Purpose: Since 1995, the Korean Gastric Cancer Association (KGCA) has been periodically conducting nationwide surveys on patients with surgically treated gastric cancer. This study details the results of the survey conducted in 2023. Materials and Methods: The survey was conducted from March to December 2024 using a standardized case report form. Data were collected on 86 items, including patient demographics, tumor characteristics, surgical procedures, and surgical outcomes. The results of the 2023 survey were compared with those of previous surveys. Results: Data from 12,751 cases were collected from 66 institutions. The mean patient age was 64.6 years, and the proportion of patients aged ≥71 years increased from 9.1% in 1995 to 31.7% in 2023. The proportion of upper-third tumors slightly decreased to 16.8% compared to 20.9% in 2019. Early gastric cancer accounted for 63.1% of cases in 2023.Regarding operative procedures, a totally laparoscopic approach was most frequently applied (63.2%) in 2023, while robotic gastrectomy steadily increased to 9.5% from 2.1% in 2014.The most common anastomotic method was the Billroth II procedure (48.8%) after distal gastrectomy and double-tract reconstruction (51.9%) after proximal gastrectomy in 2023.However, the proportion of esophago-gastrostomy with anti-reflux procedures increased to 30.9%. The rates of post-operative mortality and overall complications were 1.0% and 15.3%, respectively. Conclusions The results of the 2023 nationwide survey demonstrate the current status of gastric cancer treatment in Korea. This information will provide a basis for future gastric cancer research.

Purpose: Since 1995, the Korean Gastric Cancer Association (KGCA) has been periodically conducting nationwide surveys on patients with surgically treated gastric cancer. This study details the results of the survey conducted in 2023. Materials and Methods: The survey was conducted from March to December 2024 using a standardized case report form. Data were collected on 86 items, including patient demographics, tumor characteristics, surgical procedures, and surgical outcomes. The results of the 2023 survey were compared with those of previous surveys. Results: Data from 12,751 cases were collected from 66 institutions. The mean patient age was 64.6 years, and the proportion of patients aged ≥71 years increased from 9.1% in 1995 to 31.7% in 2023. The proportion of upper-third tumors slightly decreased to 16.8% compared to 20.9% in 2019. Early gastric cancer accounted for 63.1% of cases in 2023.Regarding operative procedures, a totally laparoscopic approach was most frequently applied (63.2%) in 2023, while robotic gastrectomy steadily increased to 9.5% from 2.1% in 2014.The most common anastomotic method was the Billroth II procedure (48.8%) after distal gastrectomy and double-tract reconstruction (51.9%) after proximal gastrectomy in 2023.However, the proportion of esophago-gastrostomy with anti-reflux procedures increased to 30.9%. The rates of post-operative mortality and overall complications were 1.0% and 15.3%, respectively. Conclusions The results of the 2023 nationwide survey demonstrate the current status of gastric cancer treatment in Korea. This information will provide a basis for future gastric cancer research.

Purpose: Since 1995, the Korean Gastric Cancer Association (KGCA) has been periodically conducting nationwide surveys on patients with surgically treated gastric cancer. This study details the results of the survey conducted in 2023. Materials and Methods: The survey was conducted from March to December 2024 using a standardized case report form. Data were collected on 86 items, including patient demographics, tumor characteristics, surgical procedures, and surgical outcomes. The results of the 2023 survey were compared with those of previous surveys. Results: Data from 12,751 cases were collected from 66 institutions. The mean patient age was 64.6 years, and the proportion of patients aged ≥71 years increased from 9.1% in 1995 to 31.7% in 2023. The proportion of upper-third tumors slightly decreased to 16.8% compared to 20.9% in 2019. Early gastric cancer accounted for 63.1% of cases in 2023.Regarding operative procedures, a totally laparoscopic approach was most frequently applied (63.2%) in 2023, while robotic gastrectomy steadily increased to 9.5% from 2.1% in 2014.The most common anastomotic method was the Billroth II procedure (48.8%) after distal gastrectomy and double-tract reconstruction (51.9%) after proximal gastrectomy in 2023.However, the proportion of esophago-gastrostomy with anti-reflux procedures increased to 30.9%. The rates of post-operative mortality and overall complications were 1.0% and 15.3%, respectively. Conclusions The results of the 2023 nationwide survey demonstrate the current status of gastric cancer treatment in Korea. This information will provide a basis for future gastric cancer research.

Background and Objectives: We analyzed the data of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) patients who had transoral surgery with/without adjuvant therapy and experienced recurrence. From the data, the treatment outcomes and prognostic factors of recurrent OPSCC were evaluated, and the predictive factors related to successful salvage treatment were identified.Subjects and Method We used data from patients who were diagnosed with OPSCC and received transoral surgery at the hospital from January 2005 to December 2019. Results: The 5-year survival rate of patients with recurrent OPSCC was 43.9%. The predictors of successful salvage treatment were adjuvant therapy and the p16 status. The 5-year survival rate following salvage treatment for patients who had recurrent OPSCC and also tested p16-positive was 64%; however, it was only 30% for patients who had recurrent OPSCC and tested p16-negative. The 5-year survival rate was 22% for patients who received adjuvant therapy and 64% for those who did not receive it. Conclusion In OPSCC patients who recurred after transoral surgery with/without adjuvant therapy, the salvage treatment success rate was 45%. In recurrent cancer, the HPV status was an important factor associated with successful salvage treatment, as the success rate of salvage treatment was remarkably high in patients who did not receive adjuvant therapy. Thus, we verified that it is crucial to conduct an initial surgery with clear margins and determine the optimal criteria for adjuvant therapy.

Background/Aims: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is related to an increased risk of extrahepatic malignancy (EHM), and antiviral treatment is associated with an incidence of EHM comparable to controls. We compared the risks of EHM and intrahepatic malignancy (IHM) between entecavir (ETV) and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) treatment. Methods: Using data from the National Health Insurance Service of Korea, this nationwide cohort study included treatment-naïve CHB patients who initiated ETV (n=24,287) or TDF (n=29,199) therapy between 2012 and 2014. The primary outcome was the development of any primary EHM. Secondary outcomes included overall IHM development. E-value was calculated to assess the robustness of results to unmeasured confounders. Results: The median follow-up duration was 5.9 years, and all baseline characteristics were well balanced after propensity score matching. EHM incidence rate differed significantly between within versus beyond 3 years in both groups (P<0.01, Davies test). During the first 3 years, EHM risk was comparable in the propensity score-matched cohort (5.88 versus 5.84/1,000 person-years; subdistribution hazard ratio [SHR]=1.01, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.88–1.17, P=0.84). After year 3, however, TDF was associated with a significantly lower EHM incidence compared to ETV (4.92 versus 6.91/1,000 person-years; SHR=0.70, 95% CI=0.60–0.81, P<0.01; E-value for SHR=2.21). Regarding IHM, the superiority of TDF over ETV was maintained both within (17.58 versus 20.19/1,000 person-years; SHR=0.88, 95% CI=0.81–0.95, P<0.01) and after year 3 (11.45 versus 16.20/1,000 person-years; SHR=0.68, 95% CI=0.62–0.75, P<0.01; E-value for SHR=2.30). Conclusions TDF was associated with approximately 30% lower risks of both EHM and IHM than ETV in CHB patients after 3 years of antiviral therapy.

Objectives: Sepsis is a leading global cause of mortality, and predicting its outcomes is vital for improving patient care. This study explored the capabilities of ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art natural language processing model, in predicting in-hospital mortality for sepsis patients. Methods: This study utilized data from the Korean Sepsis Alliance (KSA) database, collected between 2019 and 2021, focusing on adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients and aiming to determine whether ChatGPT could predict all-cause mortality after ICU admission at 7 and 30 days. Structured prompts enabled ChatGPT to engage in in-context learning, with the number of patient examples varying from zero to six. The predictive capabilities of ChatGPT-3.5-turbo and ChatGPT-4 were then compared against a gradient boosting model (GBM) using various performance metrics. Results: From the KSA database, 4,786 patients formed the 7-day mortality prediction dataset, of whom 718 died, and 4,025 patients formed the 30-day dataset, with 1,368 deaths. Age and clinical markers (e.g., Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score and lactic acid levels) showed significant differences between survivors and non-survivors in both datasets. For 7-day mortality predictions, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.70–0.83 for GPT-4, 0.51–0.70 for GPT-3.5, and 0.79 for GBM. The AUROC for 30-day mortality was 0.51–0.59 for GPT-4, 0.47–0.57 for GPT-3.5, and 0.76 for GBM. Zero-shot predictions using GPT-4 for mortality from ICU admission to day 30 showed AUROCs from the mid-0.60s to 0.75 for GPT-4 and mainly from 0.47 to 0.63 for GPT-3.5. Conclusions GPT-4 demonstrated potential in predicting short-term in-hospital mortality, although its performance varied across different evaluation metrics.

To address the limitations of animal testing, scientific research is increasingly focused on developing alternative testing methods. These alternative tests utilize cells or tissues derived from animals or humans for in vitro testing, as well as artificial tissues and organoids. In western countries, animal testing for cosmetics has been banned, leading to the adoption of artificial skin for toxicity evaluation, such as skin corrosion and irritation assessments. Standard guidelines for skin organoid technology becomes necessary to ensure consistent data and evaluation in replacing animal testing with in vitro methods. These guidelines encompass aspects such as cell sourcing, culture techniques, quality requirements and assessment, storage and preservation, and organoid-based assays.