In Woong Han

Effects of pancreatectomy on nutritional state, pancreatic function and quality of life

There are concerns about the extent of impaired endocrine and exocrine pancreatic function and poor quality of life (QoL) after pancreatectomy, but there is little information from large prospective follow‐up studies.

Evaluation of clinical meaning of histological subtypes of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas.

Objectives Prognostic value of histological subtypes of pancreatic intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) has been reported to have conflicting results. The authors investigated the clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic significance of the histological subtypes of IPMNs with various degrees of dysplasia. Methods Two hundred thirteen patients with surgically treated pancreatic IPMN at a single tertiary care referral center were included. Pathological slides were thoroughly reviewed by a specialized pathologist. Results Of the 213 patients, 38 low-grade, 97 intermediate-grade, and 18 high-grade dysplasia and 59 IPMNs with an associated invasive carcinoma (invasive IPMN) were identified. Histological subtypes consisted of 135 gastric (63.4%), 38 intestinal (17.8%), 38 pancreatobiliary (17.8%), and 2 oncocytic types (0.9%). Histological subtypes were associated with radiological type (P < 0.001), degree of dysplasia (P < 0.001), and T stage (P < 0.001). The proportions of invasive IPMN were 14.1%, 42.1%, 57.9%, and 100% of gastric, intestinal, pancreatobiliary, and oncocytic types, respectively. Disease-specific survival was not affected by histological subtype in overall patients (P = 0.881). For invasive IPMNs, histological subtypes had a marginal significance on survival (P = 0.050), which lost statistical significance after multivariate analysis (P = 0.341). Conclusions Although histological subtypes are associated with the degree of dysplasia, histological subtypes have limited prognostic value for pancreatic IPMNs.

Comparison of Clinical Outcome and Cost-Effectiveness after Various Preoperative Biliary Drainage Methods in Periampullary Cancer with Obstructive Jaundice

The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcome and cost-effectiveness of preoperative biliary drainage (BD) methods in periampullary cancer, and to suggest guidelines for selecting the appropriate preoperative BD method. Between October 2004 and August 2010, 211 patients underwent pancreatoduodenectomy after preoperative BD. Clinical outcome and cost-effectiveness of the preoperative BD methods were compared based on the final drainage method used and on intention-to-treat analysis. There was no significant difference in drainage duration between percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) and endoscopic BD groups (14.2 vs 16.6 days, respectively; P = 0.121) but daily diminution of serum bilirubin level was higher in the PTBD group (0.7 vs 0.6 mg/dL/day, respectively; P = 0.041). Based on intention-to-treat analysis, drainage duration was shorter (13.2 vs 16.5 days, respectively; P = 0.049), daily diminution of serum bilirubin level was higher (0.7 vs 0.6 mg/dL/day, respectively; P = 0.041). Medical care cost was lower (14.2 vs 15.7 × 103 USD, respectively; P = 0.040) in the PTBD group than in the endoscopic BD group. When selecting the preoperative BD method, practitioners should consider that PTBD is more cost-effective and safer than endoscopic BD.

Role of radical surgery in patients with stage IV gallbladder cancer

OBJECTIVES The role of surgery in stage IV gallbladder (GB) cancer is not well established. This study analyses prognostic factors in patients with stage IV GB cancer following surgical resection with the aim of identifying a subgroup of patients who might benefit from surgical resection. METHODS Clinicopathological details were analysed for 94 patients who were surgically treated for stage IV GB cancer at Seoul National University Hospital. RESULTS Median survival was 8 months in patients with either stage IVa or IVb disease. Sixteen patients (17.0%) underwent resection with curative intent, which increased overall survival over that in patients undergoing palliative surgery (P < 0.001). No survival benefit was seen following surgery with curative intent in patients with stage IVa disease (P = 0.764). Surgery with curative intent resulted in a survival benefit in patients with stage IVb disease, patients with an isolated liver metastasis near the GB bed (median survival: 31 months vs. 9 months; P < 0.001) and patients with limited numbers of peritoneal implantations (median survival: 20 months vs. 6 months; P = 0.002). Preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (P = 0.018), surgery with curative intent (P = 0.045) and adjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.002) were independent prognostic factors in patients with stage IV GB cancer. CONCLUSIONS Surgery in combination with systemic chemotherapy may be beneficial in carefully selected patients with stage IVb GB cancer.

Ceruloplasmin as a prognostic marker in patients with bile duct cancer

Background and Aims Bile duct cancer is one of the lethal cancers, presenting difficulties in early diagnosis and limited treatment modalities. Despite current advances in biomarker research, most studies have been performed in Western populations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine a prognostic marker for bile duct cancer, especially in Korean patients, whose incidence of bile duct cancer is high. Results Comparing cancer and normal bile duct tissue, we identified 29091 differentially expressed genes. CP, SCEL, and MUC16 had positive coefficients with a log2 ratio >1 for advanced T, N stage and perineural invasion cancer tissue. Strong immunohistochemical expression of ceruloplasmin was dominant in tumors with advanced T stage (p>0.999) and perineural invasion (p=0.316). Patients and Methods We performed tissue microarray experiment with 79 bile duct cancer tissue samples and 21 normal bile duct tissue samples. Candidate genes that has positive correlation with T, N stage and perineural invasion were drawn with multivariate analysis. Tissue expression of the genes was evaluated with an immunohistochemical study. Conclusions Ceruloplasmin is supposed to be related with advanced T stage and perineural invasion, having a possibility as a candidate prognostic marker for bile duct cancer.

Myoepithelial hamartoma as a solitary mass in the pancreatic parenchyma: the first case report

Solid hamartoma of the pancreas is very rare, and only 3 cases have been reported thus far. A patient underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy due to a mass in the head of the pancreas which was suspected to be a borderline malignant tumor, but the histologic diagnosis turned out to be myoepithelial hamartoma (MEH) or adenomyoma. It was characterized by benign duct and glandular structures surrounded by proliferating smooth muscle, and acinus formation was not observed. Immunohistochemical stain for smooth muscle actin (SMA) was positive in spindle cells, and CD34 was negative, differentiating it from the three previously reported cases of solid hamartoma of the pancreas. MEH is an entity that is on the same spectrum as heterotopic pancreas. MEH is rare and has usually been reported in the gastrointestinal tract. To the best of our knowledge, MEH has never been reported in the pancreas. Therefore we report the worlds first documented case of MEH of the pancreas.