Clinicopathologic Study on the Primary Malignant Tumors of The Fallopian Tube / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathologic findings of eight patients with primary cancer of fallopian tube diagnosed and treated in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Ulsan, Asan Medical Center for nine years. Methods Demographic characteristics, symptoms, signs, stage, tumor grade, mode of therapy and survival of patients were reviewed retrospectively. Results The patients with primary cancer of fallopian tube constituted 0.4% of all gynecologic malignancies encountered during this period. The age of patients ranged 42 to 70 years(mean+/- S.D.; 53.9+/-9.9) and half of patients were postmenopausal and two patients were nulliparous. Patients were treated by simple or radical hysterectomy and bilateral salpingoophorectomy with or without omentectomy and five patients received postoperative chemotherapy. The FIGO surgical stages of the patients were I(4 cases), II(2 cases), III(1 case) and IV(1 case). There were 3 cases of adenocarcinoma, 3 cases of malignant mixed Mullerian tumor, 1 case of undifferentiated carcinoma and 1 case of serous cystic tumor of low malignancy potential. Serum CA 125 values were followed during treatment and decreased during clinical remission and increased at the time of tumor progression. The mean follow-up duration was 24.3(+28.3) months and 7 patients were alive free of disease and one patients with stage Ic died of the disease. Conclusion Primary fallopian tube cancer is an extremely rare malignancy of the female genitalia and preoperative diagnosis of this disease is difficult. Cytoreductive surgery and postoperative combination chemotherapy seem to be effective treatment and CA 125 value could reflect the disease status during the treatment and follow-up of patients.

Change of Biochemical Bone Markers in Pre- and Postmenopausal Women according to their Menopausal Period / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Changes of bone turnover with aging are responsible for bone loss and play a major role in osteoporosis. Among the early postmenopausal women, as are known by previous study, there are about 35% ""fast bone losers and bone turnover is more uncoupled in osteoporotic group than in normal control. So, early detection of such fast losers"" and women who have high turnover rate is important to prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis and spontaneous fracture. Dual-energy X-Ray absorptiometry (DEXA), however, cannot reflect current bone loss because changes in bone mineral density (BMD) are only seen after 1 or more years of bone densities declining. In this study, we have measured a battery of new sensitive and specific markers of bone turnover which reflect current bone loss. To investigate the changing pattern of those markers, 674 healthy women including 451 postmenopausal women were classified, according to their menopausal period (less than 5 years, 5-10 years, more than 10 years). Bone formation was assessed by serum osteocalcin (OC), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) and bone resorption by the urinary excretion of deoxypyridinoline (DPD), cross-linked N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX). All Biochemical markers, except OC, significantly increased after menopause (p < 0.05). NTX and BSAP remained elevated after 10 years of menopause. These data indicated that the overall rates of both bone formation and bone tesorption increased after menopause and remained high in elderly women.