Seung-Min Bang

FDG-PET is a very useful tool in diagnosing pancreatic cancer. FDG-PET may be also used as an adjunct for determining the treatment modality of pancreatic cancer and evaluating tumor response to chemoradiation therapy.

The strong expression of Oct4 and Nanog in metaplastic ducts and Oct4 expression preceding Ras mutation suggests that these homeobox transcription factors are associated with the early stage of pancreatic cancer carcinogenesis and may play an important role in that process.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The management of gallbladder polyps (GBP) is directly linked to the early diagnosis of gallbladder cancer (GBC). This study aimed to evaluate the malignant risk of GBP. METHODS: In total, 1558 patients diagnosed with GBP were followed. Neoplastic polyps were defined as GBC and its premalignant lesions. The risk for malignancy was estimated with the cumulative detection rate of neoplastic polyps. RESULTS: Thirty-three cases (2.1%) were diagnosed with neoplastic polyps. The cu

Our data suggest that VEGF-C expression serves as an independent and important prognostic factor in ICC patients, and it may play an important role in the lymph node metastasis of ICC.

Statins are cholesterol-lowering medications that are associated with a number of signaling pathways involved in carcinogenesis. Recent observational studies raised the possibility that the use of statins may reduce overall mortality in various types of cancer. We investigated whether statins used after pancreatic cancer diagnosis are associated with longer survival in pancreatic cancer patients.We retrospectively analyzed data from 1761 patients newly diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma be

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) exhibits severe hypoxia, which is associated with chemoresistance and worse patient outcome. It has been reported that hypoxia induces metabolic reprogramming in cancer cells. However, it is not well known whether metabolic reprogramming contributes to hypoxia. Here, we established that increased glutamine catabolism is a fundamental mechanism inducing hypoxia, and thus chemoresistance, in PDAC cells. An extracellular matrix component-based in vitro three-

Endoscopic papillary balloon dilation (EBD) for choledocholithiasis is known to be comparable to endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST) especially in cases of small stones. With larger stones, EBD with conventional balloon, which have a diameter of 6-8 mm, was reported as less effective for extraction of stones. We evaluated the efficacy and complications of EBD with large balloons (10-15 mm) after limited EST for retrieval of choledocholithiasis. From February 2005, we have performed EBD with limited

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a fatal disease often detected late in unresectable stages. Currently, there are no effective diagnostic methods or biomarkers to detect CCA early with high confidence. Analysis of tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (tEVs) harvested from liquid biopsies can provide a new opportunity to achieve this goal. Here, an advanced nanoplasmonic sensing technology is reported, termed FLEX (fluorescence-amplified extracellular vesicle sensing technology), for sensitive and rob

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Although thicker needles theoretically allow more tissue to be collected, their decreased flexibility can cause mechanical damage to the endoscope, technical failure, and sample blood contamination. The effects of needle gauge on diagnostic outcomes of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) of pancreatic mass lesions remain unknown. This study compared procurement rates of histologic cores obtained from EUS-FNB of pancreatic masses using 25- and 22-gauge c

The aims of this study were to identify the morphological diversities and anatomical variations of pancreatic ductal system and to define the relationships between pancreatic ductal systems, pancreaticobiliary diseases, and procedure- related complications, including post-ERCP pancreatitis. This study included 582 patients in whom both pancreatic duct (PD) and common bile duct were clearly visible by ERCP. PD systems were categorized into four types according to the relationship between common b