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Results emphasize the critical need for culturally appropriate health education to encourage participation of Korean American women in cervical cancer screening.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the level of knowledge and the attitudes of Korean adults toward sexuality of elderly people.Methods. This was a descriptive study using a convenience sample of 241 adults. The questionnaire had 34 items for knowledge and 26 items for attitudes.Results. The result showed that, related to sexuality of elderly people, the level of knowledge was average and attitudes were conservative. The level of knowledge was significantly higher in groups that were highly educated and of low economic status (p < .05). Attitudes toward sexuality of elderly people were significantly more conservative in female, older, less educated, and high economic status group. Conclusion.The findings suggest a need for more education for Korean adults regarding sexuality in elderly people.

PurposeTo observe long-term clinical outcomes for patients with early-stage breast cancer treated with forward intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), including local control and clinical toxicities.Materials and MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed a total of 214 patients with stage I-II breast cancer who were treated with breast conserving surgery followed by adjuvant breast radiation therapy between 2001 and 2008. All patients were treated using forward IMRT. The whole breast was irradiated to a dose of 50 to 50.4 Gy followed by an 8 to 12 Gy electron boost to the surgical bed.ResultsThe median age was 46 years (range, 21 to 82 years) and the medial follow-up time was 7.3 years (range, 2.4 to 11.7 years). Stage T1 was 139 (65%) and T2 was 75 (35%), respectively. Ipsilateral breast recurrence was observed in 3 patients. The 5- and 10-year local control rates were 99.1% and 97.8%, respectively. The cosmetic outcome was evaluated according to the Harvard scale and 89.4% of patients were scored as excellent or good.ConclusionThe whole breast radiation therapy as an adjuvant treatment using a forward IMRT technique showed excellent long-term local control as well as favorable outcomes of toxicity and cosmesis.

PurposeTo analyze prognostic factors for locoregional recurrence (LRR), distant metastasis (DM), and overall survival (OS) in cervical cancer patients who underwent radical hysterectomy followed by postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) in a single institute.Materials and MethodsClinicopathologic data of 135 patients with clinical stage IA2 to IIA2 cervical cancer treated with PORT from 2001 to 2012 were reviewed, retrospectively. Postoperative parametrial resection margin (PRM) and vaginal resection margin (VRM) were investigated separately. The median treatment dosage of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) to the whole pelvis was 50.4 Gy in 1.8 Gy/fraction. High-dose-rate vaginal brachytherapy after EBRT was given to patients with positive or close VRMs. Concurrent platinum-based chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) was administered to 73 patients with positive resection margin, lymph node (LN) metastasis, or direct extension of parametrium. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used for analyzing LRR, DM, and OS; Cox regression was applied to analyze prognostic factors.ResultsThe 5-year disease-free survival was 79% and 5-year OS was 91%. In univariate analysis, positive or close PRM, LN metastasis, direct extension of parametrium, lymphovascular invasion, histology of adenocarcinoma, and chemotherapy were related with more DM and poor OS. In multivariate analysis, PRM and LN metastasis remained independent prognostic factors for OS.ConclusionPORT after radical hysterectomy in uterine cervical cancer showed excellent OS in this study. Positive or close PRM after radical hysterectomy in uterine cervical cancer correlates with poor prognosis even with CCRT. Therefore, additional treatments to improve local control such as radiation boosting need to be considered.