The standard radiation dose 50.4 Gy with concurrent chemotherapy for localized inoperable esophageal cancer as supported by INT-0123 trail is now being challenged since a radiation dose above 50 Gy has been successfully administered with an observable dose-response relationship and insignificant untoward effects. Therefore, to ascertain the treatment benefits of different radiation doses, we pe...

PURPOSE Abnormalities of FHIT, a candidate tumor suppressor gene, have frequently been found in multiple malignancies, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). To define its role in HNSCC treated with surgery and postoperative radiotherapy (PORT), the Fhit protein expression status was investigated in 80 patients enrolled in a prospective Phase III clinical trial addressing the ...

BACKGROUND We investigated central compartment recurrence (CCR) and mortality rate in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) who had no central lymph node dissection (CLND) at the time of primary operation. METHODS The medical records of 343 patients who underwent operations for PTC between January 1988 and December 2002 with a mean postoperative follow-up period of 9 +/- 4 years, we...

This study aims to determine the value of locoregional surgery compared with no surgery on the outcome of women with metastatic breast cancer at initial presentation. For that, fifty seven patients initially presented with stage IV breast cancer were prospectively randomized to undergo mastectomy in group I (27 patients) or no surgery in group II (30 patients). All patients received systemic tr...

PURPOSE To discuss the outcomes of primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the major salivary glands treated by surgery with or without postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of 579 cases with malignancy originating in the major salivary glands. A total of 34 cases were eligible for the present study. The outcomes were analyzed in ter...

Intrathyroidal epithelial thymoma (ITET)/carcinoma showing thymus-like differentiation (CASTLE) is a rare malignant tumor having histopathologic features similar to those of squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid and other organs and a more favorable prognosis. It is thought to originate from ectopic thymic tissue or embryonic thymic rest in or adjacent to the thyroid. We investigated clinicopa...

PURPOSE We wanted to evaluate the role of postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). MATERIALS AND METHODS From March 1993 to July 2008, 101 patients with advanced SCCHN and who had undergone macroscopically complete resection were enrolled. Survival and the cumulative incidence of local or regional relapse, m...

OBJECTIVE After complete resection of carcinomas of the head and neck, including carcinoma of the cervical esophagus, the pattern of first failure is more often locoregional than distant metastasis. We retrospectively evaluated the safety and efficacy of the combination of post-operative radiation and concurrent chemotherapy with low-dose cisplatin for high-risk squamous cell carcinoma of the c...

PURPOSE To decide the optimal treatment for breast cancer patients with locoregional recurrence (LRR), it is important to determine which group has the highest risk of subsequent distant metastasis (DM). We aimed to investigate the factors associated with DM in patients with LRR. METHODS We reviewed the data of 208 patients with LRR as the first event after primary surgery for breast cancer a...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to evaluate the liver metastasis risk among colorectal cancer patients with liver cirrhosis. METHODS This was a nationwide population-based cohort study of 2973 newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients with liver cirrhosis and 11 892 age-sex matched controls enrolled in Taiwan between 2000 and 2010. The cumulative risk by Kaplan-Meier method, hazard ratio ...