Actor You A-in, who reportedly had suffered from osteocystoma, became a patient of osteosarcoma which is cancer, at some point.
Osteocystoma is a benign tumor of bone, and patients have only to observe proceedings without special treatment. If they feel pain or a fracture occurs, patients undergo surgery to remove it. On the other hand, Osteosarcoma, a malignant tumor, is cancer and patients should receive surgery and chemotherapy.
You’s joining the army has been deferred as he was diagnosed with osteocystoma in four physical examinations for conscription conducted by the Military Manpower Administration (MMA). And in the fifth checkup, he was exempted from active duty because of the “existing disease,” You’s entertainment agency UAA said on June 27.
And at one point, the media began to report the “existing disease” inflicting You was not Osteocystoma but Osteosarcoma. And stories gushed that said You, who had been embroiled in controversy about draft dodging because of repeated decisions of deferred enlistment, was suffering from cancer.
Experts made it clear, however, Osteocystoma can never develop to Osteosarcoma. Popular beliefs that one needs to suffer from cancer to be exempted from military service might have changed You’s ailment from Osteocystoma to Osteosarcoma, they said. According to the MMA’s physical test rules, however, the agency can exempt draftees from active duty if a tumor is not cancer but close to being malignant clinically, whose surgery is impossible, or suffering from severe side effects after surgery.
Professor Park Joong-hun박종훈, an Osteosarcoma expert at Korea University Anam Hospital 고대안암병원, said the chance is slim the actor is suffering from Osteosarcoma.
“If the media report is correct, You, who had been diagnosed with Osteocystoma in previous checkups, was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma this time around, but Osteocystoma never becomes Osteosarcom,” he said. “Osteosarcoma is cancer, and if it occurred in his 30s, the mortality rate is very high. If the previous diagnosis was wrong, it must be a horrible medical accident.”
Professor Choi Eun-sok최은석 at Gachon University Gil Medical Center가천대길병원 agreed with Professor Park. “Because Osteosarcoma is serious cancer, if You had been diagnosed with the disease, he must have received chemotherapy or surgery right away,” he said. “His condition seemed to be Osteocystoma because he didn’t get any treatment after the first medical checkup.”
Professor Choi said if the disease inflicting You were Osteosarcoma, the previous diagnoses were wrong, but such a possibility is very small.
“The two diseases have similar names but require completely different diagnosis and treatments,” Professor Choi said. “If the disease turned out to be Osteosarcoma, he must have been exempted from military service right away without further checkups. It must be Osteocystoma given he took medical checkups five times.”
According to “medical checkup rules for military duty” of MMA, draftees are exempt from active duty if a tumor is positive histologically but close to be malignant clinically, surgery is impossible, they suffer from serious side effects after surgery, or a tumor is malignant.