ABO Blood Groups are Not Associated with Treatment Response and Prognosis in Patients with Local Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, late diagnosis being the main obstacle to improving the outcomes with stage at diagnosis as an important prognostic factor. Relationships between ABO blood groups and risk of benign or malignant diseases have been observed and in this study, we aimed to investigate whether they might affect prognosis and response to chemoradiotherapy in patients with local advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: Eighty-one patients with non-metastatic local advanced NSCLC were included in the study. ABO blood groups were A in 45 (55.6%), B in 7 (8.6%), AB in 8 (9.9%), and O in 21 (25.9%) patients. The patients were also divided two groups according to blood group A (45 patients) and non-A (B, AB and O; 36 patients). Response to chemoradiotherapy was complete remission in 10 (12.3%), disease regression in 42 (51.9%), stable disease in 12 (14.8%), and disease progression in 17 (21.0%) patients. Results: There was no significant difference among ABO blood group categories or between patients with A blood group and those with non-A blood group in terms of responses to chemoradiotherapy (p>0.05). There were also no significant differences regarding overall and disease-free survival rates. Conclusion: The ABO blood group system has no significant effect on prognosis and response to chemoradiotherapy in patients with non-metastatic NSCLC

Ratio of Metastatic to Examined Lymph Nodes is a Predictor of Mortality in Locally Advanced Gastric Cancer Treated Chemo-Radiotherapy

Background/Aims: To evaluate whether the ratio between the number of metastatic lymph nodes and the number of total removed lymph nodes (MLR) is related survival in patients with locally advanced (stage 3) gastric cancer treated chemo-radiotherapy. Methodology: We included 179 patients with locally advanced lymph node-positive gastric cancer treated chemo-radiotherapy within this study. The cut-off values, area under curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were calculated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve technique for MLR. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of MLR for mortality were 71.54% and 51.79%, respectively, when the cutoff level was accepted as the ratio >= 0.3. The AUG for the predictive value of MLR with regard to mortality was 0.609 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.533-0.681, p: 0.0135). Overall survival rates were significantly lower in patients with high MLR than in those with low MLR (15 months vs. 35 months, p: 0.002, respectively). In multivariate analysis, overall survival rates were significantly associated with MLR status (low or high). Conclusion: The simple and easily obtainable MLR is an independent predictor for mortality in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer even if chemo-radiotherapy, which is known to increase local control, was given

EFFECT OF PROGNOSTIC FACTORS ON SURVIVAL IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH NON-SMALL CELL LUNG CANCER

Introduction: More than half of newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer cases are patients aged more than 65 years and therefore, it is an important health problem in elderly population. In this study, we aimed to investigate effect of various the prognostic factors on survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients aged more than 65 years

The Characteristics and Long-Term Course of Epilepsy in Lipoid Proteinosis: A Spectrum From Mild to Severe Seizures in Relation to ECM1 Mutations.

Lipoid proteinosis (LP) is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by deposition of hyaline material in skin and mucosae. Epilepsy, as an extracutaneous manifestation associated with typical mesial temporal calcifications, has already been identified, but its characteristics and long-term prognosis have not been thoroughly investigated. We included 7 consecutive patients with LP with typical intracranial calcifications out of 16 patients with ECM1 mutations and investigated the semiologic features, ictal and interictal EEG findings, and long-term prognosis of epilepsy in this genodermatosis. Four of them had seizures (57.1%), and focal seizures with motionless staring were the most common seizure phenotype, originating from bilateral mesial temporal areas, but interictal spikes were scant. Auras were observed in three patients, mostly as epigastric sensation and deja vu, which indicated mesial temporal lobe origin. Three patients with homozygous mutations in sixth and seventh exons of the ECM1 gene had a drug-resistant course at the end of long-term follow-up. Molecular genetic testing showed a rare compound heterozygous mutation in one patient, which was also associated with seizures but without drug-resistance. Our findings indicated a spectrum for epilepsy with a desperate drug-resistant course for decades in most patients with LP, which is still an underrecognized disease by neurologists