of intestinal obstruction. For acute cases, the TEP procedure was done following laparoscopic transperitoneal evaluation to assess viability of the incarcerated bowel. RESULTS: All patients except one having a femoral hernia were male. Mean age was 41 years old (range, 25~75). No case converted from a laparoscopic to an open procedure. Two acute incarcerated cases contained a segment of small bowel and the other contained small bowel and omentum. All acute cases were operated on successfully on an emergency basis by laparoscopic TEP repair. All chronic cases contained omentum without bowel. In one case of acute and seven cases of chronic type, a small inguinal incision was made to reduce hernia contents. No recurrence was noticed at a mean of 13 months of follow-up. CONCLUSION: If there is no entrapment of bowel in chronic incarcerated cases, the TEP procedure will be satisfactory. It may be reasonable, however, to evaluate viability of bowel transperitoneally before doing a TEP procedure in acute cases.
Abdominal Pain ; Emergencies ; Hernia ; Hernia, Femoral ; Hernia, Inguinal ; Herniorrhaphy ; Humans ; Imidazoles ; Intestinal Obstruction ; Laparoscopy ; Male ; Nitro Compounds ; Omentum ; Pyrazines ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic herniorrhaphy (LH) can be used to examine the asymptomatic contralateral side and repair occult contralateral hernias coincidentally with reduced morbidity. In this prospective study, we evaluated the results of diagnostic exploration of the right side during total extraperitoneal (TEP) laparoscopic repair of left side inguinal hernias. METHODS: A prospective study of 100 consecutive male patients undergoing TEP repair by a single surgeon (C.S) between January and June 2008 was conducted. Two cases that had transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) prosthetic repair and one intraperitoneal onlay mesh (IPOM) were excluded. We routinely explored the contralateral side to determine the incidence of right side occult hernia. RESULTS: The mean age was 52 (range; 18~82 years). Among the 100 patients, 17 had bilateral, 52 right and 31 left hernias on physical examination prior to surgery. Three of 31 diagnosed preoperatively as left inguinal hernia were confirmed to have occult right hernias (3/31, 9.7%). Among the three patients, two patients with a direct type had the same type of hernia as on the contralateral side (2/10, 20%). Another one patient with an indirect type had direct type of hernia on the contralateral side (1/21, 4.8%). CONCLUSION: Given the low incidence of contralateral side occult hernia with indirect types of hernias, routine exploration may not be indicated during TEP repair. However, it might be, reasonable to explore the contralateral side in patients with a direct type of hernia because of the higher incidence of contralateral occult hernias.
Hernia ; Hernia, Inguinal ; Herniorrhaphy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Inlays ; Male ; Physical Examination ; Prospective Studies ; Pyrazines

PURPOSE: As a common and dangerous disease, an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) occurs in approximately 2-4% of the general population and recently the incidence of AAA has been gradually increasing in Korea. Since rupture of an AAA is recognized as a lethal event, a more aggressive policy of early diagnosis and of an elective repair of the AAA are that can be performed with a mortality rate of less than 5 percent is the approach of choice for treating an AAA nowadays. METHODS: This retrospective study reports our experience managing forty-two patients with an AAA who had been operated on between January 1993 and December 1999 at Korea University hospitals. RESULTS: Thirty- seven of the patients were male, and five were female. The mean age was 67.1 years. The most common clinical manifestation was abdominal pain in 26 cases (61.9%), followed by abdominal pulsatile mass in 20 cases (47.6%), and back pain in 12 cases (28.5%). The most common associated disease was hypertension in 24 cases (57.1%). An abdominal CT scan was performed in 26 cases (61.9%) and was the most commonly used method for diagnosis. Emergency repair of the AAA was performed in 10 cases; the repair was performed electively in the other cases. Among the 42 aortic grafts implanted for AAA repair, 37 were bifurcated Y grafts and 4 were straight tube grafts. Axillobifemoral bypass surgery was performed in the case of one infected aneurysm. Among the 42 cases, 10 cases (23.8%) experienced ruptures, requiring 4 urgent operation and 6 emergency procedures. Among the 42 cases, 6 patients (14.2%) expired. In the elective cases, one (3.1%) expired. In the urgent cases, one (25.0%) expired, and in the emergency cases, four (66.6%) expired. CONCLUSION: This study showed that an AAA should be considered as a possible cause of unexplained abdominal pain in aged patients. In such patients, various diagnostic tools must be used to eliminate the possibility of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Early diagnosis and elective surgery are crucial for a better outcome in the management of patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Abdominal Pain ; Aneurysm, Infected ; Aortic Aneurysm ; Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal* ; Aortic Rupture ; Back Pain ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Emergencies ; Female ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Mortality ; Retrospective Studies ; Rupture ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Transplants

PURPOSE: The long-term results of a laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer have been reported in several studies, but reports on the results of laparoscopic surgery for rectal cancer are limited. We investigated the long-term outcomes, including the five-year overall survival, disease-free survival and recurrence rate, after a laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer. METHODS: Using prospectively collected data on 303 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent a laparoscopic resection between January 2001, and December 2003, we analyzed sex, age, stage, complications, hospital stay, mean operation time and blood loss. The overall survival rate, disease-free survival rate and recurrence rate were investigated for 271 patients who could be followed for more than three years. RESULTS: Tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage I cancer was present in 55 patients (18.1%), stage II in 116 patients (38.3%), stage III in 110 patients (36.3%), and stage IV in 22 patients (7.3%). The mean operative time was 200 minutes (range, 100 to 535 minutes), and the mean blood loss was 97 mL (range, 20 to 1,200 mL). The mean hospital stay was 11 days and the mean follow-up period was 54 months. The mean numbers of resected lymph nodes were 26 and 21 in the colon and the rectum, respectively, and the mean distal margins were 10 and 3 cm. The overall morbidity rate was 26.1%. The local recurrence rates were 2.2% and 4.4% in the colon and the rectum, respectively, and the distant recurrence rates were 7.8% and 22.5%. The five-year overall survival rates were 86.1% in the colon (stage I, 100%; stage II, 97.6%; stage III, 77.5%; stage IV, 16.7%) and 68.8% in the rectum (stage I, 90.2%; stage II, 84.0%; stage III, 57.6; stage IV, 13.3%). The five-year disease-free survival rates were 89.8% in the colon (stage I, 100%; stage II, 97.7%; stage III, 74.2%) and 74.5% in the rectum (stage I, 90.0%; stage II, 83.9%; stage III, 59.2%). CONCLUSION: Laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer is a good alternative method to open surgery with tolerable oncologic long-term results.
Colon ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Disease-Free Survival ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Lymph Nodes ; Operative Time ; Prospective Studies ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Rectum ; Recurrence ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: Presently, a multidisciplinary team of doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and dietitians provides patient education to impart information on chemotherapy. However, studies on multidisciplinary education satisfaction are inadequate. In this study, we aimed to contribute to the improvement of quality of multidisciplinary education counseling for patients with cancer by developing a satisfaction questionnaire and analyzing the satisfaction survey. METHODS: A questionnaire was developed by an expert group, and the responses were recorded using the 5-point Likert scale. After conducting a pre-test, factor analysis was performed to evaluate validity. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. A satisfaction survey was conducted by self-administration method. RESULTS: Based on the results of factor analysis, factors can be divided into two parts: “overall education” and “each team member's education” (total 14 questions). The construct validity and reliability of the questionnaire are sufficiently high. Fifty-one patients took the survey between January 2, 2018 and January 20, 2018. Twenty-six (51%) patients responded that they were “very satisfied” and 22 (43.1%) patients responded that they were “satisfied”. CONCLUSION: By developing a questionnaire on multidisciplinary education counseling for patients with cancer, it is possible to perform evaluation and research of cancer patient education. This study will contribute to the management and improvement of quality of multidisciplinary education.
Counseling ; Drug Therapy ; Education ; Humans ; Interdisciplinary Communication ; Methods ; Nutritionists ; Patient Education as Topic ; Pharmacists ; Reproducibility of Results

Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is a highly curable disease, but the prognosis for relapsed/refractory cHL is grave. Pembrolizumab has recently shown impressive effects in patients with relapsed/refractory cHL in a phase Ib study (KEYNOTE-013). This report presents a case of a 17-year-old male with refractory cHL who received multiple chemotherapy regimens and radiotherapies, including brentuximab vedotin. Following both the second and fourth cycles of intravenous pembrolizumab 100 mg (2 mg/kg), positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan showed progression. However, because performance status and fever improved, treatment was continued, and complete remission was confirmed by PET/CT after eight cycles of pembrolizumab. This case suggests that clinicians need to be aware of the potential for pseudoprogression in patients treated with pembrolizumab.
Adolescent ; Drug Therapy ; Electrons ; Fever ; Hodgkin Disease* ; Humans ; Male ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy