Differences in the Efficacies of Pazopanib and Gemcitabine/Docetaxel as Second-Line Treatments for Metastatic Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Background: We retrospectively investigated the treatment outcomes of second-line treatment with pazopanib or gemcitabine/docetaxel in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS).

Methods: Ninety-one patients who were treated with pazopanib or gemcitabine/docetaxel for advanced STS between 1995 and 2015 were analyzed.

Results: Forty-six and 45 patients received pazopanib and gemcitabine/docetaxel, respectively.

Optimal radiotherapy strategy for primary or recurrent fibromatosis and long-term results.

Purpose: Although locally invasive or recurrent fibromatosis is primarily treated with surgery, radiotherapy (RT) produces local control for recurrent/unresectable tumors or those with positive surgical margins. Herein, we describe our updated institutional experience with RT to treat fibromatosis.

Methods: Forty-seven patients with fibromatosis received RT between 1990 and 2015, and were followed for ≥12 months.

Response evaluation of giant-cell tumor of bone treated by denosumab: Histogram and texture analysis of CT images.

Background: This study aimed to compare computed tomography (CT) features, including tumor size and textural and histogram measurements, of giant-cell tumors of bone (GCTBs) before and after denosumab treatment and determine their applicability in monitoring GCTB response to denosumab treatment.

Methods: This retrospective study included eight patients (male, 3; female, 5; mean age, 33.4 years) diagnosed with GCTB, who had received treatment by denosumab and had undergone pre- and post-treatment non-contrast CT between January 2010 and December 2016.

Prognostic implications of polycomb proteins ezh2, suz12, and eed1 and histone modification by H3K27me3 in sarcoma.

Background: Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2; formed by EZH2, SUZ12, and EED protein subunits) and PRC1 (BMI1 protein) induce gene silencing through histone modification by H3K27me3. In the present study, we characterized the PRC expression pattern and its clinical implication in sarcoma.

Methods: Using immunohistochemistry, we analyzed PRC expression in 105 sarcoma patients with 5 subtypes: synovial sarcoma (n = 18), rhabdomyosarcoma (n = 28), Ewing sarcoma (n = 15), osteosarcoma (n = 30), and others (n = 14).

Reassessment of alkaline phosphatase as serum tumor marker with high specificity in osteosarcoma.

The goal of this study was to reassess serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) as tumor marker in osteosarcoma. We retrospectively examined serum ALP levels at diagnosis, every therapeutic step (neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy), metastasis, and follow-up and analyzed the role of ALP as tumor marker in 210 osteosarcomas. The diagnostic performances of ALP were validated with pathology-proven 899 other primary bone lesions.

Location of residual viable tumor cells after neoadjuvant chemotherapy: A new concept with high prognostic performance in osteosarcoma.

Background And Objectives: The purpose of this study was to establish a new concept for evaluating responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in osteosarcoma.

Methods: A total of 56 high-grade extremity osteosarcoma patients were retrospectively reviewed. A new conceptual method was derived from locations of residual viable tumor cells (LRVTC) after chemotherapy, whether extracompartmental or intracompartmental, rather than quantitative measurements of necrosis rates of tumor cells.

Outcomes of Treatment for Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors: Different Clinical Features Associated with Neurofibromatosis Type 1.

Purpose: Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are a rare subtype of sarcoma that occur spontaneously or in association with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). This study aimed to clinically differentiate these types of MPNSTs.

Materials And Methods: The study reviewed 95 patients diagnosed with and treated for MPNST at Yonsei University Health System, Seoul, Korea over a 27-year period.

Prognostic implications of PD-L1 expression in patients with soft tissue sarcoma.

Background: The PD-1/PD-L1 axis plays a paramount role in the immune escape of tumor cells by negative regulation of T-cell functions. The aim of the present study was to characterize the PD-L1 expression pattern and its clinical implication in soft-tissue sarcomas (STS).

Methods: We analyzed PD-L1 expression in 82 STS patients with 5 subtypes: rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, epithelioid sarcoma, and mesenchymal chondrosarcoma.

Prognostic Model to Predict Survival Outcome for Curatively Resected Liposarcoma: A Multi-Institutional Experience.

Purpose: We performed this study to analyze the clinical features and prognosis of Korean patients with liposarcoma.

Patients & Methods: Between October 1986 and April 2013, 231 patients who were diagnosed with liposarcoma by histologic examination were enrolled in this study.

Results: The distribution of histologic subtypes was well-differentiated (n = 97, 42%), myxoid (n = 74, 32%), dedifferentiated (n = 32, 13.

Prognostic implications of PIK3CA amplification in curatively resected liposarcoma.

Background: We investigated the epidemiologic characteristics and prognostic significance of PIK3CA mutations/amplifications in curative resected liposarcoma.

Patients And Methods: A total of 125 liposarcoma tissue samples were collected over a 12-year period. PIK3CA mutations and gene copy number amplifications were analyzed by pyrosequencing and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

Femur bowing could be a risk factor for implant flexion in conventional total knee arthroplasty and notching in navigated total knee arthroplasty.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between preoperative femoral axes and femoral implant position and to determine how femoral sagittal axes, including femoral anterior bowing, influence the femoral component position in total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Methods: The relationship between femoral axes (femoral anterior bowing, mechanical axis and the anterior cortical line, intramedullary axis) and implant position was compared in 50 conventional and 50 navigated TKAs. Outliers with more than a 3° margin of error in placement of the femoral component compared with the mechanical axis in the sagittal plane were calculated.

Leiomyosarcoma: investigation of prognostic factors for risk-stratification model.

Background: We performed this study to define distinctive clinical features of leiomyosarcoma by assessing prognostic factors.

Methods: Between 1988 and 2011, 129 leiomyosarcoma patients who underwent surgical resection with curative intent were retrospectively reviewed.

Results: Of the 129 leiomyosarcoma patients, the distribution of anatomic locations was: extremity (n = 25), pelvis (n = 40), thoracic cavity (n = 11), intra-abdomen (n = 19), retroperitoneum (n = 23), and head/neck (n = 11).

Efficacy of pazopanib monotherapy in patients who had been heavily pretreated for metastatic soft tissue sarcoma: a retrospective case series.

Background: We retrospectively reviewed outcomes of treatment with pazopanib, an oral multi-tyrosine kinase angiogenesis inhibitor, in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma, a rare and heterogeneous tumor group with limited treatment options.

Methods: Between 2009 and 2013, 43 patients with metastatic soft tissue sarcoma received pazopanib as salvage chemotherapy after one or more cytotoxic regimens. Response rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival were analyzed according to histological subtype, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, and metastatic site.

A new relative tumor sizing method in epi-metaphyseal osteosarcoma.

Background: The goal of this study was to develop a new method for determining tumor size to predict prognosis with high performance in osteosarcoma.

Methods: This study was approved by the institutional review board. We retrospectively reviewed 41 magnetic resonance (MR) images at diagnosis and 57 MR images after neoadjuvant chemotherapy from 59 patients with non-metastatic, high-grade extremity osteosarcoma, who had undergone surgery between October 1994 and October 2009.

Postoperative nomogram to predict the probability of metastasis in Enneking stage IIB extremity osteosarcoma.

Background: Metastasis is the most crucial prognostic factor in osteosarcoma. The goal of this study was to develop a new nomogram to predict the probability of metastasis in Enneking stage IIB extremity osteosarcoma after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and limb salvage surgery.

Methods: We examined medical records of 91 patients who had undergone surgery between March 1994 and March 2007.

Secondary malignant neoplasms after osteosarcoma: early onset and cumulative alkylating agent dose dependency.

Purpose: To analyze the impacts of chemotherapeutic agent exposures on the development of secondary malignant neoplasms (SMP) after osteosarcoma.

Methods: Of 132 patients who had been treated for high-grade extremity osteosarcoma from September 1992 to September 2008, 90 survivors were retrospectively reviewed. Fifty-eight of the survivors received a doublet of doxorubicin (ADR) and cisplatin (DDP), and 32 received a triplet of ADR, DDP, and ifosfamide (Ifos).

Incidence and Survival of Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Comparison between Adults and Children.

Purpose: Pediatric-type sarcomas such as rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), Ewing sarcoma (EWS), primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), and desmoplastic small round-cell tumor (DSRCT) are rare in adults, with limited studies on their prognosis and optimal treatment strategies. We aimed to examine the outcome of children and adult patients with RMS, EWS, PNET, and DSRCT and relevant prognostic factors.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 220 pediatric-type sarcoma patients at a single institution between 1985 and 2011.

Vascular soft-tissue sarcomas: a prognostic model from a retrospective single-center study.

Background: Vascular soft-tissue sarcomas are a rare form of sarcoma. Malignant subtypes exhibit a variety of biological behaviors. We describe the clinicopathological characteristics and patient survival outcomes of malignant vascular soft-tissue sarcomas.

Potential of nucleofected human MSCs for insulin secretion.

The goal of this experiment was to generate insulin-producing human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as a therapeutic source for type I diabetes mellitus, which is caused by insulin deficiency due to the destruction of islet β cells. In various trials for the treatment of type I diabetes, cell-based therapy using adult stem cells is considered to be one of the most useful candidates for the treatment. In this experiment, a non-viral method called nucleofection was used to transfect hMSCs with pEGFP-C2 and furin-cleavable human preproinsulin gene (hPPI) to produce insulin-secreting cells as surrogate β cells.

Comparison of long-term outcome between doublet and triplet neoadjuvant chemotherapy in non-metastatic osteosarcoma of the extremity.

Objective: This study compared outcomes between doublet (AP) and triplet (IAP) neoadjuvant chemotherapy for nonmetastatic osteosarcoma of the extremity.

Methods: A total of 124 patients were enrolled. In the AP group, a doublet regimen of intraarterial cisplatin and intravenous doxorubicin was given to 77 patients from 1991 to 1999.

Segmental resection and replantation have a role for selected advanced sarcomas in the upper limb.

Unlabelled: Although limb salvage surgery for primary sarcoma of the upper limb is a standard procedure, it often is technically challenging. We asked whether segmental resection and replantation would provide (1) local control and long-term survival and (2) useful limb function in patients who had advanced primary malignant and aggressive tumors of the upper limbs. We retrospectively reviewed six patients treated with this procedure when a wide resection around the tumor could not be achieved with other limb-salvage procedures.

Clinical features and outcomes following bilateral lower limb amputation in Korea.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the clinical features and outcomes of 43 bilateral lower limb amputees. The clinical features obtained included the causes of amputation, level of amputation, concurrent medical problems, and stump condition. Outcome measures were obtained using the activities of daily living (ADL) index, the Frenchay Activities Index (FAI), and mobility grading with prostheses or wheelchair.

Anterior-inferior labral lesions of recurrent shoulder dislocation evaluated by MR arthrography in an adduction internal rotation (ADIR) position.

Purpose: To introduce and evaluate the usefulness of the adduction internal rotation (ADIR) position in MR arthrography for discriminating the following subtypes of Bankart lesions: classic Bankart lesions, anterior labroligamentous periosteal sleeve avulsion (ALPSA) lesions, and Perthes lesions.

Materials And Methods: The study group consisted of 25 patients who had been referred for MR arthrography of the shoulder and then underwent arthroscopy due to recurrent episodes of shoulder dislocation. MR arthrography was performed in three different positions: neutral, abduction external rotation (ABER), and ADIR.

The role of popliteal lymph nodes in differentiating rheumatoid arthritis from osteoarthritis by using CE 3D FSPGR MR imaging: relationship of the inflamed synovial volume.

Objective: We wanted to assess the role of the popliteal lymph nodes for differentiating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from osteoarthritis (OA), and we also wanted to investigate the relationship between the popliteal lymph nodes and the inflamed synovial volume (ISV) by using contrast enhanced (CE), fat suppressed, three dimensional-fast spoiled gradient echo (3D-FSPGR) MR imaging.

Materials And Methods: Contrast enhanced 3D-FSGPR MR imaging of 94 knees (21 with RA and 73 with OA) was analyzed. A lymph node was defined as being 'observed' if it could be seen in at least two planes of the three orthogonal reformatted planes.