Publications by authors named "Dar-Ren Chen"

Purpose: This prospective study aimed to investigate estrogen-induced carcinogenesis by assessing the background levels of abasic sites (apurinic/apyrimidinic sites, AP sites) in Taiwanese breast cancer patients following 5 years of postoperative treatment without recurrence (5-year survivors) (n = 70). The study also sought to compare the extent of these DNA lesions with those found in healthy controls and in breast cancer patients prior to treatment.

Methods: Abasic sites were measured using an aldehyde reactive probe and quantified as the total number of abasic sites per total nucleotides.

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  • The ALKBH dioxygenase superfamily is important for gene regulation and its role in cancer, particularly under hypoxic conditions, is being analyzed; specifically, the function of ALKBH4 is under investigation.
  • Experimental methods include real-time PCR, Western blot analysis, and various assays to assess tumor characteristics and behavior in vitro and in vivo.
  • Results show that ALKBH4 may act as a tumor suppressor, with higher levels linked to better patient outcomes in certain cancers, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic target for tumors affected by hypoxia.
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  • * Results revealed that HO induces primarily 5'- and 3'-nicked AP sites, whereas MMS creates mainly non-excisable, residual, and intact AP sites in the DNA samples analyzed.
  • * Comparisons showed that AP site patterns in breast cancer patients before treatment were linked to DNA damage from reactive oxygen species, and 5-year survivors displayed similar site characteristics to healthy controls, indicating potential DNA repair deficiencies in the cancer patients.
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  • - **Study Overview**: This research is a phase II randomized trial comparing the effectiveness and safety of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) versus epirubicin as adjuvant chemotherapy for stage I-II HER2-negative breast cancer.
  • - **Methods and Results**: A total of 256 patients were divided into two groups, with results showing no significant difference in 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates between PLD and epirubicin. However, the PLD group experienced less severe side effects and improved quality of life (QoL) during treatment.
  • - **Conclusion**: Both treatment regimens showed comparable efficacy and safety, but the
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Background: The assessment information of tumor margins is extremely important for the success of the breast cancer surgery and whether the patient undergoes a second operation. However, conducting surgical margin assessments is a time-consuming task that requires pathology-related skills and equipment, and often cannot be provided in a timely manner. To address this challenge, digital breast tomosynthesis technology was utilized to generate detailed cross-sectional images of the breast tissue and integrate deep learning algorithms for image segmentation, achieving an assessment of tumor margins during surgery.

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Background: Minimal-access (endoscopic or robotic-assisted) breast surgery has been increasingly performed and shown better cosmetic results. However, location of totally implantable venous access port (TIVAP) for systemic treatment at anterior chest may compromise its aesthetic benefits. Therefore, we proposed a new scarless technique for TIVAP implantation, and reported the preliminary results, learning curve, and patients-surveyed outcome.

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  • A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of minimal-access nipple-sparing mastectomy (MA-NSM) in patients with large breasts, as previously it was mostly applied to those with small to medium-sized breasts.
  • This retrospective analysis included data from 728 patients between 2011 and 2022, comparing outcomes of conventional nipple-sparing mastectomy (C-NSM) with MA-NSM, focusing on complications and blood loss based on breast size.
  • Results showed that MA-NSM was successful in large breasts, with less blood loss and lower rates of severe complications compared to C-NSM, indicating that MA-NSM is a viable option for this patient demographic.
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Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the standard of care for axillary staging in early breast cancer patients with low-burden axillary metastasis (≤ 2 positive nodes). This study aimed to determine the diagnostic performances of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and breast magnetic resonance imaging in detecting axillary lymph node (ALN) metastases and the reliability to predict ALN burden.

Methods: A total of 275 patients with primary operable breast cancer receiving preoperative PET/CT and upfront surgery from January 2001 to December 2022 in a single institution were enrolled.

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  • * Over four years, 145 patients underwent this procedure, primarily involving nipple-sparing mastectomies and some breast-conserving surgeries, with differing operative times and minimal blood loss reported.
  • * While the procedure showed some complications, the majority of patients reported satisfactory cosmetic results, indicating a promising approach for breast surgery.
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Background: Breast fibroadenoma is the most common benign breast tumour. This study aimed to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of endoscopic-assisted resection via a gas-less transaxillary single-port approach for breast fibroadenoma in adolescent patients, compared with a traditional approach.

Methods: The clinical data of 83 patients with breast fibroadenoma treated in our hospital from October 2019 to October 2021 were collected for retrospective analysis.

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Background: The value and utility of axillary lymph node (ALN) evaluation with MRI in breast cancer were not clear for various intrinsic subtypes. The aim of the current study is to test the potential of combining breast MRI and clinicopathologic factors to identify low-risk groups of ALN metastasis and improve diagnostic performance.

Material And Methods: Patients with primary operable invasive breast cancer with pre-operative breast MRI and post-operative pathologic reports were retrospectively collected from January 2009 to December 2021 in a single institute.

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Objective: Prospective studies on postoperative residual breast tissue (RBT) after robotic-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy (R-NSM) for breast cancer are limited. RBT presents an unknown risk of local recurrence or the development of new cancer after curative or risk-reducing mastectomies. This study investigated the technical feasibility of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate RBT after R-NSM in women with breast cancer.

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Objective: To compare the clinical and patient-reported outcomes of minimal access and conventional nipple-sparing mastectomy (C-NSM). The secondary outcomes investigated included medical costs and oncological safety.

Background: Minimal-access NSM has been increasingly applied in the treatment of patients with breast cancer.

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Background: Compared to mastectomy alone, the addition of breast reconstruction could improve quality of life and it is usually performed by two-team approach, which consisted of both breast surgeons and plastic surgeons. This study aims to illustrate the positive impacts of the dual-trained oncoplastic reconstructive breast surgeon (ORBS) and reveal the factors influencing reconstruction rates.

Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 542 breast cancer patients who undergone mastectomy with reconstruction performed by a particular ORBS between January 2011 and December 2021 at a single institution.

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Introduction: Using mammographic density as a significant biomarker for predicting prognosis in adjuvant hormone therapy patients is controversial due to the conflicting results of recent studies. This study aimed to evaluate hormone therapy-induced mammographic density reduction and its association with prognosis in Taiwanese patients

Methods: In this retrospective study, 1941 patients with breast cancer were screened, and 399 patients with estrogen receptorpositive breast cancer who received adjuvant hormone therapy were enrolled. The mammographic density was measured using a fully automatic estimation procedure based on full-field digital mammography.

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Background: The purpose of this study is to identify clinicopathologic factors and/or preoperative MRI vascular patterns in the prediction of ischemia necrosis of the nipple-areola complex (NAC) or skin flap post nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM).

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 441 NSM procedures from January 2011 to September 2021 from the breast cancer database at our institution. The ischemia necrosis of NAC or skin flap was evaluated in correlation with clinicopathologic factors and types of skin incision.

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Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 15-20% of all breast cancer. TNBC does not express the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, or human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. Cytotoxic chemotherapy and surgery are the current therapeutic strategies for TNBC patients, but the chemoresistance of TNBC limits the efficiency of this strategy and shortens the lifespan of patients.

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In this study, an advanced semantic segmentation method and deep convolutional neural network was applied to identify the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) lexicon for breast ultrasound images, thereby facilitating image interpretation and diagnosis by providing radiologists an objective second opinion. A total of 684 images (380 benign and 308 malignant tumours) from 343 patients (190 benign and 153 malignant breast tumour patients) were analysed in this study. Six malignancy-related standardised BI-RADS features were selected after analysis.

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Aims: The aim of this study was to simultaneously analyze estrogen quinone-derived adducts, including 17β-estradiol-2,3-quinone (E-2,3-Q) and 17β-estradiol-3,4-quinone (E-3,4-Q), in human albumin (Alb) and hemoglobin (Hb) derived from breast cancer patients with five-year postoperative treatment without recurrence in Taiwan and to evaluate the treatment-related effects on the production of these adducts.

Settings And Design: Cohort Blood samples derived from breast cancer 5-year survivors without recurrence were collected. Albumin and hemoglobin adducts of E-3,4-Q and E-2,3-Q were analyzed to evaluate the degree of disposition of estrogen to quinones and to compare these adduct levels with those in patients before treatment.

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Background: We hypothesized that different BMI might have different impact on pre-operative MRI axillary lymph node (ALN) prediction accuracy and thereby subsequent surgical lymph node management. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of BMI on presentation, surgical treatment, and MRI performance characteristics of breast cancer with the main focus on ALN metastasis evaluation.

Methods: The medical records of patients with primary invasive breast cancer who had pre-operative breast MRI and underwent surgical resection were retrospectively reviewed.

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Cilostazol is an antiplatelet agent with vasodilating, endothelial function restoration, and anti-inflammatory effects. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of oral cilostazol for preventing the development of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Ninety adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups: 1) naïve (control); 2) diabetic (DM); 3) DM receiving 10 mg/kg cilostazol (cilo-10); 4) DM receiving 30 mg/kg cilostazol (cilo-30); and 5) DM receiving 100 mg/kg cilostazol (cilo-100).

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In this study, we applied semantic segmentation using a fully convolutional deep learning network to identify characteristics of the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) lexicon from breast ultrasound images to facilitate clinical malignancy tumor classification. Among 378 images (204 benign and 174 malignant images) from 189 patients (102 benign breast tumor patients and 87 malignant patients), we identified seven malignant characteristics related to the BI-RADS lexicon in breast ultrasound. The mean accuracy and mean IU of the semantic segmentation were 32.

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Breast cancer is common worldwide, and the estrogen receptor-positive subtype accounts for approximately 70% of breast cancer in women. Tamoxifen and fulvestrant are drugs currently used for endocrinal therapy. Breast cancer exhibiting endocrine resistance can undergo metastasis and lead to the death of breast cancer patients.

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Objective: Endoscopic assisted breast surgery (EABS) or robotic assisted breast surgery (RABS) performed through minimal axillary and/or peri-areolar incisions has become the representative of minimal access breast surgery (MABS). We report the trend and clinical outcome of MABS for treatment of breast cancer.

Methods: Information on patients who underwent breast cancer operation by the principal investigator during the period of 2011 to 2020 was collected from a single institute for analysis.

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