Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the treatment approaches and locoregional patterns for adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) in the breast, which is an uncommon malignant tumor with limited clinical data. Materials and Methods: A total of 93 patients diagnosed with primary ACC in the breast between 1992 and 2022 were collected from multi-institutions. All patients underwent surgical resection, including breast-conserving surgery (BCS) or total mastectomy (TM). Recurrence patterns and locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) were assessed. Results: Seventy-five patients (80.7%) underwent BCS, and 71 of them (94.7%) received post-operative radiation therapy (PORT). Eighteen patients (19.3%) underwent TM, with five of them (27.8%) also receiving PORT. With a median follow-up of 50 months, the LRFS rate was 84.2% at 5 years. Local recurrence (LR) was observed in five patients (5.4%) and four cases (80%) of the LR occurred in the tumor bed. Three of LR (3/75, 4.0%) had a history of BCS and PORT, meanwhile, two of LR (2/18, 11.1%) had a history of mastectomy. Regional recurrence occurred in two patients (2.2%), and both cases had a history of PORT with (n=1) and without (n=1) irradiation of the regional lymph nodes. Partial breast irradiation (p=0.35), BCS (p=0.96) and PORT in BCS group (p=0.33) had no significant association with LRFS. Conclusion BCS followed by PORT was the predominant treatment approach for ACC of the breast and LR mostly occurred in the tumor bed. The findings of this study suggest that partial breast irradiation might be considered for PORT in primary breast ACC.

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the treatment approaches and locoregional patterns for adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) in the breast, which is an uncommon malignant tumor with limited clinical data. Materials and Methods: A total of 93 patients diagnosed with primary ACC in the breast between 1992 and 2022 were collected from multi-institutions. All patients underwent surgical resection, including breast-conserving surgery (BCS) or total mastectomy (TM). Recurrence patterns and locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) were assessed. Results: Seventy-five patients (80.7%) underwent BCS, and 71 of them (94.7%) received post-operative radiation therapy (PORT). Eighteen patients (19.3%) underwent TM, with five of them (27.8%) also receiving PORT. With a median follow-up of 50 months, the LRFS rate was 84.2% at 5 years. Local recurrence (LR) was observed in five patients (5.4%) and four cases (80%) of the LR occurred in the tumor bed. Three of LR (3/75, 4.0%) had a history of BCS and PORT, meanwhile, two of LR (2/18, 11.1%) had a history of mastectomy. Regional recurrence occurred in two patients (2.2%), and both cases had a history of PORT with (n=1) and without (n=1) irradiation of the regional lymph nodes. Partial breast irradiation (p=0.35), BCS (p=0.96) and PORT in BCS group (p=0.33) had no significant association with LRFS. Conclusion BCS followed by PORT was the predominant treatment approach for ACC of the breast and LR mostly occurred in the tumor bed. The findings of this study suggest that partial breast irradiation might be considered for PORT in primary breast ACC.

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the treatment approaches and locoregional patterns for adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) in the breast, which is an uncommon malignant tumor with limited clinical data. Materials and Methods: A total of 93 patients diagnosed with primary ACC in the breast between 1992 and 2022 were collected from multi-institutions. All patients underwent surgical resection, including breast-conserving surgery (BCS) or total mastectomy (TM). Recurrence patterns and locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) were assessed. Results: Seventy-five patients (80.7%) underwent BCS, and 71 of them (94.7%) received post-operative radiation therapy (PORT). Eighteen patients (19.3%) underwent TM, with five of them (27.8%) also receiving PORT. With a median follow-up of 50 months, the LRFS rate was 84.2% at 5 years. Local recurrence (LR) was observed in five patients (5.4%) and four cases (80%) of the LR occurred in the tumor bed. Three of LR (3/75, 4.0%) had a history of BCS and PORT, meanwhile, two of LR (2/18, 11.1%) had a history of mastectomy. Regional recurrence occurred in two patients (2.2%), and both cases had a history of PORT with (n=1) and without (n=1) irradiation of the regional lymph nodes. Partial breast irradiation (p=0.35), BCS (p=0.96) and PORT in BCS group (p=0.33) had no significant association with LRFS. Conclusion BCS followed by PORT was the predominant treatment approach for ACC of the breast and LR mostly occurred in the tumor bed. The findings of this study suggest that partial breast irradiation might be considered for PORT in primary breast ACC.

Background: A healthcare system’s collapse due to a pandemic, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), can expose healthcare workers (HCWs) to various mental health problems. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the depression and anxiety of HCWs. Methods: A nationwide questionnaire-based survey was conducted on HCWs who worked in healthcare facilities and public health centers in Korea in December 2020. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were used to measure depression and anxiety. To investigate factors associated with depression and anxiety, stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: A total of 1,425 participating HCWs were included. The mean depression score (PHQ-9) of HCWs before and after COVID-19 increased from 2.37 to 5.39, and the mean anxiety score (GAD-7) increased from 1.41 to 3.41. The proportion of HCWs with moderate to severe depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) increased from 3.8% before COVID-19 to 19.5% after COVID-19, whereas that of HCWs with moderate to severe anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 10) increased from 2.0% to 10.1%. In our study, insomnia, chronic fatigue symptoms and physical symptoms after COVID-19, anxiety score (GAD-7) after COVID-19, living alone, and exhaustion were positively correlated with depression. Furthermore, post-traumatic stress symptoms, stress score (Global Assessment of Recent Stress), depression score (PHQ-9) after COVID-19, and exhaustion were positively correlated with anxiety. Conclusion In Korea, during the COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs commonly suffered from mental health problems, including depression and anxiety. Regularly checking the physical and mental health problems of HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial, and social support and strategy are needed to reduce the heavy workload and psychological distress of HCWs.

Developing social strategies to share limited resources equally and maximize the long-term benefits of conflict resolution is critical for appropriate social interactions. During social interactions, social decision-making depends not only on the external environment, but also on internal factors, such as hunger, thirst, or fatigue. In particular, hunger, which is related to food as a physical need, plays a dominant role in social decision-making. However, the consequences of food deprivation on social decision-making are not well understood. We have previously shown that mice with rule-observance behavior are capable of resolving conflict during social decision-making by observing a well-established social strategy based on reward zone allocation. Here, we developed a rule-observance behavior paradigm wherein the hunger state is achieved by applying food restrictions on mice prior to social behavior experiments. We found that the hunger state in mice deteriorated the established social strategy by decreasing reaction time, implying an increase in impulsivity. In contrast, the hunger state did not affect reward zone allocation, indicating no effect on spatial memory. This decrease in reaction time led to a significant increase in the percentage of violations during rule observance and a significant decrease in the amount of reward (payoff equity). Our study proposes that the hunger state exerts a detrimental effect on appropriate social decisionmaking by decreasing reaction time, increasing violation, and decreasing payoff equity in rule-observance behavior.

Diploic arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) or intraosseous dural AVFs are rare arteriovenous shunts. A diploic AVF is formed between a meningeal artery and an intraosseous diploic vein or the transosseous emissary vein, and the nidus is located exclusively within the bone. Currently, endovascular embolization with a transvenous approach is considered the treatment of choice for most dural AVFs. However, in the absence of an accessible venous channel, an alternate treatment approach should be considered. Herein, we report a case of a diploic AVF that was treated using embolization with transosseous direct cannulation.

Plasmodium vivax exhibits dormant liver-stage parasites, called hypnozoites, which can cause relapse of malaria. The only drug currently used for eliminating hypnozoites is primaquine. The antimalarial properties of primaquine are dependent on the production of oxidized metabolites by the cytochrome P450 isoenzyme 2D6 (CYP2D6). Reduced primaquine metabolism may be related to P. vivax relapses. We describe a case of 4 episodes of recurrence of vivax malaria in a patient with decreased CYP2D6 function. The patient was 52-year-old male with body weight of 52 kg. He received total gastrectomy and splenectomy 7 months before the first episode and was under chemotherapy for the gastric cancer. The first episode occurred in March 2019 and each episode had intervals of 34, 41, and 97 days, respectively. At the first and second episodes, primaquine was administered as 15 mg for 14 days. The primaquine dose was increased with 30 mg for 14 days at the third and fourth episodes. Seven gene sequences of P. vivax were analyzed and revealed totally identical for all the 4 samples. The CYP2D6 genotype was analyzed and intermediate metabolizer phenotype with decreased function was identified.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the oncologic outcomes according to disease burden in uterine cervical cancer patients with metachronous distant metastases. Methods: Between 2005 and 2015, 163 patients with metachronous distant metastases from uterine cervical cancer after receiving a definitive therapy were evaluated at seven institutions in Korea. Low metastatic burden was defined as less than 5 metastatic sites, whereas high metastatic burden was others. Each metastasis site was divided based on the lymph node (LN) and organs affected. The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were assessed. Cox proportional hazards models, including other clinical variables, were used to evaluate the survival outcomes. Results: The median follow-up duration was 22.2 months (range: 0.3–174.8 months). Para-aortic LNs (56.4%), lungs (26.4%), supraclavicular LNs (18.4%), and peritoneum (13.5%) were found to be the common metastasis sites. Among 37 patients with a single metastasis, 17 (45.9%) had LN metastases and 20 (54.1%) had organ metastases. The 1- and 2-year OS rates were 73.9% and 55.0%, respectively, whereas the PFS rates were 67.2% and 42.9%, respectively. SCC Ag after recurrence and high metastatic burden were significant factors affecting the OS (p=0.004 and p<0.001, respectively). Distant organ recurrence, short disease-free interval (≤2 years), and high metastatic burden were unfavorable factors for PFS (p=0.003, p=0.011, and p=0.002, respectively). Conclusion A favorable oncologic outcome can be expected by performing salvage treatments in selected patients with a long disease-free interval, low metastatic burden, and/or lymphatic-only metastasis.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate manifestations and patterns of care for patients with brain metastasis (BM) from breast cancer (BC) and compared their overall survival (OS) from 2005 through 2014 in Korea. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 600 BC patients with BM diagnosed between 2005 and 2014. The median follow-up duration was 12.5 months. We categorized the patients into three groups according to the year when BM was initially diagnosed (group I [2005-2008], 98 patients; group II [2009-2011], 200 patients; and group III [2012-2014], 302 patients). Results: Over time, the median age at BM diagnosis increased by 2.2 years (group I, 49.0 years; group II, 48.3 years; and group III, 51.2 years; p=0.008). The percentage of patients with extracranial metastasis was 73.5%, 83.5%, and 86.4% for group I, II, and III, respectively (p=0.011). The time interval between BC and BM was prolonged in patients with stage III primary BC (median, 2.4 to 3 years; p=0.029). As an initial brain-directed treatment, whole-brain radiotherapy alone decreased from 80.0% in 2005 to 41.1% in 2014. Meanwhile, stereotactic radiosurgery or fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy alone increased from 13.3% to 34.7% during the same period (p=0.005). The median OS for group I, II, and III was 15.6, 17.9, and 15.0 months, respectively, with no statistical significance. Conclusion The manifestations of BM from BC and the pattern of care have changed from 2005 to 2014 in Korea. However, the OS has remained relatively unchanged over the 10 years.

Purpose: Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based tumor panel testing has been reimbursed by the Korean government since 2017. We evaluated the use of NGS-based tumor panel testing in real-world clinical practice, focusing on molecular profiling (MP)-guided breast cancer treatment. Methods: A total of 137 breast cancer patients underwent NGS panel testing between December 2017 and July 2020 at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH).Samples from patients were profiled using an in-house SNUBH pan-cancer panel. Sixty-four patients were profiled on SNUBH Pan_Cancer v1.0, targeting 89 genes, while 73 patients were profiled on SNUBH Pan_Cancer v2.0, targeting 546 genes. Results: Breast cancer subtypes included hormone receptor+/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)− (n = 87), triple-negative (n = 44), and HER2+ (n = 6). Most patients had locally advanced or metastatic cancers (92%). Approximately 92% (126/137) of the patients had significant genomic alterations (tiers I and II), and 62% (85/137) had targetable genomic alterations. The most common targetable genomic alterations were PIK3CA (39%) and ESR1 mutations (9%), followed by ERBB2 (7%), PTEN (7%), BRCA2 (6%), and BRCA1 mutations (4%). Of the 81 patients with locally advanced/metastatic breast cancer with targetable genomic alterations, 6 (7.4%) received MP-guided treatments, including PARP inhibitor (n = 4), ERBB2-directed therapy (n = 1), and PI3K inhibitor (n = 1). Among these 6 patients, 4 participated in clinical trials, 1 underwent treatment at their own expense, and 1 received drugs through an expanded access program. The remaining 66 patients (81%) with targetable genomic alteration did not receive MP-guided treatment due to lack of matched drugs and/or clinical trials, poor performance status, and/or financial burden. Conclusion NGS panel testing allowed MP-guided treatment in only 4.7% (6/127) of patients with advanced breast cancer in a real-world setting. The availability of matched drugs is critical for the realistic implementation of personalized treatment.