BackgroundThe aim of this study was to evaluate the use of the Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS) as a screening tool for the breast cancer patients with psychological distress.MethodsAll of 64 patients with breast cancer participated in this study. Patients' depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) when the DDS was applied to the partipicants.ResultsDepressed patients used more enclosure in the Feeling drawings (P = 0.002) and tilt in Free drawings (P = 0.048). Patients with anxiety drew a picture over 67% of the paper (P = 0.015) in Tree drawing and more medium pressure (P = 0.049) in Feeling drawings. Thirty four subjects (77.3%) of unstable emotion group used over 67% of the space (P = 0.002). More Landscapes were observed in the Feeling drawings of unstable patients (P = 0.042).ConclusionThese results suggested that DDS could be used as a supplemental screening tool for psychological distress in breast cancer patients.

Objective The aim of this study is to develop a drawing test form and it’s scoring system for measuring depressive symptoms of breast cancer patients.Methods We enrolled 95 breast cancer patients in this study which was conducted from September 2016 to May 2018. First, we observed items of the Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS) which were significantly different between patients with and without depression, and also we reviewed previous studies on the drawing style of Korean women with depression. Second, we developed the Drawing Test Form for Depression (DTF-D) by composition of those drawing styles observed significant items in previous literatures and formative elements of DDS which was significantly different between depressed and non-depressed group. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to define the appropriate score of the DTF-D in accordance with the depression measured with Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score >9.Results We developed the DTF-D by compositing 8 items including Harmony, Tilt, Symbol, Space utilization, Surrounded, Description, Pen pressure, and Quality of line. The ROC analysis revealed the optimal cut-off score of 7 points of DTF-D in accordance with the clinical depression (PHQ-9 score >9) with the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve showed good discrimination (0.82), sensitivity (0.85), and specificity (0.64).Conclusion The DTF-D is expected to serve as an evaluative projective drawing test from for identifying depression in breast cancer patients.

Background and Objectives: Evidence bearing on the safety and efficacy of dupilumab treatment for chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) has recently been presented by researchers from various institutions. Therefore, we compared the safety and efficacy of dupilumab treatment to those of endoscopic sinus surgery.Methods: The PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases were searched independently by two authors from the dates of their inception to December 2022. We retrieved the clinical results of CRSwNP patients after dupilumab administration, including changes in patient symptoms and the effects on the quality of life, and compared the results of dupilumab (treatment group) to those of endoscopic sinus surgery (control group).Results: Eight articles (1,251 patients) were ultimately included. Dupilumab significantly improved nasal symptoms (nasal congestion) (mean difference [MD], -1.4433; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.7233 to -1.1632; I²=94.2%), the visual analog sinusitis score (MD, -5.0506; 95% CI, -5.4744 to -4.6267; I²=84.0%), olfactory function (standardized MD, 1.2691; 95% CI, 1.1549 to 1.3833; I²=18.4%), the quality of life (SNOT-22 score) (MD, -34.4941; 95% CI, -39.4187 to -29.5695; I²=90.8%), the Lund-Mackay computed tomography score (MD, -7.2713; 95% CI, -8.9442 to -5.5984; I²=87.7%), and the nasal polyp score (MD, -3.1021; 95% CI, -3.7066 to -2.4977; I²=95.6%) at about 12 months after treatment compared to the pretreatment values. Compared to endoscopic sinus surgery, dupilumab similarly improved olfactory function (MD, 1.9849; 95% CI, -1.6190 to 5.5888; I²=0.0%) but was less effective in terms of reducing the SNOT-22 score (MD, 3.8472; 95% CI, 1.9872 to 5.7073; I²=96.7%) and reducing nasal congestion (MD, 0.6519; 95% CI, 0.5619 to 0.7420; I²=97.7%).Conclusion: Dupilumab reduced subjective symptom scores and improved the quality of life and objective measures of progression compared to the preoperative values.