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Lymphomas encompass various lymphoid malignancies, although they are classified and evaluated in a similar manner. Prognostic stratification of lymphomas employs biochemical tests; however, these tests do not offer a viable means of assessing response. We included 108 patients with lymphoma who underwent treatment at the Department of Medical Oncology, Hacettepe University, between January 2015 and December 2017. Patients were grouped into good and poor responders, and changes in biochemical parameters were assessed for their utility in evaluating patient response. We evaluated the proposed scoring system's effect size using Cramer's V test. Fifty-seven patients were male, 51 patients were female, and the median age of the patients was 50 years. Twenty-seven patients had HL, 72 patients had B-cell NHL, and 9 patients had T-cell NHL. Fifty-three patients had stage IV, nine patients had stage III, 23 patients had stage II, and 22 patients had stage I disease. Levels of total protein (from 7.12 to 6.79 gr/ dL, p< 0.01), ß2-microglobulin (from 2287 to 2039 ng/mL, p= 0.07), and lactate dehydrogenase (from 297.8 to 230.1 U/L, p< 0.01) decreased in patients with good response, whereas nothing significant was found in patients with poor response. After transforming the parameters, we proposed a 4-point ordinal system comprising total protein, ß2-microglobulin, and lactate dehydrogenase values. Subsequent analysis demonstrated a nearly high effect size (Cramer's V 0.461) and significance in logistic regression (p< 0.01). Our study presents the first scoring system for response assessment in lymphoma using biochemical tests. Further research is necessary to validate our scoring system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zoledronic acid has been shown to inhibit cancer cell proliferation, metastasis and induce cancer cell apoptosis. Stromal Derived Factor- 1 (SDF-1) is a chemokine that has been reported to be expressed markedly high in the most common metastatic sites. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zoledronic acid on SDF-1 mRNA expression of rats' tissues. Rats were randomised into two groups, each containing five rats. Zoledronic acid was administered 0.1 mg/kg subcutaneously to one group. Other group was used as the control group. Seven days later, all rats were sacrificed. Levels of SDF-1 mRNA expression in tissues were measured quantitatively with RT-PCR. The median of SDF-1 mRNA relative expression in the lung was 0.80 (0.49-1.00) in the control group and 0.90 (0.61-1.42) in the zoledronic acid group (p= 0.53). The median of SDF-1 mRNA relative expression in the liver was 0.90 (0.39-1.00) in the control group and 0.93 (0.77-1.29) in the zoledronic acid group (p= 0.35). In this study, we investigated the effect of zoledronic acid on the tissue SDF-1 mRNA expression for the first time in the literature. We observed that a single dose of zoledronic acid did not change SDF-1 expression in lung and liver of rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer accounts for one third of non-genital tumors metastasize to the ovaries. We aimed to investigate the role of cytoreductive surgery in colon and small intestinal cancer patients with adnexal metastases, which were operated as primary epithelial ovarian cancer. This analysis included 26 patients with adnexal metastasis from colon and distal ileum, patients presented as primary ovarian cancer cases and were operated upon in Zekai Tahir Burak Women's Health Hospital, Gynecologic Oncology Unit between 2008 and 2014. Patients with history of intestinal cancers were not included in the study. The median age of patients was 54 (range= 26-77). Among all patients, 63% were premenopausal and 37% were postmenopausal. Most common presenting symptom was abdominal distention (80%). Optimal cytoreduction was performed in 21 patients. Right hemicolon was the primary site of tumor in 8 patients, while recto-sigmoid and appendiceal tumors were present in 7 and 7 patients, respectively. Isolated ovarian metastases were found in 6 patients, the remaining 20 patients had peritoneal carcinomatosis. Median follow-up was 25 months (ranging 3-59). In total, 11 patients died, of them, two patients had isolated ovarian metastasis, while the remaining nine patients had peritoneal carcinomatosis. Estimated median overall survival was 36.8 months (95% CI= 28.6-45.1 months). Median overall survival of patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery was not reached (36.8+ months), compared with 18.3 (95% CI= 0.0-46.4) months for patients with suboptimal cytoreductive surgery (p= 0.008). This retrospective study showed that cytoreductive surgery might have beneficial effect in selected patients with intestinal cancer metastatic to the adnexal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyze the clinicopathologic characteristics and treatment outcomes of our patients with gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) and to present our real-life experience. A total of 32 patients with GTN diagnosed according to the FIGO 2002 criteria followed in Zekai Tahir Burak Women's Health Training and Research Hospital between 2011-2018 were included. Demographic features, treatment outcomes, and survival were analyzed retrospectively. The median follow up time was 32.1 (3.3-76.9) months. Of the 32 patients, 27 (84.4%) were defined as low-risk GTN (risk score < 7) and 5 (15.6%) were high-risk GTN (risk score ≥ 7) according to the FIGO risk score. Seventeen (62.9%) patients with low-risk GTN achieved complete remission (CR) with single agent MTX. CR rate was 60% (12/20) in patients receiving weekly MTX and 71.4% (5/7) in MTX-FA eight-day regimen (p= 0.590). Of the 9 MTX resistant patients, 8 (88.8%) achieved CR with second-line Actinomycin D (ActD). Three (60%) out of the five high-risk GTN patients acquired CR with first-line EMA-CO (etoposide, MTX, plus ActD alternating with cyclophosphamide and vincristine). In the follow-up period one patient (3.1%) had recurrent disease. By the data cut off date, all of the patients were alive and CR could not be achieved in one (3.1%) patient. All patients with low-risk GTN achieved CR with sequential therapies ultimately. Therefore, single agent MTX is a reasonable option in the initial treatment of low-risk GTN. Moreover, Actinomycin D is highly effective in patients with low-risk GTN who are resistant to MTX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to compare efficacy of dose dense and conventionally dosed paclitaxel-carboplatin regimens in the first-line treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). We evaluated the medical records of women with EOC followed in Zekai Tahir Burak Women's Health Training and Research Hospital between 2007-2019 retrospectively. The patients with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status of 0-1-2, and stages of IC-IV, without previous treatments, who had undergone primary cytoreductive surgery were included. All patients had received either dose dense paclitaxel-carboplatin (paclitaxel 80 mg/m2 given on days 1, 8, and 15 plus carboplatin Area Under the Curve: 5 on day 1 of the 21 day cycle) or conventionally dosed paclitaxel-carboplatin (paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 plus carboplatin Area Under the Curve: 5 on day 1 of the 21 day cycle) regimens in the first line treatment. Baseline clinicopathological features, progression-free survival, and overall survival were evaluated. This study included data of 133 patients. Forty patients had received dose dense regimen while 93 had conventionally dosed regimen. Median progression-free survival of the dose dense group [34.4 months (31.7 - 37.03)] was significantly longer than the conventional group [25.5 months (19.9-30.9)] [HR= 0. 55 (95% CI, 0.31 - 0.95), p= 0.03]. Median overall survival was 88.2 months (28.3 - 148.3) in the dose dense group and 76.5 months (63.3 - 89.7) in conventional group (p= 0.102). We have found improved progression-free survival in the first-line treatment of EOC with dose dense regimen compared to conventionally dosed regimen. Overall survival was longer in the dose dense group despite being not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]