Clinical study of colorectal cancer operation: Survival analysis

Purpose@#Overall 5-year survival rates for colon and rectal cancer reported recently by the American Cancer Society were 89%, 90% for localized disease, 71%, 71% for regional disease, and 14%, 15% for distant disease. But the results of survival rate of colorectal cancer in a single institution were very rare. The aim of this study is to evaluate surgical results and survival rates of colorectal cancer. @*Methods@#We conducted a retrospective study with patients who underwent curative resection for a primary colorectal adenocarcinoma between 2009 and 2018. @*Results@#Five-year overall and disease-free survival were 79.5% and 69.9%, respectively. The overall 5-year survival by stages was 94.7% in stage I, 88.4% in stage II, 74.3% in stage III and 31.5% in stage IV. Five-year disease-free survival was 91% in stage I, 79.8% in stage II, 63.3% in stage III, and 18.9% in stage IV. The overall 5-year survival in rectal cancer was superior to colon cancer (P=0.014) while there was no difference in 5-year disease-free survival (P=0.338). Overall survival in female patients was better than male patient (P=0.029). Overall survival by age was worst in group of less than 40 years old (62.5%), and best in group between 41 and 65 years old (86.5%). Postoperative mortality within 30 days was 0.4%, and the recurrence rate was 19.2%. @*Conclusion@#With the development of surgical skills and various treatments, postoperative outcome of colorectal cancer is expected to improve. It may be helpful for surgeons to improve their surgical outcomes when they review their data and conduct active researches.

A Case of Endoscopic Transethmoidal Drainage of Subdural Abscess Originated from Dental Infection / 대한이비인후과학회지

Subdural empyema is fulminating purulent infection that develops between the dura and the arachnoid membranes. It is rare but one of the most immediate of neurosurgical emergencies, hence the importance of proper diagnosis and early intervention. Most subdural empyema complicated in the ENT field originate from sinonasal or otologic infections rather than dental infections. In our case of 64-years-old male, who was admitted with headache and fever, the diagnosed subdural empyema originated from odontogenic parapharyngeal abscess. We report that the case was successfully managed after urgent surgical drainage by endoscopic transethmoidal approach with long term intravenous antibiotics.

High Altitude Remains Associated with Elevated Suicide Rates after Adjusting for Socioeconomic Status: A Study from South Korea

There have been several studies supporting a possible relationship between high suicide rate and high altitude. However socioeconomic status may confound this association because low socioeconomic status, which is known to be related to a high suicide rate, is also associated with living at high altitude. This study aims to explore whether the relationship between high altitude and high suicide rate remains after adjusting for socioeconomic status in South Korea. We collected demographic data of completed suicides, the mean altitude of the district where each suicide took place, and the mean income of each district. We analyzed the data using regression analysis before and after adjustment for mean income. We found that there is a positive correlation between altitude and suicide rate, even after adjustment for mean income. Thus, altitude appears to be an independent risk factor for suicide.