Quality-of-Life in Turkish Cancer Patients: The Impact of Sociodemographic Characteristics, Medical History, and Management

Our aim is to assess the quality-of-life (QoL) of cancer patients and the effect of sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, and disease Management, on QoL. The present study included 318 cancer patients. The most common diagnosis in this study were breast cancer (30.0%) and gastrointestinal cancer (27.7%). A form exploring sociodemographic variables and the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire were used to collect patient data. Non-parametric tests were employed to evaluate the association of different factors with patient QoL. Sociodemographic characteristics such as age; gender; level of education; employment status; and medical history, including any family history of cancer, date of diagnosis, cancer awareness, stage of the disease, past/current treatments, use of painkillers, and psychiatric support, significantly affected the QoL of cancer patients. The mean QoL score was moderate (56.05%+/- 26.42). Physical functioning was the most affected subdomain (63.27 +/- 25.69), and cognitive functioning the least affected (78.35 +/- 23.47). Our results indicate a relationship between many clinical and sociodemographic factors and the QoL of cancer patients. Healthcare professionals should be aware of factors that affect QoL so that patient complaints and needs can be adequately addressed to improve patient QoL

Prognostic factors for survival in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients with brain metastases receiving targeted therapy

WOS: 000454667200024PubMed ID: 28731496Background: The primary objective of our study was to examine the clinical outcomes and prognosis of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) with brain metastases (BMs) receiving targeted therapy. Patients and methods: Fifty-eight patients from 16 oncology centers for whom complete clinical data were available were retrospectively reviewed. Results: The median age was 57 years (range 30-80). Most patients underwent a nephrectomy (n = 41; 70.7%), were male (n = 42; 72.4%) and had clear-cell (CC) RCC (n = 51; 87.9%). Patients were treated with first-line suni-tinib (n = 45; 77.6%) or pazopanib (n = 13; 22.4%). The median time from the initial RCC diagnosis to the diagnosis of BMs was 9 months. The median time from the first occurrence of metastasis to the development of BMs was 7 months. The median overall survival (OS) of mRCC patients with BMs was 13 months. Time from the initial diagnosis of systemic metastasis to the development of BMs (2; p2) were independent risk factors for a poor prognosis

Biological Subtypes and Distant Relapse Pattern in Breast Cancer Patients After Curative Surgery (Study of Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology)

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between the molecular subtypes and patterns of relapse in breast cancer patients who had undergone curative surgery. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 1,350 breast cancer patients with relapses after curative surgery between 1998 and 2012 from referral centers in Turkey. Patients were divided into 4 biological subtypes according to immunohistochemistry and grade: triple negative, HER2 overexpressing, luminal A and luminal B. RESULTS: The percentages of patients with luminal A, luminal B, HER2-overexpressing, and triple-negative breast cancer were 32.9% (n = 444), 34.9% (n = 471), 12.0% (n = 162), and 20.2% (n = 273), respectively. The distribution of metastases differed among the subgroups: bone (66.2% and 53.9% in luminal A and B vs. 38.9% in HER2-overexpressing and 45.1% in triple negative, p < 0.001), liver (40.1% in HER2-overexpressing vs. 24.5% in luminal A, 33.5% in luminal B, and 27.5% in triple negative, p < 0.001), lung (41.4% in triple negative and 35.2% in HER2-overexpressing vs. 30.2% and 30.6% in luminal A and B, p = 0.008) and brain (25.3% in HER2-overexpressing and 23.1% in triple negative vs. 10.1% and 15.1% in luminal A and B, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Organ-specific metastasis may depend on the molecular subtype of breast cancer. Tailored strategies against distant metastasis concerning the molecular subtypes in breast cancer should be considered

Biological Subtypes and Distant Relapse Pattern in Breast Cancer Patients After Curative Surgery (Study of Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology)

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between the molecular subtypes and patterns of relapse in breast cancer patients who had undergone curative surgery. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 1,350 breast cancer patients with relapses after curative surgery between 1998 and 2012 from referral centers in Turkey. Patients were divided into 4 biological subtypes according to immunohistochennistry and grade: triple negative, HER2 overexpressing, luminal A and luminal B. Results: The percentages of patients with luminal A, lumina! B, HER2-overexpressing, and triple-negative breast cancer were 32.9% (n = 444), 34.9% (n = 471), 12.0% (n = 162), and 20.2% (n = 273), respectively. The distribution of metastases differed among the subgroups: bone (66.2% and 53.9% in lumina! A and B vs. 38.9% in HER2-overexpressing and 45.1% in triple negative, p < 0.001), liver (40.1% in HER2-overexpressing vs. 24.5% in lumina! A, 33.5% in luminal B, and 27.5% in triple negative, p < 0.001), lung (41.4% in triple negative and 35.2% in HER2-overexpressing vs. 30.2% and 30.6% in luminal A and B, p = 0.008) and brain (25.3% in HER2overexpressing and 23.1% in triple negative vs. 10.1% and 15.1% in lumina! A and B, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Organ -specific metastasis may depend on the molecular subtype of breast cancer. Tailored strategies against distant metastasis concerning the molecular subtypes in breast cancer should be considered. (C) 2016 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

Biological Subtypes and Distant Relapse Pattern in Breast Cancer Patients After Curative Surgery (Study of Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology)

Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between the molecular subtypes and patterns of relapse in breast cancer patients who had undergone curative surgery. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 1,350 breast cancer patients with relapses after curative surgery between 1998 and 2012 from referral centers in Turkey. Patients were divided into 4 biological subtypes according to immunohistochennistry and grade: triple negative, HER2 overexpressing, luminal A and luminal B. Results: The percentages of patients with luminal A, lumina! B, HER2-overexpressing, and triple-negative breast cancer were 32.9\% (n = 444), 34.9\% (n = 471), 12.0\% (n = 162), and 20.2\% (n = 273), respectively. The distribution of metastases differed among the subgroups: bone (66.2\% and 53.9\% in lumina! A and B vs. 38.9\% in HER2-overexpressing and 45.1\% in triple negative, p < 0.001), liver (40.1\% in HER2-overexpressing vs. 24.5\% in lumina! A, 33.5\% in luminal B, and 27.5\% in triple negative, p < 0.001), lung (41.4\% in triple negative and 35.2\% in HER2-overexpressing vs. 30.2\% and 30.6\% in luminal A and B, p = 0.008) and brain (25.3\% in HER2overexpressing and 23.1\% in triple negative vs. 10.1\% and 15.1\% in lumina! A and B, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Organ -specific metastasis may depend on the molecular subtype of breast cancer. Tailored strategies against distant metastasis concerning the molecular subtypes in breast cancer should be considered. (C) 2016 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

Impact of pre-angiogenic factors on the treatment effect of bevacizumab in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) play a major role in tumor growth and metastasis. Our aim was to determine whether there is any association between these endothelial parameters and tumor markers with the clinical outcome of bevacizumab-treated metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients in terms of response and survival. Pretreatment serum levels of ET-1, ADMA, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 were measured in 36 chemotherapy-naive mCRC patients treated with first-line bevacizumab-based therapy. Additionally, after first cycle of treatment, serum levels of these parameters were reanalyzed. Lower baseline serum ET-1 and ADMA levels were observed in patients responding to bevacizumab-based treatment (respectively, p = 0.037, p = 0.034). Median progression-free survival (PFS) (11 vs. 6 months, p = 0.012) and overall survival (OS) (28 vs 9 months; p = 0.007) were significantly shorter in patients with high pretreatment ET-1 levels. There was a significant decrease in ET-1 and CEA levels after first treatment (p = 0.020, p = 0.012), while ADMA and CA 19-9 levels were not significantly changed. Patients with decreased posttreatment ET-1 levels were shown to have inferior PFS (6 vs 11 months, p = 0.022), but no statistically significant difference was shown with respect to OS (p = 0.141). The effect of bevacizumab on endothelin axis including the biologic basis of decreasing ET-1 levels due to bevacizumab treatment and its association with inferior outcome has to be clarified in prospective trials