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.

Safe and effective sedation depends on various factors, such as the choice of sedatives, sedation techniques used, experience of the sedation provider, degree of sedation-related education and training, equipment and healthcare worker availability, the patient’s underlying diseases, and the procedure being performed. The purpose of these evidence-based multidisciplinary clinical practice guidelines is to ensure the safety and efficacy of sedation, thereby contributing to patient safety and ultimately improving public health. These clinical practice guidelines comprise 15 key questions covering various topics related to the following: the sedation providers; medications and equipment available; appropriate patient selection; anesthesiologist referrals for high-risk patients; pre-sedation fasting; comparison of representative drugs used in adult and pediatric patients; respiratory system, cardiovascular system, and sedation depth monitoring during sedation; management of respiratory complications during pediatric sedation; and discharge criteria. The recommendations in these clinical practice guidelines were systematically developed to assist providers and patients in sedation-related decision making for diagnostic and therapeutic examinations or procedures. Depending on the characteristics of primary, secondary, and tertiary care institutions as well as the clinical needs and limitations, sedation providers at each medical institution may choose to apply the recommendations as they are, modify them appropriately, or reject them completely.

Background: In lung transplantation, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) compatibility is not included in the lung allocation score system or considered when placing donor allografts.However, HLA matching may affect the outcomes of lung transplantation. This study evaluated the current assessment status, prevalence, and effects of HLA crossmatching in lung transplantation in Korean patients using nationwide multicenter registry data. Methods: Two hundred and twenty patients who received lung transplantation at six tertiary hospitals in South Korea between March 2015 and December 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical data, including general demographic characteristics, primary diagnosis, and pretransplant status of the recipients and donors registered by the Korean Organ Transplant Registry, were retrospectively analyzed. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank tests. Results: Complement-dependent cytotoxic crossmatch (CDC-XM) was performed in 208 patients (94.5%) and flow cytometric crossmatch (flow-XM) was performed in 125 patients (56.8%). Among them, nine patients (4.1%) showed T cell- and/or B cell-positive crossmatches. The incidences of postoperative complications, including primary graft dysfunction, acute rejection, and chronic allograft dysfunction in positively crossmatched patients, were not significant compared with those in patients without mismatches.Moreover, Kaplan-Meier analyses showed poorer 1-year survival in patients with positive crossmatch according to CDC-XM (P < 0.001) and T lymphocyte XM (P = 0.002) than in patients without mismatches. Conclusion Positive CDC and T lymphocyte crossmatching results should be considered in the allocation of donor lungs. If unavailable, the result should be considered for postoperative management in lung transplantation.

Background: This study analyzed the practice of dental medical dispute prevention rules of dental hygienists to present an improvement plan for improving perceived importance and practice and provide data for the development of effective medical dispute prevention programs. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted targeting dental hygienists who were providing assistance at dental hospitals and dental clinics in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do regions from March 22 to April 28, 2022. The questionnaire collected from 273 dental hygienists consisted of eight questions on general characteristics, 30 questions on medical dispute experience, and 14 questions on medical dispute prevention. Results: Complaints showed a high experience rate in ‘Consultation & reservation’, medical disputes in ‘Patient handling (unkind) related’, and ‘Prosthesis installation and cement removal’. In both the importance and practice of medical dispute prevention rules, Preservation of medical records and other medical-related data’ was high, and ‘Management of patients on standby for a long time’was low in terms of practice. ‘Lack of time’ and ‘Lack of manpower’ were cited as reasons for not resolving dental treatment disputes. The importance of dental dispute prevention rules was found to be significant according to age and position, and it was also found to affect the level of practice. Conclusion Seventy-six-point six percent of the respondents said that education on the prevention of medical disputes was necessary, although they lacked recognition of prevention rules compared to their perceptions and experiences. This study suggested specifying prevention rules in dental hygiene subjects and expanding education, improvement of dental treatment system, revise the law on the range of work to improve the recognition and practice of prevention rules.

Background/Aims: The risk of recurrence of colorectal adenoma among obese individuals without metabolic abnormalities or in those with metabolically healthy obesity is largely unexplored.Therefore, we longitudinally investigated the risk of adenoma occurrence in individuals undergoing surveillance colonoscopy according to metabolic status and obesity. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 16,872 Korean adults who underwent their first screening colonoscopy between 2003 and 2012 and who then underwent follow-up colonoscopy until 2017. Participants were categorized into a metabolically healthy nonobese group (reference group), a metabolically healthy obese group, a metabolically abnormal nonobese group, and a metabolically abnormal obese group. Hazard ratios (HRs) for adenoma recurrence compared to the reference group were calculated in each group. Results: During a median follow-up duration of 47.3 months (interquartile range, 35.6 to 58.9 months), 3,673 (21.8%) and 292 (1.73%) participants developed adenoma and advanced adenoma, respectively. When age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, family history of colorectal cancer, and baseline adenoma risk were adjusted, the risk of adenoma recurrence was increased in metabolically healthy obese individuals (HR, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12 to 1.57) and metabolically abnormal obese individuals (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.30) but not in metabolically abnormal nonobese individuals (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.94 to 1.13). Conclusions In this study, metabolically healthy obese individuals and metabolically abnormal obese individuals exhibited increased risks of occurrence of colorectal adenoma diagnosed by surveillance colonoscopy. This finding implies that obesity itself, even without metabolic abnormalities, is associated with an increased risk of adenoma recurrence.