Randomized phase II study of capecitabine plus cisplatin with or without sorafenib in patients with metastatic gastric cancer (STARGATE).

Background: In this randomized phase II study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in combination with capecitabine and cisplatin (XP) as first-line chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer.

Patients And Methods: Patients with metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma were randomized (1:1) to receive either sorafenib plus XP (S + XP) or XP alone. In cases of disease progression in the XP arm, crossover to sorafenib alone was allowed.

COVID-19 and Cancer: Questions to Be Answered.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak to be a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In Korea, there have been 24,027 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 420 deaths as of October 3, 2020. The clinical spectrum of COVID-19 ranges from asymptomatic infection to death.

Correction to: The impact of caregiver's role preference on decisional conflicts and psychiatric distresses in decision making to help caregiver's disclosure of terminal disease status.

In the original publication of the article, the incorrect grant number HC13C1391 was published in the acknowledgement section. The correct grant number is HC15C1391.

Treatment Patterns and Changes in Quality of Life during First-Line Palliative Chemotherapy in Korean Patients with Advanced Gastric Cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate chemotherapy patterns and changes in quality of life (QOL) during first-line palliative chemotherapy for Korean patients with unresectable or metastatic/recurrent gastric cancer (GC).

Materials And Methods: Thiswas a non-interventional, multi-center, prospective, observational study of 527 patients in Korea. QOL assessments were conducted using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaires (QLQ)-C30 and QLQ-STO22 every 3 months over a 12-month period during first-line palliative chemotherapy.

The impact of caregiver's role preference on decisional conflicts and psychiatric distresses in decision making to help caregiver's disclosure of terminal disease status.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of caregivers' role preference in decision making on conflicts and psychiatric distresses.

Methods: The responses of 406 caregivers of terminal cancer patients enrolled in a trial determining the efficacy of a decision aid focused on the disclosure of terminal disease status were included in this secondary analysis. The outcomes include the change scores of the Decision Conflict Scale (DCS) and depression and anxiety subscales of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at the 1 and 3 months from baseline.

Efficacy and tolerability of ramucirumab monotherapy or in combination with paclitaxel in gastric cancer patients from the Expanded Access Program Cohort by the Korean Cancer Study Group (KCSG).

Background: Ramucirumab improves survival in gastric cancer patients. The efficacy and safety of ramucirumab outside of a clinical trial were evaluated using an expanded access program (EAP).

Methods: Advanced gastric cancer patients treated with ramucirumab in combination with paclitaxel or with ramucirumab monotherapy in a Korean EAP were evaluated.

Multicenter, cross-sectional observational study of the impact of neuropathic pain on quality of life in cancer patients.

Purpose: Neuropathic cancer pain (NCP) is a common and potentially debilitating symptom in cancer patients. We investigated the prevalence of NCP, as well as its management and association with QOL.

Methods: Cancer patients with pain ≥1 on the visual analogue scale (VAS) were surveyed with the Douleur Neuropathique (DN4) questionnaire, the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), and the EuroQOL five dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire.

Long-term Outcome of Extranodal NK/T Cell Lymphoma Patients Treated With Postremission Therapy Using EBV LMP1 and LMP2a-specific CTLs.

Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL) is associated with latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and frequent relapse even after complete response (CR) to intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The expression of EBV proteins in the tumor provides targets for adoptive immunotherapy with antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTL). To evaluate the efficacy and safety of EBV latent membrane protein (LMP)-1 and LMP-2a-specific CTLs (LMP1/2a CTLs) stimulated with LMP1/2a RNA-transferred dendritic cells, we treated 10 ENKTCL patients who showed complete response to induction therapy.

Outcomes in elderly patients treated with a single-agent or combination regimen as first-line chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer.

Background: Palliative chemotherapy is used to prolong survival among elderly patients with inoperable gastric cancer (GC). We analyzed differences between single and combination first-line palliative chemotherapy among these patients.

Methods: Included patients were >70 years old and were treated for GC at four clinical centers of the Catholic University of Korea.

A case-control study to identify risk factors for totally implantable central venous port-related bloodstream infection.

Purpose: To date, the risk factors for central venous port-related bloodstream infection (CVPBSI) in solid cancer patients have not been fully elucidated. We conducted this study in order to determine the risk factors for CVP-BSI in patients with solid cancer.

Materials And Methods: A total of 1,642 patients with solid cancer received an implantable central venous port for delivery of chemotherapy between October 2008 and December 2011 in a single center.

MALT lymphoma at the base of tongue of a 29-year-old woman treated with radiation therapy alone.

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is frequently reported in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), but the incidence is low in the upper aerodigestive tract. In particular, MALT lymphoma of the tongue is very rare. Only four cases have been reported in the English literature to date.

Trends in the Aggressiveness of End-of-Life Care for Advanced Stomach Cancer Patients.

Purpose: It is important to balance the appropriateness of active cancer treatments and end-of-life care to improve the quality of life for terminally ill cancer patients. This study describes the treatment patterns and end-of-life care in terminal gastric cancer patients.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 137 patients with advanced gastric cancer receiving chemotherapy and dying between June 1, 2006 and May 31, 2011.

Discordant lymphocyte-depleted classical Hodgkin's and peripheral T-cell lymphoma arising in a patient 11 years after diagnosis of multicentric Castleman's disease.

Castleman's disease (CD) is thought to be related with an initially benign viral disease with cytokine-driven propagation and malignant transformation. This paper reports the first case of a simultaneous discordant lymphoma consisting of lymphocyte-depleted classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (LDCHL) and peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) arising in a patient with multicentric CD (MCD). PTCL occurred 4 years after the diagnosis of MCD, and LDCHL was developed 6 years after the treatment of PTCL, sequentially.

Validation of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System in Korean patients with cancer.

Context: The Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) is a brief, widely adopted, multidimensional questionnaire to evaluate patient-reported symptoms.

Objectives: To develop a Korean version of the ESAS (K-ESAS) and to perform a psychometric analysis in Korean patients with advanced cancer.

Methods: We tested the K-ESAS in two pilot studies with 15 patients each.

Burdens, needs and satisfaction of terminal cancer patients and their caregivers.

Objectives: Terminal cancer patients and their caregivers often experience traumatic stress and need many types of assistance. In the present study we interviewed terminally ill cancer patients and caregivers to determine how much burden they experienced and to find out what factors are most important for satisfaction.

Design: We constructed a questionnaire including overall care burden and needs experienced, and administered it to 659 terminal cancer patients and 659 important caregivers at 11 university hospitals and 1 national cancer center in Korea.

Comprehensive DNA methylation and extensive mutation analyses reveal an association between the CpG island methylator phenotype and oncogenic mutations in gastric cancers.

Recent development of personal sequencers for extensive mutation analysis and bead array technology for comprehensive DNA methylation analysis have made it possible to obtain integrated pictures of genetic and epigenetic alterations on the same set of cancer samples. Here, we aimed to establish such pictures of gastric cancers (GCs). Comprehensive methylation analysis of 30 GCs revealed that the number of aberrantly methylated genes was highly variable among individual GCs.

A phase II study of docetaxel and oxaliplatin combination in recurrent gastric cancer patients after fluoropyrimidine and/or cisplatin adjuvant treatment: a Korean Cancer Study Group Protocol ST06-02.

Background: Surgery alone is no longer an adequate standard of care for patients with resectable gastric cancer. Thus, research efforts should focus on which regimens are the most effective for patients with recurrent gastric cancer after combined treatment with surgery and perioperative or adjuvant chemotherapy.

Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed and measurable advanced gastric cancer who showed a relapse even after fluoropyrimidine and/or cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy received docetaxel (35 mg/m(2)) intravenously on day 1 and 8 plus oxaliplatin (100 mg/m(2)) intravenously on day 1 every 3 weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.

Treatment outcomes of systemic chemotherapy for peritoneal carcinomatosis arising from gastric cancer with no measurable disease: retrospective analysis from a single center.

Background: Few studies of systemic chemotherapy have focused on gastric cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) without measurable lesions. In the present study, we characterized the outcomes of systemic chemotherapy and prognostic factors for gastric cancer with PC, particularly in patients without measurable disease.

Methods: Clinical data from 211 gastric cancer patients with PC (137 without and 74 with measurable disease) who had received systemic chemotherapy between January 2003 and December 2010 at a single center were reviewed.

Complementary and alternative medicine use among cancer patients at the end of life: Korean national study.

Objectives: To investigate in depth the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) by cancer patients at the end-of-life (EOL) and how they communicate with physicians about them. DESIGN AND LOCATION: In 17 hospitals in Korea between January and December 2004 we identified 4,042 families of cancer patients.

Results: The prevalence of CAM use among cancer patients at the EOL was 37.

Use of a decision aid to help caregivers discuss terminal disease status with a family member with cancer: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: We tested whether a decision aid explaining how to discuss the approach of death with a family member with cancer would help family caregivers decide to discuss a terminal prognosis.

Patients And Methods: We randomly assigned caregivers of terminally ill patients with cancer to a group that received a video and a companion workbook that showed either how they can discuss the prognosis with their patient (experimental arm) or how cancer pain can be controlled (control arm). At baseline and 1 month, we evaluated the decision to discuss terminal prognosis as the primary outcome.

Modified FOLFIRI as Second-Line Chemotherapy after Failure of Modified FOLFOX-4 in Advanced Gastric Cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate efficacy and toxicity of irinotecan, leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil (FOLFIRI) as second-line treatment after failure of oxaliplatin, leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil (FOLFOX) for advanced gastric cancer.

Materials And Methods: Patients who received modified FOLFOX-4 as first-line treatment and then received sequential modified FOLFIRI for disease progression were included in this study. The modified FOLFIRI regimen consisted of irinotecan 150 mg/m(2) in a 90-minute intravenous infusion on day 1, leucovorin (LV) 20 mg/m(2) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 400 mg/m(2) as a bolus followed by 600 mg/m(2) as a 22-hour infusion on days 1 and 2 with the same dose of 5-FU/LV of modified FOLFOX-4 every 2 weeks.

Prognostic significance of CD44s expression in resected non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: CD44s is a cell adhesion molecule known to mediate cellular adhesion to the extracellular matrix, a prerequisite for tumor cell migration. CD44s plays an important role in invasion and metastasis of various cancers. In the present study, we sought to determine whether CD44s is involved in clinical outcomes of patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Numb chin syndrome with concomitant painful ophthalmoplegia leading to a diagnosis of diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

Painful ophthalmoplegia (PO) and concomitant numb chin syndrome (NCS) is a very rare event. There are a few reports in the literature about PO and concomitant NCS that have preceded the diagnosis of a malignancy. In this report, we describe a patient with diffuse large B cell lymphoma who presented with PO and concomitant NCS as the initial symptom of the disease.

Contribution of Epstein-Barr virus infection to chemoresistance of gastric carcinoma cells to 5-fluorouracil.

Although Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is associated with 6-16% of the gastric carcinoma (GC) cases, the effect of EBV infection on the tumorigenesis process and the responsiveness to chemotherapy remain unclear. We compared chemosensitivity of the EBV-positive GC (AGSEBV) and EBV-negative GC (AGS) cells to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Although 5-FU inhibited the growth of both cell lines in a dose- and time-dependent manner, the sensitivity of EBV-positive GC cells to 5-FU was lower than that of EBV-negative GC cells.

Prognostic significance of nuclear survivin expression in resected adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck.

Objectives: The expression of survivin, an inhibitor of apoptosis, in tumor cells is associated with poor clinical outcome for various cancers. We conducted this study to determine survivin expression in patients with adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the head and neck and to identify its clinical significance as a prognostic factor.

Materials And Methods: We performed immunohistochemical staining for survivin, p53, bcl-2 protein, and Ki-67 in formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks from 37 cases of head and neck ACC.