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Early diagnosis of peritoneal metastases in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) can influence patient prognosis. The aim of this study was to identify the clinical significance of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in peritoneal fluid detected during operation in stage I–III CRC patients.
Between April 2009 and April 2015, we reviewed medical records from a total of 60 stage I–III CRC patients who had peritoneal fluid collected during operation. Patients who had positive cytology in the assessment of peritoneal fluid were excluded. We evaluated the values of CEA in peritoneal fluid (pCEA) to predict the long-term outcomes of these patients using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models.
The median follow-up duration was 37 months (interquartile range, 21–50 months). On receiver operating characteristic analysis, pCEA had the largest area under the curve (0.793; 95% confidence interval, 0.635–0.950;
In this study, we determined that high pCEA (≥26.84 ng/mL) detected during operation was helpful for the prediction of poor CFS in patients with stage I–III CRC.
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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disabling gastrointestinal disorder that diminishes the quality of life of the affected individuals. Limited data are available regarding the impact of IBD on the daily life of Koreans.
Self-administered, computer-aided, internet-based questionnaires were distributed to members of a Korean patient organization for IBD from March to April 2013, by the Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases.
A total of 599 patients with IBD (387 with Crohn's disease [CD] and 212 with ulcerative colitis [UC]) were enrolled. The majority of patients (81%) expressed feelings of fatigue, weakness, and being worn out in their daily lives during times of flare; this percentage was reduced to 61% during remission. Respondents were absent from work or school for an average period of 18 days because of illness, within the first 6 months; the majority of respondents (64%) felt stressed about their absence. Forty-six percent of the respondents reported having received unfair comments at work, or having suffered discrimination. Forty-seven percent of the respondents felt that IBD had negatively affected their income and earnings. Compared with patients with UC, those with CD reported a more frequent negative impact of IBD on work, or more economic burden. More than half of the respondents (61%) reported that IBD had prevented them from making or keeping friends.
IBD significantly impacts daily life, including work, education, and social relationships. Treatment that addresses the full spectrum of life of a patient would be more effective.
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Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by a relapsing and remitting course. The direct and indirect costs of the treatment of UC are high, and the quality of life of patients is reduced, especially during exacerbation of the disease. The incidence and prevalence of UC in Korea are still lower than those of Western countries, but have been rapidly increasing during the past decades. Various medical and surgical therapies, including biologics, are currently used for the management of UC. However, many challenging issues exist, which sometimes lead to differences in practice between clinicians. Therefore, the IBD study group of the Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases established the first Korean guidelines for the management of UC in 2012. This is an update of the first guidelines. It was generally made by the adaptation of several foreign guidelines as was the first edition, and encompasses treatment of active colitis, maintenance of remission, and indication of surgery for UC. The specific recommendations are presented with the quality of evidence and classification of recommendations.
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Gastric pathology and
Among 492 patients with CD receiving upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic evaluation in 19 Korean hospitals, we evaluated the endoscopic findings and gastric histopathologic features of 47 patients for our study. Histopathologic classification was performed using gastric biopsy tissues, and
There were 36 men (76.6%), and the median age of patients at the time of upper GI endoscopy was 23.8 years (range, 14.2–60.5). For CD phenotype, ileocolonic disease was observed in 38 patients (80.9%), and non-stricturing, non-penetrating disease in 31 patients (66.0%). Twenty-eight patients (59.6%) complained of upper GI symptoms. Erosive gastritis was the most common gross gastric feature (66.0%). Histopathologically,
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