Dose comparison between prescription methods according to anatomical variations in intracavitary brachytherapy for cervical cancer.

Purpose: We compared how doses delivered via two-dimensional (2D) intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) and three-dimensional (3D) ICBT varied anatomically.

Materials And Methods: A total of 50 patients who received 30 Gy of 3D ICBT after external radiotherapy (RT) were enrolled. We compared the doses of the actual 3D and 2D ICBT plans among patients grouped according to six anatomical variations: differences in a small-bowel V2Gy, small bowel circumference, the direction of bladder distension, bladder volume, sigmoid V3.

Clinical significance of the lymph node ratio in N1 breast cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of the lymph node ratio (LNR), which was defined as the proportion of involved nodes of all dissected nodes, in pN1 breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients with pN1 breast cancer (N = 144) treated at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center, Daegu, Korea between 2001 and 2010. The median age was 46 years (range, 27 to 66 years).

Predictors of pathologic complete response after preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy of rectal cancer: a single center experience.

Purpose: To identify possible predictors of pathologic complete response (pCR) of rectal cancer after preoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 53 patients with rectal cancer who underwent preoperative CCRT followed by radical surgery at a single center between January 2007 and December 2012. The median radiotherapy dose to the pelvis was 54.

Is Prophylactic Irradiation to Para-aortic Lymph Nodes in Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer Necessary?

Purpose: This study evaluated the efficacy of extended field irradiation (EFI) in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer without para-aortic nodal involvement.

Materials And Methods: A total of 203 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics [FIGO] stage, IB2-IIIB) treated with radiotherapy at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center from 1996 to 2010 were retrospectively analyzed. The median patient age was 59 years (range, 29 to 83 years).

Assessment of setup uncertainties for various tumor sites when using daily CBCT for more than 2200 VMAT treatments.

The aim of this study was assess the patient setup errors for various tumor sites based on clinical data from a sufficient number of treatments with volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) using daily pretreatment CBCT imaging guidance. In addition, we calculated and compared the planning target volume (PTV) margins for all disease sites based on an analysis of specific systematic and random errors in our institution. All patients underwent pretreatment kV-CBCT imaging.

Formation of deaminated dimer species of amino acids by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization.

Rationale: Interactions of biological molecules to form cluster species play a key role in biological processes and investigation of non-covalent complexes is one of the research fields using mass spectrometry. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) is a useful method for the investigation of cluster formation of amino acids (AAs) by ion-molecule reactions.

Methods: A mixture of 20 protein AAs was ionized by APCI and the product ions were analyzed.

Fragmentation patterns of protonated amino acids formed by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization.

Rationale: Dissociation reactions of protonated amino acids (AAs) can be used as models for the fragmentation of protonated peptides. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) provides a great deal of structural information in a short analysis time.

Methods: In APCI-MS, the fragmentation patterns can be obtained by varying the cone voltage and some fragment ions are produced that can be used to identify the structure of an analyte.

Postoperative radiotherapy for endometrial cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the prognostic factors and effectiveness of postoperative radiotherapy alone for endometrial carcinoma.

Materials And Methods: Sixty four patients with stage I-III endometrial cancer (EC) treated with postoperative radiotherapy alone between January 1989 and December 2008 at the Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center were chosen for the present study. Typically, total hysterectomy, salpingo-oophorectomy and lymphadenectomy were performed on the patient's pelvis.

Pain and its treatment in patients with cancer in Korea.

Substantial pain is experienced by a lot of patients with cancer, and undertreated pain significantly undermines their quality of life. Despite international and national guidelines on cancer pain management, the practical effectiveness of management is still problematic. We did a prospective cross-sectional survey on pain prevalence, pain intensity, its impact on daily activity, and adequacy of pain management in 823 patients treated by medical oncologists and radiologic oncologists.