Search

Background/aim To determine the most reliable predictor for pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients who underwent preoperative chemoradiotherapy and regional hyperthermia (HCRT) for rectal cancer. Patients and methods Thirty-six patients were enrolled. The local control status of the patients was assessed using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and colonoscopy before and after HCRT. The relationships between various parameters of these clinical examinations and pCR were analyzed. Results Ten (28%) patients achieved pCR. The accuracies of predicting pCR using FDG-PET/CT, MRI, and colonoscopy were 78%, 61%, and 75%, respectively. FDG-PET/CT was the only independent predictive modality for pCR (p=0.021). The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and SUVmax normalized to liver uptake (SLR) after HCRT showed the highest sensitivity (90%) and the decreasing rate of SUVmax and SLR demonstrated the highest specificity (89%) for pCR. Conclusion SUVmax-based parameters of FDG-PET/CT after HCRT were the most reliable predictors for pCR.

The present study aimed to evaluate a previously reported predictive formula of output-limiting symptoms induced by radiofrequency (RF) to determine the efficacy of this neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NACR) and concurrent RF thermal therapy. The present study included 81 consecutive patients with confirmed diagnoses of rectal adenocarcinoma that was localized in the mid-low rectum (up to 12 cm from the anal verge) who received NACR [intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), 50 Gy/25 fractions, capecitabine 1,700 mg/m2/day for 5 days/week)] with concurrent thermal therapy (Thermotron-RF8, once a week for 5 weeks with 50 min irradiation). Patients with progressive disease (PD) did not receive RF outputs higher than the predicted value. Some patients who were predicted to receive more output in fact received more than the predicted output. In patients who were predicted to receive moderately higher outputs, 37.5% of the patients experienced pathological complete responses, which was the highest rate, while in those who did not receive more than the predicted output, 66.7% of the patients experienced PD, which was the highest rate in the present study. We speculate that RF thermal therapy may offset the chemoradiation effects in some patients. Adding thermal therapy as a multimodality therapy to NACR potentially affects patients with lower predicted outputs and actual observed outputs slightly higher than the predictive value. Our predictive equation for initial energy output, in which output‑limiting symptoms can be used to predict treatment efficacy, consequently, can be used to decide whether to continue this treatment modality.

During radiofrequency (RF) hyperthermia treatment, hot-spot phenomena may occur and prevent treatment continuation if the output is not lowered. We previously reported a significant correlation between the initial energy output at which output-limiting symptoms occurred and patient status. Patients with a complete clinical response had significantly increased temperature, while some patients with partial clinical response and stable disease had increased temperature, depending on the occurrence of output-limiting symptoms. To predict the initial energy output at which output-limiting symptoms occur, we performed multiple regression analysis with the parameters of patients' physical status.Hyperthermia alone or concomitant with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy was applied in 62 patients with malignant disease for a total of 310 treatments with a Thermotron RF-8 between December 2011 and April 2014.No output-limiting symptoms were shown in 65.5% of 310 treatments. Pain (29.7%), micturition desire (1.9%), skin discomfort (0.6%), subcutaneous induration (1.6%), cold sensation (0.6%), and nausea (0.3%) were reported in the 310 treatments. A good predictive equation for initial energy output at which output-limiting symptoms occur was determined with two parameters, initial time of an output-limiting symptom onset, and thickness of the fat of the abdominal wall. Multiple regression analysis showed an adjusted R(2 )= 0.99 and variance inflation factor 2.We present a good predictive equation for initial energy output at which output-limiting symptoms occur. It is critical to prevent RF hyperthermia-induced output-limiting symptoms and establish new prevention strategies.

To determine the most reliable predictor for pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients who underwent preoperative chemoradiotherapy and regional hyperthermia (HCRT) for rectal cancer.Thirty-six patients were enrolled. The local control status of the patients was assessed usingTen (28%) patients achieved pCR. The accuracies of predicting pCR using FDG-PET/CT, MRI, and colonoscopy were 78%, 61%, and 75%, respectively. FDG-PET/CT was the only independent predictive modality for pCR (p=0.021). The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVSUV

The present study aimed to evaluate whether the neoadjuvant chemoradiation response with concurrent thermal therapy for the treatment of rectal cancer can be predicted following the first thermic treatment. Eighty patients with primary rectal adenocarcinoma (≤12 cm from the anal verge) were included in this study. Fifty-four received surgery and pathological response was evaluated. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy was administered conventionally once daily 5 times/week. Neoadjuvant radiotherapy consisted of 50 Gy delivered to the planning target volume in 25 fractions. Concurrent neoadjuvant chemotherapy was delivered in 5-day courses. Capecitabine was administered orally at 1,700 mg/m2/day for 5 days/week. Thermic treatment was performed using the Thermotron-RF 8 and administered once/week for 5 weeks with 50 min irradiation. Patients with a gross tumor volume (GTV) ≤32 cm3 and a radiofrequency (RF) output difference (RO difference) ≥77 Watt/min exhibited pathological complete response (pCR) and CR rates of 50 and 75%, respectively. Those with a GTV ≥80 cm3 and a RO difference ≥77 Watt/min exhibited pCR and CR rates of 42.9 and 42.9%, respectively. The changes in the skin temperature during RF treatment in patients with pCR with a RO difference ≥77 Watt/min increased significantly compared with those of other outcomes, and progressive disease. These data suggest a strategy for predicting which patients will respond best following the first thermic treatment. The results identified that the group of patients with a GTV ≤32 cm3 and a RO difference ≥77 Watt/min (outputable/heatable patients) may respond best.

Background and Purpose: Based on the homogenous human leukocyte antigen (HLA) properties of the Japanese population, patients who have undergone examination of their HLA antigens have exhibited more beneficial outcomes than those without HLA examination. This study aimed to evaluate whether HLA type and location of the institutes and hospitals where patients were enrolled affected patient outcomes. Materials and Methods: A total of 1753 patients from member hospitals of the Japanese Society of Strategies for Cancer Research and Therapy throughout Japan were enrolled in this study from August 1977 to August 2005. HLA antigens were serologically tested using the NIH standard microlymphocytotoxicity method for HLA-A, -B, -C, - DR and -DQ. We used a method of quantification for the response pattern and classified similar HLA antigens into four groups: type 1, 2, 3 or 4, and classified patients into four groups: patients who received effective therapy, ineffective therapy, or neither effective nor ineffective therapy, and unclassified. Effective therapy was defined as therapy that resulted in a patient's survival for a period of at least 5 to 10 years, and ineffective therapy as a therapy that resulted in a patient's survival for a period of less than 5 years. The location of the institutes and hospitals where patients were enrolled was classified into three groups: eastern Japan, western Japan and Tokai University. Conclusions: There were no significant differences among HLA types, the locations and patient outcomes. Our idea is promising as a path toward individual treatment. HLA information could provide personalized therapy based on the homogenous HLA properties of the Japanese population.

Imatinib mesylate, a small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is currently used for adjuvant therapy of patients who have undergone resection of high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). There are no data concerning the efficacy and safety of postoperative adjuvant therapy with imatinib for Japanese or East Asian patients with GIST. A single-arm, open-label, multicenter trial was conducted in 17 hospitals in Japan. The eligibility criteria included histologically proven primary high-risk GISTs with macroscopic complete resection. Patients were treated with imatinib at a dose of 400 mg/day for 1 year after surgery. The primary endpoint was recurrence-free survival as assessed by Kaplan–Meier analysis. The secondary endpoints were overall survival and safety. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00171977. A total of 64 patients were enrolled between September 2004 and July 2006. The median age of the patients was 59.5 years. Forty-nine (76.6%) patients completed the 1-year treatment, whereas 15 (23.4%) patients did not complete the treatment owing to recurrence, toxicities, and consent withdrawal. At the median follow-up period of 109 weeks, 20 patients had recurrence. The 3-year recurrence rate was 42.7% (95% confidence interval 29.2–56.3%), which exceeded the expected recurrence rate in this trial. The recurrence-free and overall survival rates at 2 years were 71.1 and 93.7%, respectively. The most frequent adverse drug reaction of any grade was eyelid edema (48.4%), followed by neutropenia (40.6%), leukopenia (39.1%), nausea (39.1%), rash (37.5%), and peripheral edema (37.5%), most of which were mild and manageable. Adjuvant therapy with imatinib at 400 mg/day for 1 year is well tolerated by Japanese patients and possibly reduces the risk of early recurrence of high-risk GISTs.

Background:Our clinical data accumulated during 30 years of clinical practice at the Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Tokai University, indicated the effectiveness of the Billroth 1 procedure that preserve duodenal food passage, as well as its suppressive effect on hepatic metastasis. Here, the effectiveness of food passage through the duodenum is examined via experiments using BALB/c mice. Methods:In the first phase, gastrojejunostomy was performed using BALB/c mice. In the second phase, by duodenum ligation or not, the non-duodenal passage and duodenal passage models, respectively, were created. Transplantable colon26 was transplanted into the spleen, and the number of hepatic metastases was examined. At the same time, Kupffer cells, NK cells, Th1 cytokines, and Th2 cytokines such as IL-12, INFγ, and IL-4 were measured in the sham operation mice. Results:(1) Hepatic metastasis was observed in 9 of 25 mice (36.0%) and 18 of 26 mice (69.2%) in the duodenum passage model and non-duodenum passage model, respectively (p = 0.017, RR = 4.000, 95%CI, 1.246-12.842), and the average numbers of metastasis were 0.76 and 3.12, respectively (p = 0.077). (2) No significant differences were observed in the number of Kupffer cells and NK activity, and the production of Th1 cytokines and Th2 cytokines between the two groups. Conclusion:It was considered that in non-duodenum passage reconstructive surgery that produced bacterial translocation due to the existence of a blind loop may have induced cytokine production, causing the activation of NK cells and leading eventually to hepatic metastasis.

症例は75歳，女性．心窩部不快感を主訴に上部消化管内視鏡検査を施行され，幽門狭窄を認めた．粘膜面に異常はなく幽門部に浮腫状狭窄を認めた．生検では，悪性像は認めなかった．腹部CT検査ではびまん性壁肥厚を認め，腫瘍マーカーはCA19-9値が735U/mlと高値であった．確定診断は得られなかったが，症状の改善を認めず，CA19-9が高値であり，胃壁の肥厚を認めることから，悪性の可能性を疑い手術を施行した．切除標本では壁の肥厚は認めず，狭窄部の硬化のみであった．病理診断では粘膜上皮に癌を認めず，粘膜下浸潤型の高分化型腺癌であった．免疫染色でCA19-9が陽性であり，術後に血清のCA19-9値は正常化したため，CA19-9産生胃癌と診断した．粘膜面に異常がなく，生検で悪性像が得られない幽門狭窄を認めた場合には癌の可能性も考慮すべきである．

The use of endoscopic dilation and a self-expandable stent for colorectal cancer (CRC) presenting with a stricture or obstruction, either prior to surgery or as a palliative measure (an alternative to colostomy), causes perforation with relative high incidence (1%-17%).To experimentally investigate risk factors associated with perforation in excised CRC specimens.Experimental study.Ex vivo experiment on freshly excised human colon cancer specimens at an academic hospital.This study involved 47 patients with strictured CRCs of15 mm in internal diameter as assessed by a preoperative contrast enema.Immediately after surgical resection, a balloon with a diameter of 18 mm was placed in the stricture. The balloon was inflated slowly with hydrostatic pressure over 1 minute and kept at the maximum diameter for 1 minute.Correlations between macroscopic perforation and 20 items, including morphological and histopathological characteristics.Perforation occurred in 8 of 47 (17.0%) CRC specimens. Four items showed statistically significant (P.05) correlations with perforation: peritumoral proliferation of collagen fibers (relative areaor =23.9% in the visual field), annularity of the tumor, severe stricture (7.9 mm), and fewer residual smooth muscle cells in the muscularis propria, reflecting tumor encroachment. The best predictor of perforation was a combination of severe stricture and pronounced peritumoral proliferation of collagen fibers.An uncontrolled study with a small number of patients.Histopathological and morphological items associated with a decrease in elastic compliance were more important as predictors of perforation than dilation procedure parameters, such as balloon pressure.

In gastric cancer patients, the most common form of synchronous cancer is colorectal cancer. To reduce the invasiveness of the resection, a laparoscopy-assisted combined resection was performed in three patients with synchronous gastric and colorectal cancer. Although all gastric lesions were in the early stages, two colorectal lesions were advanced cases. In all cases, the laparoscopic gastric resection and reconstruction was performed first, followed by the colorectal resection. In the case of right-side colon cancer in addition to gastric cancer, it was relatively easy to perform the combined resection with lymph node dissection sharing the same ports used for the gastrectomy, although we needed an additional port. In one case, in which rectal cancer was present in addition to gastric cancer located in the upper portion of the stomach, a totally laparoscopic proximal gastrectomy was combined with a laparoscopy-assisted low anterior resection, leaving only a lower abdominal minilaparotomy wound. All patients quickly returned to normal activity without remarkable complications, with the exception of a wound infection in one patient. With a mean follow-up of 30.7 months, all patients survived without any sign of recurrence. This procedure represents a feasible option for minimally invasive treatment of synchronous gastric and colorectal cancer.

It is not well known that the correlation between HLA antigens and response to cancer therapy. To evaluate the correlation among patients' outcome, HLA antigens and therapies, we used the hierarchical clustering analysis (Ward method). We examined HLA antigens as biomarkers as well as models of gene polymorphism in 1753 gastric cancer patients followed over 25 years after treatment. Among these patients, we identified that HLA haplotypes; HLA-B54-Cw1-DQ4-DR4, might be restricting to Fluoropyrimidine drugs plus PSK therapy in gastric cancer. HLA haplotypes including HLA-B54 were candidate predictors for response to FPSK therapy in gastric cancer. HLAs will be useful biomarkers for response to therapy in Japanese patients.

Background This study evaluated the antitumor effects of nonsteroidal antiandrogen agents, flutamide and bicalutamide, on the incidence of experimental esophageal carcinoma in rats.

症例は53歳, 男性. 既往に48歳時, 胃潰瘍出血にて幽門側胃切除術 (B-I) 施行歴あり. 心窩部痛を主訴に近医受診. 精査にて腹腔内出血と診断され当院へ搬送された. 腹部CTにて上腹部に貯留液と膵尾部から小網の腹側にsentinel clot signを認め急性期の出血が疑われた. 緊急血管造影検査にて左胃大網動脈に3mm大の瘤状の拡張像を認めた. 明らかな出血像は認めなかった. 以上より左胃大網動脈瘤破裂と診断した. 全身状態が比較的安定し出血がコントロールされている為, 保存的に経過観察し待機手術の適応とした. 手術は左胃大網動脈瘤切除術を施行した. 左胃大網動脈からの大網枝に径20mm大の動脈瘤を認め切除した. 切除標本の病理所見では仮性動脈瘤と診断された. 経過良好で, 術後7日目に退院となった. 内臓動脈瘤の破裂の中で全身状態が安定している場合は待機手術可能例もあるが, 迅速な診断と治療適応の判断が必要であると考えられた.

We previously reported that patients with a clinical complete response (CR) following radiofrequency thermal treatment exhibit significantly increased body temperature compared with other groups, whereas patients with a clinical partial response or stable disease depended on the absence or presence of output limiting symptoms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation among treatment response, Hidaka radiofrequency (RF) output classification (HROC: termed by us) and changes in body temperature. From December 2011 to January 2014, 51 consecutive rectal cancer cases were included in this study. All patients underwent 5 RF thermal treatments with concurrent chemoradiation. Patients were classified into three groups based on HROC: with ≤9, 10-16, and ≥17 points, calculated as the sum total points of five treatments. Thirty-three patients received surgery 8 weeks after treatment, and among them, 32 resected specimens were evaluated for histological response. Eighteen patients did not undergo surgery, five because of progressive disease (PD) and 13 refused because of permanent colostomy. We demonstrated that good local control (ypCR + CR + CRPD) was observed in 32.7% of cases in this study. Pathological complete response (ypCR) was observed in 15.7% of the total 51 patients and in 24.2% of the 33 patients who underwent surgery. All ypCR cases had ≥10 points in the HROC, but there were no patients with ypCR among those with ≤9 points in the HROC. Standardization of RF thermal treatment was performed safely, and two types of patients were identified: those without or with increased temperatures, who consequently showed no or some benefit, respectively, for similar RF output thermal treatment. We propose that the HROC is beneficial for evaluating the efficacy of RF thermal treatment with chemoradiation for rectal cancer, and the thermoregulation control mechanism in individual patients may be pivotal in predicting the response to RF thermal treatment.

近年, 十二指腸乳頭部早期癌や良性疾患に対して, 根治的かつ縮小手術として, 膵温存の十二指腸下行脚分節切除, 部分切除の報告が散見される. 紹介した本術式は膵温存が可能で膵管, 胆管共通管を十二指腸壁外, 膵外で切離して十二指腸乳頭部を完全摘出でき, 十二指腸腔内の水平方向へ進展した腫瘍に対応できる. 今回, 我々は十二指腸乳頭部早期癌の2症例に膵温存十二指腸下行脚分節切除を行ったので文献的考察を含め報告する. 症例1は61歳の女性で, 非露出腫瘤型の早期癌の診断で上記手術を行い, H0, P0, M (-), pN0, pEM0, m, stage Iであった. 症例2は77歳の女性で, 露出腫瘤型の乳頭部早期癌の診断で手術を行い, 病理診断はH0, P0, M (-), pN0, pEM0, od, stage1であった. 2症例ともに術後若干の胃排泄遅延を認めたが, その後の食事摂取は良好であった. 本症例は今後, 長期の経過観察を要するが, 十二指腸乳頭部早期癌に対する根治術式として有用であると考えた.

Aims The purpose of this study was to confirm whether the endoscopical mucosal resection for early gastric replace to the traditional gastrectomy on the view point of long term patients' outcomes.Methods Among consecutive series of 1298 patients with early gastric cancer (EGC), a total of 214 cases with EGC endoscopically resected from May 1989 and December 2001 were included in the study. Among them 26 patients (11.6%) underwent additional EMR followed by surgery, because of the residual cancer, and they received 17 distal gastrectomy (DG), 7 proximal gastrectomy (PG), and 2 total gastrectomy (TG). The rest 188 patients were received EMR only and were followed without gastrectomy. Eight hundred fifteen patients received DG, 135 PG, 107 TG, 11 wedge-resection of the stomach and 5 resection of the rest stomach between July 1975 and December 2001. Between July 1975 and April 1989, 369 patients received distal gastrectomy (DG), 30 proximal gastrectomy (PG), 52 total gastrectomy (TG), 2 wedge-resection of the stomach and 2 resection of the rest stomach.Results Ten-year survival rates of patients underwent distal G, PG, TG, wedge-resection, resection of the rest stomach, and EMR were, 81.1%, 70.4%, 52.0%, 42.1%, 0%, and 49.2%, respectively. There were significant differences between DG and EMR (log rank test, p

Background: The influence of lower body mass index on the survival in cancer patients has not been fully estimated. While, many studies suggest that body mass index were positively associated with an increased risk of cancers of the esophagus, colon, gallbladder, pancreas, breast, endometrium, kidney, and ovary, so the rapid growth in the prevalence of obesity as new threats foretells health problems in years to come.Methods: We assessed preoperative body mass index (BMI) of 2677 patients with malignant and benign diseases who enrolled in the data base for The Japanese Society of strategies of Cancer research and Therapy from May 1975 to February 2004, for evaluating how BMI effect on the outcomes of patients, with examining some parameters.Results: During the period of this study from 1975-, the median BMI increased from 21.6 kg/m2, 21.9 kg/m2, 21.9 kg/m2, and 22.2 kg/m2, to 22.4 kg/m2. Serum gastrrin levels, T-IGR, SA, IAP, and CEA were increased significantly than those in both normal and obesity patients. The 10-year-survival rates (disease specific death) of patients of underweight, normal, overweight, and obese were 38.0 (52.0) %, 58.7 (69.5) %, 68.5 (77.4) %, and 54.3 (62.6) %, respectively. (Fig. 3 left) There were significant differences among these groups. (Underweight vs. normal, overweight, and obese, p

To assess the roles of the extent of gastric resection and duodenal food passage reconstruction in gastric cancer, we examined a consecutive series of 1,061 patients who underwent total or partial (proximal and distal) gastrectomies with or without duodenal food passage reconstruction between August of 1974 and January of 2002, and received gastrectomies with D2–3 lymph node dissection. Patients who underwent distal or proximal gastrectomy were found to have significantly better survival rates than those who underwent total gastrectomy in stages 1A (10-year survival: 86.6 and 78.9 vs. 61.6%), 2 (56.5 and 65.6 vs. 34.4%), 3A (45.9 and 33.3 vs. 15.2%), and 4 (5-year survival rates: 23.7 and 50.0 vs. 7.1%). Additionally, patients with duodenal food passage reconstruction or double tract reconstruction also showed significantly better survival rates than those without duodenal food reconstruction in stages 1A (10-year survival: 86.4 and 82.5 vs. 61.7%), 1B (69.9 and 90.6 vs. 54.1%), 2 (60.5 and 63.3 vs. 16.5%), and 3A (39.9 and 47.4 vs. 23.1%). In multivariate analysis, the independent prognostic factors were age at operation, depth of tumor, duodenal food passage reconstruction, and lymph node metastasis. Our results indicate that both the extent of gastric resection and duodenal food passage reconstruction were important factors in the outcome of gastric cancer patients, and that surgeons should perform minimal gastric resection with preservation of the duodenal food passage when the gastric stump is tumor-free.

Purpose: Previous studies showed that HLA-B40 and -B51 antigens were associated with the response to immunotherapy using protein-bound polysaccharide (PSK) and chemotherapy, respectively, in gastric cancer. We evaluated whether a putative HLA antigen correlated with the response to therapy, and associated with secondary malignancies. Patients and Methods: 413 patients with 302 gastric, 57 colon and 52 rectal cancers, and 2 synchronous gastric and colon cancers who underwent resection of the tumors from DEC-1990 to AUG-1993. They were examined 53 HLA antigens by using the micro-cytotoxicity assay and were randomized to immunotherapy or chemotherapy according to status of the positive or negative HLA -B40 and -B51 antigen and followed for secondary malignancy. Results: Three hundred two gastric cancers followed to be 12 secondary malignancies and 109 colorectal cancers 3. HLA-B40 and -B51 antigens were not significantly associated with the response to therapy. Patients in stage 1A gastric cancer without HLA-40 antigen who received chemotherapy and those with this antigen who received immunotherapy all lived. HLA-Cw3 positive patients with gastric cancer showed significantly higher incidence of secondary malignancies. Patients with heterozygous at HLA-A and -C, and those with homozygous at HLA-DQ also showed significantly higher incidence of secondary malignancies than those with homozygous at HLA-A and -C, and those with heterozygous at HLA-DQ. Conclusion: This study failed to confirm that HLA-B40 and -B51 antigens significantly associated with response to therapy, but we have discovered that HLA-Cw3 antigen was susceptible to subsequent malignancies in gastric cancer.

脂肪肉腫は下肢,後腹膜に好発する腫瘍で,腸間膜原発は稀である.今回われわれは腸間膜原発脂肪肉腫の1例を経験したので報告する.症例は42歳男性で便通異常,腹部膨満感を主訴に来院した.下腹部に弾性硬で圧痛と可動性を有する小児頭大の腫瘤を触知した.腹部超音波では骨盤内に隔壁を有する一部充実性の14×11×7 cm大の嚢胞性腫瘤を認めた.血管造影では上腸間膜動静脈の進展,圧排のみで腫瘍濃染は認められなかった.入院後,腹痛が出現し腹部CTで腫瘤の増大と高吸収域を認め,嚢胞内出血の診断で緊急手術を施行した.腫瘤は回盲部を中心に回結腸間膜内に存在し,赤褐色で嚢胞内に凝血塊が充満していた.腫瘤の可動性は良好で容易に後腹膜から剥離できた.腫瘤切除および回結腸切除を行い腫瘤は完全に摘出された.病理組織検査では線維芽細胞への分化を一部伴う高悪性度の脱分化脂肪肉腫と診断された.術後1年9カ月現在,再発は認めず健在である.

In an attempt to examine differential effects of personality on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) without regard to disease type, we used the HRQoL-20, a general questionnaire (Japanese original scale) we developed (comprising 20 questions related to physiological, psychological or social HRQoL) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), which measures personality traits of extraversion (E), neuroticism (N) and psychoticism (P). The subjects (399 males and 429 females), stomach cancer patients, non-cancer patients (who had received acupuncture or moxibustion treatment) and healthy controls, were classified into three personality types. The results indicated that the HRQoL score of the tolerable/tolerant type (high E, low N and high P scorers) was greater than the intolerable/intolerant type (low E, high N and low P scorers) and also the unclassified type (neither of above scorers). The HRQoL correlated positively with the E and P scales and negatively with the N scale, in the case of all subjects, with the exception of N in male cancer patients and E in male non-cancer patients. The results supported the hypothesis that the HRQoL varies with personality variables, in that each patient, in different treatment settings, strives for the situation that is congruent with his/her personality to attain a better HRQoL.