Pancreatic cancer in Saudi patients treated at tertiary institution. Ten years retrospective study

To describe presentation, management, and outcome, and determine prognostic factors for pancreatic cancer patients. A retrospective review of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period from January 2000 to December 2010. Descriptive statistics were conducted on the collected data and survival was estimated using the Kaplan Meier estimate. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were carried out. The medical records of 179 patients were reviewed. The patients' median age was 63 years ranging from 15-96 years, and 116 [64.8%] of them were male. The one-year survival rate was 39% and the 5-year survival was 10%. The median overall survival [OS] was 6.9 months. Age at diagnosis, grade, T stage, N stage, M stage, TNM stage group, and the combined stage group [stage III/IV versus others], site of distant metastasis, carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA], carbohydrate antigen 19-9, surgery and chemotherapy were significant predictors for OS on an univariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. A multiple regression model including all the significant predictors was conducted. Age at the time of diagnosis and M stage were significant variables. Our patients present at a younger age and have better 5-year survival compared with the United States Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results data, which deserves further evaluation. Age and disease stage were identified as independent prognostic factors for survival in this patient population

Risk factors of diabetic foot in central Saudi Arabia

To identify the risk factors of diabetic foot [DF] in diabetic patients. In a case-control study, medical records of 50 patients with DF, and 50 diabetic controls without DF were selected randomly from the patients seen at King Abdulaziz Medical City [KAMC], Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Selected vascular, neuropathic, metabolic, health care, and lifestyle risk factors were investigated. Multiple logistic regression was used to relate these potential risk factors to the odds of DF. Diabetic foot was significantly associated with: gender, age, education, type of diabetes, duration of disease, level of erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], presence of peripheral neuropathy, peripheral vascular disease, chronic renal diseases, ischemic heart diseases, hypertension, and previous history of diabetic foot. After adjusting for the potentially confounding effects of age and gender by using the logistic regression analysis, independent predictors of DF were: the duration of diabetes, presence of neuropathy, and ESR level. In the prediction of DF, receiver operating characteristic curves [ROC] were applied to identify the most valid cut-off points of the duration of diabetes [11 years], and ESR level [54 mm/hr]. These findings could help diabetologists recognize early, and manage DF, and thus reduce the risk of limb amputation, and the cost that accompanies limb loss in this prevalent condition