Purpose: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used for assessing the morphology of the pituitary gland in children with short stature. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine if pituitary volume (PV) can distinguish patients with growth hormone (GH) deficiency from those with idiopathic short stature (ISS), (2) to validate an association between PV and severity of GH deficiency, and (3) to compare PV between good and poor response groups in children with GH deficiency or ISS after 1 year of treatment. Methods: Data were collected from the medical records of 152 children with GH deficiency or ISS who underwent GH stimulation test, sella MRI, and GH treatment for at least 1 year. Estimated PVs were calculated using the formula of an ellipsoid. We compared the PVs in patients with GH deficiency with those of patients with ISS. In addition, we assessed the association between PV and severity of GH deficiency, and we assessed growth response after treatment. Results: No difference was observed in PV between patients with GH deficiency and those with ISS. The severity of the GH deficiency seemed to be associated with PV (P=0.082), and the height of the pituitary gland was associated with severity of GH deficiency (P<0.005). The PV in the good response group was less than that of the poor response group in patients with GH deficiency (P<0.005), and PV showed no association with responsiveness to GH treatment in patients with ISS (P=0.073). Conclusion The measurement of PV cannot be used for differential diagnosis between GH deficiency and ISS. In patients with GH deficiency, PV tended to be smaller as the severity of GH deficiency increased, but the difference was not significant. PV may be a good response predictor for GH treatment. Further studies, including a radiomics-based approach, will be helpful in elucidating the clinical implications of pituitary morphology in patients with short stature.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether a larger tissue volume increases the sensitivity of detecting alpha-synuclein (AS) pathology in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Methods: Nine patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) or idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep disorder (iRBD) who underwent GI operation and had full-depth intestinal blocks were included. All patients were selected from our previous study population. A total of 10 slides (5 serial sections from the proximal and distal blocks) per patient were analyzed. Results: In previous studies, pathologic evaluation revealed phosphorylated AS (+) in 5/9 patients (55.6%) and in 1/5 controls (20.0%); in this extensive examination, this increased to 8/9 patients (88.9%) but remained the same in controls (20.0%). The severity and distribution of positive findings were similar between patients with iRBD and PD. Conclusion Examining a large tissue volume increased the sensitivity of detecting AS accumulation in the GI tract.

PURPOSE: Our study aimed to report the annual changes in lung cancer statistics and analyze trends in sociodemographic, medical, and financial factors from 2003 to 2013 in the national database from the Korean National Health Insurance (KNHI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Among 7,489 patients with code C34 in KNHI database, only lung cancer patients newly diagnosed after 2003 were included in the study population, for a total of 4,582 patients. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize treatment patterns and medical costs according to sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: Approximately 70% of subjects were male, and the mean age was 67 years. Around 46% of patients were over 70 years old, and 12% were over 80 years old. The medical costs were highest for patients younger than 60 and lowest for those over 80 years old. Surgery was more common in younger patients, while “no treatment” increased greatly with age. In trend analysis, the proportions of aging (p for trend < 0.001), female (p for trend=0.003), metropolitan/urban (p for trend=0.041), and lowest or highest-income patients (p for trend=0.004) increased over time, along with the prevalence of surgery as the primary treatment (p for trend < 0.001). There was also a trend with regard to change in medical costs (p for trend < 0.001), in that those of surgery and radiotherapy increased. CONCLUSION: Surgery as a curative treatment has increased over the past decade. However, the elderly, suburban/rural residents, and low-income patients were more likely to be untreated. Therefore, active measures are required for these increasingly vulnerable groups.
Aged ; Aging ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Male ; National Health Programs ; Pneumonectomy ; Prevalence ; Radiotherapy

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The predictive and prognostic value of KRAS mutation and its type of mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are controversial. This clinical study was designed to investigate the predictive value of KRAS mutations and its mutation types to pemetrexed and gemcitabine based treatment. METHODS: Advanced NSCLC patients tested for KRAS mutation (n = 334) were retrospectively reviewed and 252 patients with wild type epidermal growth factor receptor and no anaplastic lymphoma kinase fusion were enrolled for the analysis. KRAS mutations were observed in 45 subjects with mutation type as followed: G₁₂C (n = 13), G₁₂D (n = 12), G₁₂V (n = 12), other (n = 8). Response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of pemetrexed singlet and gemcitabine based chemotherapy were analysis. RESULTS: Age, sex, performance status were well balanced between subjects with or without KRAS mutations. No difference was observed in RR. Hazard ratio (HR) of PFS for pemetrexed treated subjects with G₁₂C mutation compared to subjects with KRAS wild type was 1.96 (95% confidential interval [CI], 1.01 to 3.79; p = 0.045), but other mutations failed to show clinical significance. By analysis done by PFS, compared to the subjects with transition mutation, HR was 1.48 (95% CI, 0.64 to 3.40; p = 0.360) for subjects with transversion mutation on pemetrexed treatment and 0.41 (95% CI, 0.19 to 0.87; p = 0.020) for subjects treated with gemcitabine based chemotherapy. No difference was observed in OS. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, different drug sensitivity was observed according to the type of KRAS mutation. NSCLC subpopulations with different KRAS mutation type should be considered as different subgroups and optimal chemotherapy regimens should be searched in further confirmative studies.
Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Clinical Study ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Pemetrexed* ; Phosphotransferases ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Pretreatment nutritional status is an important prognostic factor in patients treated with conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy. In the era of target therapies, its value is overlooked and has not been investigated. The aim of our study is to evaluate the value of nutritional status in targeted therapy. METHODS: A total of 2012 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were reviewed and 630 patients with activating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation treated with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) were enrolled for the final analysis. Anemia, body mass index (BMI), and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) were considered as nutritional factors. Hazard ratio (HR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for each group were calculated by Cox proportional analysis. In addition, scores were applied for each category and the sum of scores was used for survival analysis. RESULTS: In univariable analysis, anemia (HR, 1.29; p = 0.015), BMI lower than 18.5 (HR, 1.98; p = 0.002), and PNI lower than 45 (HR, 1.57; p < 0.001) were poor prognostic factors for PFS. Among them, BMI and PNI were independent in multi-variable analysis. All of these were also significant prognostic values for OS. The higher the sum of scores, the poorer PFS and OS were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment nutritional status is a prognostic marker in NSCLC patients treated with EGFR TKI. Hence, baseline nutritional status should be more carefully evaluated and adequate nutrition should be supplied to these patients.
Anemia ; Body Mass Index ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Epidermal Growth Factor* ; Humans ; Nutrition Assessment ; Nutritional Status* ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor*

Despite rapid increase in incidence of prostate cancer (PC) and PC survivors, there are few studies regarding competing causes of death and time trends in Asian population. We conducted a cohort study of 2% nationwide random sample of Korean National Health Insurance employees. A total of 873 patients who had received active treatments, including surgery, radiation therapy (RT) and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), for newly diagnosed PC between 2003 and 2010 were included. The cause of death was categorized as PC, other cancers, cardiovascular disease, and other causes. During a median follow-up of 4.75 years, 29.4% (257/873) of the study population died. PC, other cancers, cardiovascular disease, and other causes were responsible for 46.3%, 35.4%, 6.6%, and 11.7%, respectively, of the decedents. Significant differences existed in the cause of death among treatment groups (P < 0.001). Only 20% and 9.5% of surgery and RT group died of PC, whereas 63.9% of ADT group died of PC. Other cancers were responsible for 56%, 74.6% and 17.8% of death in the surgery, RT and ADT group, respectively, while cardiovascular disease accounted for 4%, 6.3%, and 7.1% of death in the treatment groups. Analysis of time trends showed that PC-specific death tended to decrease (from 42.9% in 2003 to 23.1% in 2010), whereas non-PC causes tended to increase over the 8 years. Our results are valuable in overviewing causes of death and time trends in Korean PC patients, and planning future health policy for PC.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cause of Death* ; Cohort Studies* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Mortality ; National Health Programs ; Prostate* ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Survivors

PURPOSE: We investigated changing patterns of primary treatment in Korean men with prostate cancer (PC) and impact of sociodemographic factors on treatment choice from a nationwide cohort over 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cohort study of a 2% nationwide random sample of Korean National Health Insurance. A total of 1,382 patients who had undergone active treatments for newly diagnosed PC between 2003 and 2013 were included. Time trends in primary treatment of PC, including radical surgery, radiation therapy (RT), and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) were analyzed. RESULTS: Total number of patients undergoing active treatments increased significantly (162%). Surgery cases showed the most significant increase, from 22.4% in 2003 to 45.4% in 2013, while the relative proportion of ADT showed a tendency to decrease from 60.3% in 2003 to 45.4% in 2013, and the relative proportion of RT was variable over 10 years (from 7.2% to 18.4%). While treatment patterns differed significantly according to age (p < 0.001) and income classes (p=0.014), there were differences in primary treatment according to residential area. In multinomial logistic regression analysis, older patients showed significant association with ADT or RT compared to surgery, while patients with higher income showed significant association with surgery. CONCLUSION: Treatment pattern in Korean PC patients has changed remarkably over the last 10 years. Sociodemographic factors do affect the primary treatment choice. Our results will be valuable in overviewing changing patterns of primary treatment in Korean PC patients and planning future health policy for PC.
Cohort Studies ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; National Health Programs ; Prostate* ; Prostatectomy ; Prostatic Neoplasms* ; Radiotherapy

Despite high prevalence of upper urinary tract calculi (UUTC), there are few studies regarding patterns of care in Asian populations. We investigated treatment patterns and time trends in patients with newly diagnosed UUTC in Korea using the National Health Insurance database that includes de-identified claims from a random 2% sample of the entire population (> 1 million people). A total of 14,282 patients who received active treatments, including shock wave lithotripsy (SWL), ureteroscopic surgery (URS), percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL), and uretero/pyelolithotomy (UPL), for newly diagnosed UUTC between 2003 and 2013 were included. The number of primary and all treated cases of UUTC significantly (43% and 103.3%, respectively) increased over the 10-year period. While patients undergoing SWL, URS, PNL, and UPL as primary treatment increased by 43.7%, 31.9%, 87.5%, and 0%, respectively, the relative proportion undergoing each treatment remained constant over the 10 years (SWL > 90%, URS 4.5% to 7.8%, PNL 0.4% to 1.0%, and UPL < 0.4%, respectively). Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that age > 40 years (compared to age < 30 years) was significantly associated with URS, PNL, and UPL, rather than SWL, while patients living in urban or suburban/rural areas (compared to metropolitan) were significantly less likely to undergo URS and PNL. In summary, the majority of Korean patients underwent SWL as primary treatment for UUTC, and the predominant use of SWL remained steady over a 10-year period in Korea. Our results will be valuable in examining treatment patterns and time trends in Korean UUTC patients.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Calculi* ; Humans ; Korea* ; Lithotripsy ; Logistic Models ; National Health Programs ; Nephrostomy, Percutaneous ; Practice Patterns, Physicians' ; Prevalence ; Shock ; Ureteroscopy ; Urinary Calculi ; Urinary Tract*

Depression is related to various functional medical conditions. Its association with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is also expected. We evaluated whether depression and its severity are associated with LUTS when LUTS risk factors including prostate volume (PV) are taken into account in a large population of Korean men. Study subjects included 10,275 men who underwent routine health check-ups at the Healthcare System Gangnam Center of Seoul National University Hospital. Depression was assessed using Beck Depression Inventory-II and LUTS using international prostate symptom score. PV was measured using transrectal ultrasonography by a radiologist. Effect sizes of depression severity on total, storage, and voiding symptoms were assessed. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, mild, moderate and severe depression were associated with total (adjusted odds ratio: aOR = 2.99, 3.86 and 8.99; all P < 0.001), voiding (aOR = 3.04, 3.28 and 5.58; all P < 0.001) and storage symptoms (aOR = 2.43, 3.43 and 2.89; all P < 0.05) showing dose response relationships (all P trend < 0.001). In a subgroup analysis for participants with PV data (n = 1,925), mild and moderate-severe depression were also associated with LUTS (aOR = 3.29, 2.84; P < 0.001 and 0.018, respectively). In conclusion, depression and its severity are strongly associated with total, voiding, and storage symptoms independently of PV state.
Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Comorbidity ; Depression/*diagnosis/*epidemiology ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/*diagnosis/*epidemiology ; Male ; Men's Health/statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Organ Size ; Prostate ; Prostatic Hyperplasia/*diagnosis/*epidemiology ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Severity of Illness Index