Development and validation study of the breast cancer risk appraisal for Korean women.

The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate breast cancer risk factors, which can be used to identify women who are at a high risk of developing breast cancer. Fourteen risk factors for breast cancer were identified from extensive literature reviews and in consultation with a panel of experts. A case-control study was conducted, which aimed to validate these 14 risk factors.

Assessment of sexual and voiding function after total mesorectal excision with pelvic autonomic nerve preservation in males with rectal cancer.

Purpose: Total mesorectal excision with pelvic autonomic nerve preservation has been reported to be an optimal surgery for rectal cancer. It minimizes local recurrence and sexual and urinary dysfunction. The aim of this study was to assess the safety of total mesorectal excision with pelvic autonomic nerve preservation in terms of voiding and sexual function in males with rectal cancer.

Biological phenotype determination with ex vivo model in gastric cancer for matrix-metalloproteinase inhibitor treatment.

Among the many biological characteristics of cancer, matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) are essential for tumor invasion and metastasis. To test the possibility of ex vivo model as a therapeutic guideline for MMP inhibitor (MMPI) treatment, we evaluated IC50 of the gabexate mesylate against MMP-9. Thirty-four paired normal and gastric cancer tissues were tested to measure the IC50 of the gabexate mesylate.

Suppression of Peritoneal Metastases by Expression of Murine Endostatin cDNA.

Purpose: Peritoneal seeding is one of problems to be solved in gastrointestinal and ovarian cancers. Angiogenesis is the critical step for a dormancy tumor cluster to be an overt metastatic nodule. However, whether an anti-angiogenesis strategy is effective in the control of peritoneal metastases is still obscure.

Prognostic impact of lymphatic and/or blood vessel invasion in patients with node-negative advanced gastric cancer.

Background: Heterogeneous survival rates in patients with similar clinicopathologic characteristics or molecular prognostic markers have been noted. This study was conducted to evaluate the prognostic effect of lymphatic and/or blood vessel invasion (LBVI), identified by routine hematoxylin and eosin staining, on the outcome of patients with node-negative advanced gastric cancer.

Methods: A total of 280 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer without lymph node metastasis were retrospectively reviewed.

Prognostic significance of metastatic lymph node ratio in T3 gastric cancer.

The fifth International Union Against Cancer tumor node metastasis (UICC TNM) classification, based on the number of metastatic lymph nodes (LN), has proved to be a reliable and objective method for predicting the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer. However, the prognosis of patients with T3 gastric cancer is still heterogeneous. This study was carried out to investigate the validity of metastatic LN ratio as a prognostic factor in T3 gastric cancer.

Adverse effects of perioperative transfusion on patients with stage III and IV gastric cancer.

Background: The degree of immunomodulation by perioperative blood transfusion and its resultant effects on cancer surgery are a subject of controversy. We evaluated the prognostic effects of perioperative blood transfusion on gastric cancer surgery.

Methods: A total of 1710 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer from 1991 to 1995 were retrospectively reviewed.

Early gastric carcinoma with signet ring cell histology.

Background: There has been much controversy surrounding the biologic behavior and prognosis of early stage gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (SRC). To clarify the biologic behavior of early stage gastric SRC (early SRC), we compared the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of early SRC with other histologic types.

Methods: A total of 933 patients with early gastric carcinoma who had undergone gastrectomy from 1987 to 1995 were retrospectively analyzed.