We undertook to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bone Marrow Transplantation (FACT-BMT) scale Version 4, an assessment tool for BMT patients' quality of life (QoL). The translation procedure followed the standard Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) translation methodology. At baseline, prior to BMT, 70 allogeneic BMT patients were administered the FACT-BMT scale version 4, as well as the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status Rating (ECOG-PSR), Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC), and the Shortened Forms of the Profile of Mood States (BPOMS). Forty seven of these patients were also administered these questionnaires 3 months after BMT, thirty eight patients did 6 months after BMT, and finally 35 patients did 1 year after their BMT. Our results indicated that the FACT-BMT scale Version 4 gave convergent and divergent validity, and had a high internal consistency with its Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.64 (EWB at pre-BMT) to 0.94 (the FACT-BMT total). These data support that Korean FACT-BMT is a reliable and valid assessment for measuring the QoL of BMT patients. In the future study, we have to increase the number of cases with larger sample of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation patients, and the duration of long term follow-up should be at least more than 1 year.

Aim: We investigated the efficacy and safety of S-1 monotherapy for the treatment of advanced biliary tract adenocarcinoma (BTA) in a clinical practice setting. Methods: We reviewed clinical data from 217 patients with advanced BTA who were treated with S-1 monotherapy between August 2004 and September 2007. Results: 162 eligible patients were identified. The primary tumors were intrahepatic (n = 57), in the gall bladder (n = 50), in extrahepatic bile ducts (n = 41) and in the ampulla of Vater (n = 14). Sixteen of 120 assessable patients achieved partial responses, with a response rate of 13.3% (95% CI 7.2–19.4%). Another 51 patients had stable disease, with an overall tumor control rate of 55.8% (95% CI 46.9–64.7%). The median time to progression was 2.7 months and the median overall survival time was 6.9 months. Response rates and survival differed significantly according to the primary site of the tumor (p = 0.002 and p < 0.001, respectively), with extrahepatic bile duct adenocarcinoma having the best prognosis. The treatment regimen produced only mild toxicity in most cases (grade 1 or 2), even for patients with hyperbilirubinemia. Conclusion: S-1 has a favorable toxicity profile and can be safely administered to BTA patients with hyperbilirubinemia. The efficacy of S-1 against advanced BTA depends on the tumor site and is most effective in patients with extrahepatic BTA.

This chemotherapy regimen (docetaxel every 3 weeks plus prednisolone daily) demonstrated a strong response in Korean patients with metastatic HRPC, while the toxicity profile was manageable and similar to that observed in Western patients.