Background/AimsEndoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has become accepted as a minimally invasive treatment for gastric neoplasms. However, the development of synchronous or metachronous gastric lesions after endoscopic resection has become a major problem. We investigated the characteristics of multiple gastric neoplasms in patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) or gastric adenoma after ESD.MethodsIn total, 512 patients with EGC or gastric adenoma who had undergone ESD between January 2008 and December 2011 participated in this study. The incidence of and factors associated with synchronous and metachronous gastric tumors were investigated in this retrospective study.ResultsIn total, 66 patients (12.9%) had synchronous lesions, and 13 patients (2.5%) had metachronous lesions. Older (> 65 years) subjects had an increased risk of multiple gastric neoplasms (p = 0.012). About two-thirds of the multiple lesions were similar in macroscopic and histological type to the primary lesions. The median interval from the initial lesions to the diagnosis of metachronous lesions was 31 months. The annual incidence rate of metachronous lesions was approximately 3%.ConclusionsWe recommend careful follow-up in patients of advanced age (> 65 years) after initial ESD because multiple lesions could be detected in the remnant stomach. Annual surveillance might aid in the detection of metachronous lesions. Large-scale, multicenter, and longer prospective studies of appropriate surveillance programs are needed.

As there is no effective treatment against hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), the development of effective vaccine is important. An inactivated hantavirus vaccine (IHV) has been used in Korea, but there has been controversy regarding its effectiveness. We conducted a case-control study to evaluate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of IHV against HFRS in the Korean military. Unadjusted and adjusted VEs of IHV were 59.1% and 58.9%, respectively. VE was higher in divisions with high incidence of HFRS (unadjusted VE, 71.4%; adjusted VE, 78.7%). Our study demonstrated the moderate effectiveness of IHV in high-risk populations residing in endemic area.

BackgroundPercutaneous needle aspiration or biopsy (PCNA or PCNB) is an established diagnostic technique that has a high diagnostic yield. However, its role in the diagnosis of nodular ground-glass opacities (nGGOs) is controversial, and the necessity of preoperative histologic confirmation by PCNA or PCNB in nGGOs has not been well addressed.MethodsWe here evaluated the rates of malignancy and surgery-related complications, and the cost benefits of resecting nGGOs without prior tissue diagnosis when those nGGOs were highly suspected for malignancy based on their size, radiologic characteristics, and clinical courses. Patients who underwent surgical resection of nGGOs without preoperative tissue diagnosis from January 2009 to October 2013 were retrospectively analyzed.ResultsAmong 356 nGGOs of 324 patients, 330 (92.7%) nGGOs were resected without prior histologic confirmation. The rate of malignancy was 95.2% (314/330). In the multivariate analysis, larger size was found to be an independent predictor of malignancy (odds ratio, 1.086; 95% confidence interval, 1.001-1.178, p =0.047). A total of 324 (98.2%) nGGOs were resected by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), and the rate of surgery-related complications was 6.7% (22/330). All 16 nGGOs diagnosed as benign nodules were resected by VATS, and only one patient experienced postoperative complications (prolonged air leak). Direct surgical resection without tissue diagnosis significantly reduced the total costs, hospital stay, and waiting time to surgery.ConclusionsWith careful selection of nGGOs that are highly suspicious for malignancy, surgical resection of nGGOs without tissue diagnosis is recommended as it reduces costs and hospital stay.

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