The objective of recent radiation therapy is to improve the quality of treatment and the after- treatment quality of life. In Korea, sharing the same objective, significant advancement was made due to the gradual increase of patient number and rapid increase of treatment facilities. The advancement includes generalization of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), application of linac-based stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and...

PURPOSE: Rarity of olfactory neuroblastoma makes it difficult for treating physician to practice with a consistent protocol. This study is performed to analyze our experience with various treatment modalities for patients with olfactory neuroblastoma. Discussion includes review of some recently published literatures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between June of 1979 and April of 1997, 20 patients were treated under the diagnosis of...

PURPOSE: To determine treatment protocol for inoperable esophageal cancer patients, we evaluated survival rate and prognostic factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated esophageal cancer treated by curative or palliative aim in KCCH from 1992 to 1996, retrospectively. Recurrent or underdose case below 40 Gy were excluded. The number of male and female were 35 and 5, respectively. Thirty-eight patients were squamous...

PURPOSE: DNA ploidy pattern was shown to correlate with several clinicohistologic findings in several tumors. Aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of the clinicohistologic findings in colorectal cancer and the failure pattern in rectosigmoid cancer with DNA ploidy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DNA flow cytometry using the Hedley methods on paraffin embedded specimen from 117 patients with colorectal cancers...

PURPOSE: When determining the lower margin of post-operative pelvic radiation therapy field according to the traditional method (recommended by Gunderson), the organs located in the low pelvic cavity and the perineum are vulnerable to unnecessary radiation. This study evaluated the effect of individualized determination of the lower margin at 2 cm to 3 cm below the anastomotic site on the...

PURPOSE: We already reported the results that aqueous extract of Korean ginseng roots showed a marked cytotoxicity. In this study, we investigated whether combined ginseng product with X-irradiation increase the cytotoxicity of tumor cells than X-irradiation or not. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty gram of Korean ginseng powder mixed with 1 L of distilled water was extracted with reflux flask under condition...

PURPOSE: To determine the role of cytokines in the apoptosis of rat's liver following irradiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were irradiated to entire body with a single dose of 8 Gy. The rats were divided into 5 groups according to the sacrifice day after irradiation. The liver and blood after 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days irradiation were sampled...

PURPOSE: To investigate the pathways of radiation induced apoptosis and the effect of cysteamine (beta-mercaptoethylamine), as a radioprotector, on it. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HL-60 cells were assigned to control, irradiated, and cysteamine (1 mM, 10mM) pretreated groups, Irradiation was given in a single fraction of 10 Gy (6 MV x-ray) and cysteamine was administered 1 hour before irradiation. The activities of...