From the Beginning of the Korean Gynecologic Oncology Group to the Present and Next Steps.

The Korean Gynecologic Oncology Group (KGOG) was established in 2002 and is the only organization in Korea conducting multi-center clinical trials for gynecologic cancers. Since its re-establishment as a non-profit organization in 2021, KGOG has grown significantly, now including 207 gynecologic oncology specialists from 76 hospitals. This growth is a testament to the dedication and hard work of all those involved in the organization.

The Correlation between Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin and Clinical Characteristics According to Anti-Müllerian Hormone in Women with Regular Menstrual Cycles: A Prospective Study.

Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) can be diagnosed when the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels are high, but in clinic, women who do not meet the diagnosis of PCOS but have elevated AMH levels are often seen. This study aimed to compare the differences in menstrual cycle patterns and hormone levels in women with regular menstrual cycles, but not PCOS, by dividing them into high and low AMH groups.

Material And Methods: This multicenter prospective study included 68 healthy women.

Diagnostic Clues for Women with Acute Surgical Abdomen Associated with Ruptured Endometrioma.

(1) Background: An investigation of the preoperative diagnostic clues used to identify ruptured endometrioma by comparing the ruptured and unruptured states in patients who underwent laparoscopic operations due to endometrioma. (2) Methods: Patients with ruptured endometriomas (14 patients) and unruptured endometriomas (60 patients) were included, and clinical symptoms, laboratory findings, and radiological findings were analyzed. (3) Results: There were no significant differences in age, parity, last menstrual cycle days, or median size of endometrioma between two groups (group A: ruptured; group B: unruptured).

Pretreatment CT differential diagnosis of tuberculous peritonitis from peritoneal carcinomatosis of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.

Delayed diagnosis of female genital tuberculosis (FGTB) can lead to inappropriate treatment and unnecessary surgical procedures rather than standard anti-TB medication. We tried to evaluate the use of computed tomography (CT) imaging to differentiate TB peritonitis from peritoneal carcinomatosis of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (AEOC). We investigated women who underwent CT to distinguish between TB peritonitis and peritoneal carcinomatosis of AEOC.

Growth inhibition by fusidic acid in cervical, thyroid, and breast carcinoma cell lines.

Objective: We investigated the effects of fusidic acid (FA) on human cervical, thyroid, and breast carcinoma cell lines to determine the potential usefulness of FA in cancer treatment.

Methods: Six cancer cell lines (cervical cancer: Caski, HeLa; thyroid cancer: 8505C, TPC1; and breast cancer: MCF-7, MDA-MB-231) were treated with FA. Furthermore the changes in cell growth, cell cycle duration, and extent of apoptosis were analyzed.

Laparoscopic systemic restaging surgery for women with unexpected uterine malignancy.

Objective: We investigated the feasibility of laparoscopic restaging surgery in patients with unexpected uterine cancer.

Methods: This retrospective study included eight patients who underwent laparoscopic restaging surgery for Iran University uterine cancer after a prior hysterectomy or myomectomy.

Results: The median age of the patients and their body mass index were 55 years (range, 44-78) and 23.

Conditional relative survival of patients with endometrial cancer: a Korean National Cancer Registry study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate 5-year conditional relative survival (5Y CRS) rates of endometrial cancer (EC) in Korea accounting for time already survived. Subgroup-specific estimates stratified by various patient characteristics were also presented.

Methods: Using the data from the Korean Central Cancer Registry, 5Y CRS rates were calculated in patients who were diagnosed with EC between 1998 and 2017.

Trends in incidence and survival of patients with vulvar cancer in an Asian country: Analysis of the Korean Central Cancer Registry 1999-2018.

Objective: To report 20-year trends in incidence and survival of vulvar cancer in Korea.

Methods: Using data from the Korean Central Cancer Registry, age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) and annual percentage changes (APCs) were calculated. Net survival (NS) was estimated by the Pohar-Perme method, and conditional net survival (CNS) was calculated.

Conditional Relative Survival of Ovarian Cancer: A Korean National Cancer Registry Study.

Objective: Conditional relative survival (CRS) rates, which take into account changes in prognosis over time, are useful estimates for survivors and their clinicians as they make medical and personal decisions. We aimed to present the 5-year relative conditional survival probabilities of patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer from 1997-2016.

Methods: This nationwide retrospective cohort study used data from the Korean Central Cancer Registry.

Conditional relative survival of cervical cancer: a Korean National Cancer Registry Study.

Objective: Conditional relative survival (CRS) considers changes in prognosis over time and may offer more useful estimates for survivors. We aimed to investigate CRS among patients with cervical cancer stratified by various factors that influence survival probability.

Methods: This nationwide retrospective study used data from the Korean Central Cancer Registry.

Increased amounts and stability of telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) following DNA damage induced by etoposide.

Telomeric repeat-containing RNAs (TERRAs) are long noncoding RNAs transcribed from subtelomeres toward telomeric repeat tracts, which have been implicated in telomere protection and heterochromatin formation. Genotoxic stress leads to upregulation of TERRAs. However, the mechanism of DNA damage-mediated TERRA induction remains elusive.

Clinical characteristics of patients with leiomyoma who undergo surgery after high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).

Objective: We evaluated the clinical characteristics of patients who underwent surgery after high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat uterine leiomyoma.

Methods: From June 2016 to September 2017, patients at our hospital who underwent HIFU to treat uterine leiomyoma prior to surgery were enrolled. All patients underwent pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and after HIFU.

Systemic Laparoscopic Para-Aortic Lymphadenectomy to the Left Renal Vein.

Background: No large-scale clinical study has been done to show the standard surgical boundary and efficacy of laparoscopic para-aortic lymphadenectomy (LPAL).

Objectives: Therfore, this study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, efficacy, and standard surgical boundary of LPAL performed up to the left renal vein level in gynecological malignancies.

Methods: Medical records of 333 patients were retrospectively reviewed.

Coexisting ovarian and tubal pregnancies on opposite sides after intrauterine insemination: a case report.

Background: Ovarian pregnancy is very rare, and contralateral tubal pregnancy coexisting with ovarian pregnancy must be even rarer.

Case Presentation: A 33-year-old Korean nulliparous woman was referred to our hospital because she suffered lower abdominal pain and had missed her periods after controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and intrauterine insemination. We could not identify any normal gestational sac in the endometrium, or specific ectopic pregnancies, on an initial ultrasound scan.

Effect of radioactive iodine-induced hypothyroidism on longitudinal bone growth during puberty in immature female rats.

Thyroid cancer in children, the most common endocrine malignancy, shows aggressive behavior and has a high recurrence rate after surgical ablation. Radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment is the most effective primary modality for medical ablation of juvenile thyroid cancer, and leads to intentional hypothyroidism. Although several negative impacts of hypothyroidism have been reported in children in response to other antithyroid agents, the combined effects of RAI exposure and hypothyroidism, on growing bones specifically, are unknown.

Preoperative diagnostic clues to ovarian pregnancy: retrospective chart review of women with ovarian and tubal pregnancy.

Objective: To analyze the preoperative diagnostic clues to ovarian pregnancy (OP).

Methods: This study conducted a retrospective chart review of 23 patients with OP and 46 patients with tubal pregnancy (TP) from October 1, 2003 to September 31, 2016 in Hanyang University Hospital.

Results: There were no significant differences in demographic and clinical characteristics between the two groups.

Variable TERRA abundance and stability in cervical cancer cells.

Telomeres are transcribed into long non-coding RNA, referred to as telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA), which plays important roles in maintaining telomere integrity and heterochromatin formation. TERRA has been well characterized in HeLa cells, a type of cervical cancer cell. However, TERRA abundance and stability have not been examined in other cervical cancer cells, at least to the best of our knowledge.

Encountering the Accessory Polar Renal Artery during Laparoscopic Para-Aortic Lymphadenectomy.

A 60-year-old Korean woman underwent laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and was confirmed to have high-grade serous carcinoma of both ovaries with a huge omental cake, extensive agglutinated intra-abdominal metastatic masses, extensive serosa invasion of the intestines, and mesenterial deposits. She underwent 3 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by laparoscopic interval debulking surgery, including hysterectomy, pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy, appendectomy, partial peritonectomy, and omentectomy. We encountered the right accessory polar renal artery (APRA) during the surgery and carefully preserved the right APRA from the abdominal aorta to the right kidney (Fig.

Peri-pubertal high caffeine exposure increases ovarian estradiol production in immature rats.

Chronic caffeine consumption exerts a negligible effect on the reproductive organs of normal adult females, but it is not known whether this is also true for children and adolescents. Here, we investigated the effects of high caffeine exposure on sexual maturation and ovarian estradiol production in immature female rats. Immature female SD rats were divided into controls and caffeine groups fed 120 and 180mg/kg/day for 4 or 8 weeks.

Surgical manual of the Korean Gynecologic Oncology Group: ovarian, tubal, and peritoneal cancers.

The Surgery Treatment Modality Committee of the Korean Gynecologic Oncology Group has determined to develop a surgical manual to facilitate clinical trials and to improve communication between investigators by standardizing and precisely describing operating procedures. The literature on anatomic terminology, identification of surgical components, and surgical techniques were reviewed and discussed in depth to develop a surgical manual for gynecologic oncology. The surgical procedures provided here represent the minimum requirements for participating in a clinical trial.

Dose- and time-related effects of caffeine on the testis in immature male rats.

We previously showed that prepubertal chronic caffeine exposure adversely affected the development of the testes in male rats. Here we investigated dose- and time-related effects of caffeine consumption on the testis throughout sexual maturation in prepubertal rats. A total of 80 male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups: controls and rats fed 20, 60, or 120 mg caffeine/kg/day, respectively, via gavage for 10, 20, 30, or 40 days.

Longitudinal bone growth is impaired by direct involvement of caffeine with chondrocyte differentiation in the growth plate.

We showed previously that caffeine adversely affects longitudinal bone growth and disrupts the histomorphometry of the growth plate during the pubertal growth spurt. However, little attention has been paid to the direct effects of caffeine on chondrocytes. Here, we investigated the direct effects of caffeine on chondrocytes of the growth plate in vivo and in vitro using a rapidly growing young rat model, and determined whether they were related to the adenosine receptor signaling pathway.

The Role of Steroid Sulfatase as a Prognostic Factor in Patients with Endometrial Cancer.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to determine steroid sulfatase (STS) expression in endometrial cancer patients and its correlation with disease prognosis.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in 59 patients who underwent surgery with histologically confirmed endometrial cancer from January 2000 to December 2011 at Hanyang University Hospital. Immuno-histochemical staining of STS was performed using rabbit polyclonal anti-STS antibody.

Safety of laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy for women with anterior wall adherence after cesarean section.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and surgical outcomes of laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) for women with anterior wall adherence after cesarean section.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 328 women with prior cesarean section history who underwent LAVH from March 2003 to July 2013. The subjects were classified into two groups: group A, with anterior wall adherence (n=49); group B, without anterior wall adherence (n=279).