The impact of HER2-low status on pathological complete response and disease-free survival in early-stage breast cancer

BackgroundThe HER-2 status of breast cancer (BC) has been classified as negative or positive for a long time. Given the efficacy of novel anti-HER2-targeted antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) in HER2-low BC, a distinct subgroup of HER2-low tumors has emerged within BC. The biology and prognostic impact of HER2-low expression are not yet well defined, and inconsistent results were reported. This study aims to evaluate the impact of low HER-2 status on the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and disease- free survival (DFS) rates.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed BC patients treated with NACT from 2017 to 2023 in two cancer centers. HER2-negative patients were included. HER-2 low status was defined by IHC + 1 or + 2/ISH non-amplified, and HER2-zero was defined by IHC 0. Pathological complete response (pCR) rates and DFS between HER2-low and HER2-zero populations were compared.Results170 patients were identified. 122 (72%) of these patients were HER2- zero BC, whereas 48 (28%) were HER2-low BC. Overall, pCR was achieved in 35 (20.5%) patients. Of these, pCR was observed in 30 patients (44.6%) from the HER2- zero group, compared to 5 patients (10.4%) from the HER2-low group (p = 0.046), but significance was lost in multivariate analysis. Among the hormone receptor (HR) positive subtype, pCR was achieved 19.8% of HER2-zero tumors and 7.5% of HER2-low tumors (p = 0.08). For HR-negative subtype 34.1% HER2-zero tumors had pCR and 25% of the HER2-low tumors had pCR (p = 0.614). There was no association between DFS and HER2-low status.ConclusionsOur study indicates that HER2-low status had no impact on pCR or DFS

Risk of Malnutrition and Its Effects on the Quality of Life of Hospitalized Cancer Patients

Aim:Malnutrition is one of the most common clinical problems in cancer patients. Its frequency increases in hospitalized cancer patients. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the frequency of malnutrition and its effect on quality of life (QOL) in hospitalized cancer patients.Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, Nutrition Risk Screening-2002 (NRS-2002) and European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC)-QLQ C30 scales were completed for patients with cancer diagnosed in the medical oncology service. The relationship between clinical and laboratory parameters, malnutrition risk and QOL was analyzed by statistical methods.Results:One-hundred thirteen patients were included in the study. According to the results of NRS-2002, 42.5% (n=48) patients were at risk of malnutrition. There was no difference between the groups in terms of gender and age. When the EORTC-QLQ C30 scale scores were compared, the risk of malnutrition had no effect on the overall health score (p=0.679). Physical function and role function scores were significantly lower in those at risk of malnutrition (worse QOL). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of other functional scales. When univariate logistic regression (LR) was applied to the factors affecting better general health score, only hemoglobin level was found to be a significant factor. Therefore, multivariate LR was not done.Conclusion:Malnutrition risk assessment should be performed routinely in every hospitalized cancer patient. Early nutritional support should be given to patients at risk. It was observed that patients with malnutrition risk had worse QOL compared to the EORTC-QLQ C30 scale

Factors of Affecting Sleep Quality in Cancer Patients

Aim:Sleep disorders are one of the most common problems in patients with malignancy and they severely decrease the quality of life. We sought to investigate the frequency of sleep disturbances, its quantity, quality and possible correlation with related factors such as depression and anxiety.Materials and Methods:150 patients participated and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to evaluate the sleep quality. It is a self-administered questionnaire and standardized measure of sleep quality. Total score of ≥5 shows that the quality of sleep is remarkably bad. Also a self-report measure of depression, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); and a self-report measure of anxiety, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used.Results:Of the 150 patients, 74.0% has bad sleep quality (score >5 ). Mean PSQI total score was 7.34 (min 0-max 20). No differences were found between PSQI mean scores in terms of gender, radiotherapy (RT), chemotherapy (CHT), having chronic disease or having metastatic disease. NSAIDs and opioids were significantly correlated with PSQI (p<0.001). PSQI total scores are strongly associated with the BDI score (r=.424, p<0.001) and BAI score (r=.417, p<0.001).Conclusion:We found a high prevalence rate of bad sleep quality at 74%. Effective sleep treatment and psychological support should be provided in oncology clinics

Üstat Fuat Hulusi tarafından gönderilmiştir

Taha Toros Arşivi, Dosya No: 94-Mevlana. Not: Ekteki belge, Konya Halkevi Kültür Dergisi Mevlana özel sayısıdır. Dergi, Fethi İsmail İsfendiyaroğlu adına 12 Temmuz 1946 tarihinde imzalanmıştırUnutma İstanbul projesi İstanbul Kalkınma Ajansı'nın 2016 yılı "Yenilikçi ve Yaratıcı İstanbul Mali Destek Programı" kapsamında desteklenmiştir. Proje No: TR10/16/YNY/010