Both duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer are common, and it is well known that the pathophysiology of the two is different. The presence of a duodenal ulcer is believed to protect against the development of a gastric malignancy. However gastric cancer may occur in the presence of active or chronic duodenal ulcer disease. Although rare in incidence of coexistence of duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer, physician must be alert to the strange association of duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer. Here, we present 3 cases with coexistence of duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer, diagnosed by endoscopy.
Duodenal Ulcer* ; Endoscopy ; Incidence ; Stomach Neoplasms*

BACKGROUND: New therapeutic modalities such as high dose chemotherapy and stem cell support have been tried to prolong the survival period of the patients with multiple myeloma. However, little is known about the criteria for the application of those new therapies. There are only a few reports for the prognostic factors of multiple myeloma in Korea. The purpose of this study is to analyze the prognostic factors affecting chemotherapy response and survival in patients with multiple myeloma. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed the clinical records of 122 patients who were newly diagnosed as multiple myeloma by SWOG criteria, between November, 1989 and April, 1997 at Asan Medical Center. RESULTS: 1) The peak incidence was the 7th decade and male to female ratio was 1.3:1. The most common presenting symptom at first diagnosis was bone pain. 2) Initial clinical stage was as followed: stage I in 17.2% , stage II in 16.4% and 66.4% in III. The immunoglobulin classes were IgG in 51.6%, light chain only in 25.4%, IgA in 16.4%, IgD in 4.1%, and non-secretory type in 2.5%. Plasma cell types in bone marrow were classified as plasmablastic type in 45.9%, plasmacytic type in 54.1%. 3) Eighty two patients who recieved chemotherapy more than 3 cycles were evaluable for chemotherapy response. Overall response rate was 69.5%. Factors affecting response to chemotherapy were serum creatinine level, plasma cell type, total plasma cell percentage and plasmablast percentasge of total nucleated cells in bone marrow. 4) For total 122 patients, overall median survival period was 21 months, and estimated 5 year survival rate was 23.5%. Factors affecting survival were serum creatinine, corrected calcium, albumin, beta2-microglobulin level, response to chemotherapy, total plasma cell percentage and plasmablast percentage in bone marrow. CONCLUSION: Bone marrow findings at initial diagnosis are significantly associated with response to chemotherapy and survival duration.
Bone Marrow ; Calcium ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Creatinine ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy* ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin D ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin Isotypes ; Incidence ; Korea ; Male ; Multiple Myeloma* ; Plasma Cells ; Retrospective Studies ; Stem Cells ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: Although high dose chemotherapy coupled with an autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is widely accepted as effective therapy for multiple myeloma (MM), few reports are available in Korea, especially in the area of double ASCT. We present the results of an institutional retrospective study of 12 patients with MM treated by double ASCT. METHODS: Eligible patients received induction therapy using vincristine, adriamycin, dexamethasone (VAD), and mobilization was performed using cyclophosphamide plus lenograstim. High-dose melphalan (total 200 mg/m2) was used to condition the ASCT. RESULTS: The median interval from diagnosis to ASCT was 6 months (range, 1.8-15.3 months). The median interval between the 1st and 2nd ASCT was 4.4 months (range 2.1-48.7 months). The median follow up was 18.3 months (range 8.1-50.5 months) for the nine surviving patients. No therapy-related mortality occurred. Following induction chemotherapy, two patients experienced CR. Following double ASCT, eight patients experienced CR. The 5 year OS was 59%. The median duration of event free survival was 2.13 years (95% CI, 0.84-3.42). CONCLUSION: Although the results of study did not demonstrate the advantage of double ASCT, this is the first report to outline the outcome of double ASCT for Korean MM patients.
Vincristine/administration & dosage ; Transplantation, Autologous ; *Stem Cell Transplantation ; Retrospective Studies ; Recombinant Proteins/administration & dosage ; Multiple Myeloma/drug therapy/*therapy ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Korea ; Humans ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor/administration & dosage ; Female ; Doxorubicin/administration & dosage ; Dexamethasone/administration & dosage ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/*administration & dosage ; Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Aged ; Adult

PURPOSE: To determine the frequency of p53 overexpression and to analyse the relationship between p53 overexpression and complete response rate, survival in locoregionl squamous cell esophageal cancers treated with preoperative chemoradiation multimodality approaches. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using a microwave oven heating method, we have detected p53 overexpression by immunohistochemically with a monoclonal antibody(DO-7) in formalin- fixed paraffin-embedded samples of 42 patients with locoregional squamous cell esophageal cancer, who treated with concurrent chemotherapy and radiatian followed by surgery. RESULTS: In 27 of 42 tumors(64.2%), nuclear immunoreactivity for the p53 protein was detected. Complete response rate, evaluated in surgical specimen 3-4 weeks after chemoradiation seemed to be high in p53 positive group compared to p53 negative group, however, there was no statistically significant difference in acquiring better complete response rate, overall survival and progression free survival between p53 positive and p53 negative group(p=0.0546, p=0.0599, p= 0.6832). Complete response group(n=17) survived longer than non-complete response group(n=25)(p=0.0010). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that p53 is not a statistically significant prognostic factor in obtaining better complete response rate, overall survival and progression free survival of the patients with esophageal carcinoma treated with preoperative chemoradiotherapy. Additional studies are warranted for further evaluation.
Chemoradiotherapy* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Heating ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Microwaves ; Survival Rate