PURPOSE: To suggest the optimal radiation fields after a surgical resection based on a nationwide survey on the principles of radiotherapy for rectal cancer in the Korean Patterns of Care Study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A consensus committee, composed of radiation oncologists from 18 hospitals in Seoul Metropolitan area, developed a survey format to analyze radiation oncologist's treatment principles for rectal cancer...

PURPOSE: Current results of autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) suggest that this procedure may prolong disease free survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Autologous SCT is increasingly used as treatment for AML in first remission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of autologous SCT for patients with AML in first remission treated by autologous...

PURPOSE: This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of postoperative radiotherapy, and to investigate the prognostic factors for FIGO stages IB-IIB cervical cancer patients who were treated with simple hysterectomy, or who had high-risk factors following radical hysterectomy and pelviclymph node dissection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between March 1986 and December 1998, 58 patients, with FIGO stages IB-IIB cervical cancer were...

PURPOSE: Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), which is part of the mitogen-activated protin kinase cascade, opposes initiation of the apoptotic cell death which is programmed by diverse cytotoxic stimuli. In this regard, the inhibition of ERK may be useful in improving the therapeutic efficacy of established anticancer agents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Murine hepatocarcinoma, HCa-I is known to be highly radioresistant with a...

PURPOSE: To investigate the modulation of radiosensitivity by celecoxib, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, on cancer cells over- and under-expressing COX-2. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A clonogenic radiation survival analysis was performed on A549 human lung and MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines incubated in both 1 and 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) containing media. The apoptosis in both cell lines was...

No abstract available.

PURPOSE: The human chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line, K562, expresses the chimeric bcr-abl oncoprotein, whose deregulated protein tyrosine kinase activity antagonizes the induction of apoptosis via DNA damaging agents. Previous experiments have shown that nanomolar concentrations of herbimycin A (HMA) coupled with X-irradiation have a synergistic effect in inducing apoptosis in the Ph-positive K562 leukemia cell line, but genistein, a...

PURPOSE: The planning of High-Dose-Rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatments are becoming individualized and more dependent on the treatment planning system. Therefore, computer software has been developed to perform independent point dose calculations with the integration of an isodose distribution curve display into the patient anatomy images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: As primary input data, the program takes patients' planning data including the source...

A primary malignant melanoma of the vagina is a very rare gynecological malignant tumor. Its clinical behavior is more aggressive than that of cutaneous and vulvar melanomas. We present a case of a large sized primary melanoma of the lower third of the vagina, with a cervical lesion, in a 58-year-old postmenopausal woman. The patient was treated with conventional external...