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OBJECTIVE We investigated the outcomes of radiotherapy (RT) combined with systemic chemotherapy (CHT) including carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer. METHODS This retrospective study included 105 patients. Treatment involved concurrent carboplatin and paclitaxel with RT administered weekly followed by two cycles of consolidation carboplatin and paclitaxel administered triweekly. RESULTS Comorbid disease was present in 46 (48.6%) patients. At least four cycles of CHT in the concurrent phase and both cycles of CHT in the consolidation phase were able to be administered to 92.3% and 45.4% of patients, respectively. The most common type of toxicity in the entire treatment protocol was hematological toxicity (34.8%). The objective response rate was 71.4%. Overall, recurrence was found in 71 (67.6%) patients. The most common type of recurrence was distant metastasis, which occurred in 47 (66.2%) patients. The median progression-free survival was 14 months. The 1, 2, and 3-year progression-free survival rates were 59%, 30%, and 26%, respectively. The median overall survival was 27 months. The 1, 2, and 3-year overall survival rates were 81%, 57%, and 34%, respectively. CONCLUSION The survival outcomes in this study closely match those reported in the literature. This is notable because our study included a higher proportion of patients with additional health conditions and fewer concurrent CHT cycles during RT compared to randomized studies. These findings prompt us to consider what the ideal number of concurrent CHT cycles should be when using modern involved-field RT techniques after accurate disease staging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: More than half of gastric cancer patients have no chance of resection at the time of diagnosis. In gastric cancer, which has increased frequency with age, chemotherapy efficacy and tolerability in metastatic gastric cancer aged 75 and over have been investigated due to the fact that the elderly patient population is not sufficiently involved in the studies. Methods: In our study, the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients, treatment regimens and responses, prognostic factors, grad 3-4 toxicity, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were examined. Results: In the study involving 118 patients, PFS was 5.8 months and OS was 8.4 months. A disease control rate of 38.1% was achieved with chemotherapy. Conclusion: Since the OS in this study was 10.5 months in patients with ECOG PS 0-1, 13.8 months in patients who received two lines or more, and the frequency of side effects was acceptable, we believe that this patient population should not be left untreated. Since there are acceptable survival values even with single-agent therapies, monotherapy can be recommended for patients with poor ECOG PS and combination therapies can be recommended for patients with good PS without comorbidities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In cases where homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene analysis is performed, platinum-based chemotherapy is better than other chemotherapy regimens. FOLFIRINOX is the regimen of choice for first-line treatment of pancreatic cancer. However, it is a toxic regimen, and not all patients can tolerate this treatment. Because HRR genes are frequently detected in pancreatic cancer and because FOLFIRINOX treatment cannot be applied to every patient, platinum-based therapies can be used as a first-line therapy. For this reason, we conducted this study to show the firstline effect of a platinum-gemcitabine combination for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. Methods: This retrospective and multicenter study included patients admitted to five centers in Turkey between 2010 and 2017. The inclusion criteria were as follows: patients older than 18, diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer, with no previous local treatment (surgery or radiotherapy), with no chemotherapy for metastatic disease, and with an ECOG performance score of 0-2. Results: A total of 217 patients were included in the study. Of these, 103 were administered gemcitabine alone, and 114 were administered gemcitabine plus cisplatin/carboplatin. Overall survival was significantly longer in the gemcitabine-cisplatin/carboplatin group than in the gemcitabine alone group (9.8 months vs. 5.2 months; p<0.001). Likewise, progression-free survival was statistically significantly longer in the gemcitabine-cisplatin/carboplatin group than in the gemcitabine alone group (4.9 months vs. 3.2 months; p<0.001). Conclusion: In cases where HRR gene analysis cannot be performed during the treatment of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, a patient who cannot tolerate FOLFIRINOX can be treated with a combination of cisplatin/carboplatin-gemcitabine as a first-line treatment. However, larger prospective studies are needed to confirm its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE It is known that cancer patients are more prone to infections than the general population. We aimed to describe the risk factors affecting the survival of cancer patients infected with COVID-19 and clinical findings compared with a large COVID-19 patient population without cancer diagnosis. METHODS The clinical data of 61 cancer and 558 non-patients with COVID-19 infection who applied to the emergency room were compared retrospectively. Risk factors affecting overall survival in cancer patients were analyzed. RESULTS Gender and mean age were comparable in both groups. In the entire cohort, cancer diagnosis was found to be an independent poor prognostic factor (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.09, p<0.001) among other comorbidities. In univariate analysis; lung cancer, activated partial thromboplastin time >32 seconds, INR >1.1, N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) >400 pg/ml, C-reactive protein >100 mg/L, and procalcitonin >0.23 ng/mL were determined as prognostic risk factors. Lung cancer (HR=5.277, p=0.012) and NT-proBNP >400 pg/ml (HR=0.139, p=0.021) were determined as independent prognostic risk factors in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION Cancer patients with COVID-19 infection have poor survival outcomes. Lung cancer diagnosis and elevated NT-proBNP levels were identified as the most crucial prognostic risk factors in cancer patients infected with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]