Evaluation of Blood Culture Results in Patients with Malignancy in Erzurum Province, Turkey.

Background: Bloodstream infections are a serious public health problem that requires follow-up with blood culture; this negatively affects the course of the disease and patient healthcare costs in patients with malignancy. This study aimed to determine the growth frequency of pathogens and their antibiotic resistance profiles in the blood cultures of patients with hematological and oncogenic malignancies. Materials and methods: The results of 7451 blood cultures, obtained from 2926 patients between January 2017 and January 2022, were evaluated retrospectively. Of these cultures, 3969 were obtained from patients with malignancy (diagnostic codes C00-D48 in ICD-10) and 3482 from patients without malignancy. The hospital information management system modules were used to acquire patient data and blood culture results. Results: Various microorganisms grew in 10.1% of blood cultures. Of these organisms, 64.1% were isolated from cases of malignancy. Of the pathogens, 49.2% were gram-negative bacteria, 47.7% were gram-positive bacteria, and 3.1% were fungi. The most frequently isolated bacteria were methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (3.2%), Escherichia coli (2.3%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (1.0%), methicillin-sensitive coagulase-negative staphylococci (0.7%), and Staphylococcus aureus (0.6%). Pathogen positivity was highest in the patient cultures with urinary system cancer (23.9%), thyroid and other endocrine gland cancers (20.6%), female and male genital organ cancers (18.2%/16.9%), and digestive organ cancer (14.2%). Gram-negative bacteria to ampicillin, piperacillin, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim and Gram-positive bacteria to penicillin, erythromycin, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim were highly resistant. Combined resistance to imipenem and meropenem was observed in 25 Gram-negative bacteria. Twelve (48%) of the carbapenem-resistant bacteria were isolated from patients with lymphoid, hematopoietic, and related tissue malignant neoplasia. Conclusion: This study reported microorganisms and their antimicrobial resistance in the blood cultures of malignant patients, a special patient group. It pointed out that the antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and E. coli is high enough to cause problems in the treatment of patients with malignancy.

Assessment of Knowledge and Attitudes of Patients About Cancer Screenings in Primary Care.

Incidence of cancer is increasing in the developing countries such as Turkey. Screenings are important part of preventive medicine practices which can reduce deaths due to cancer. Our aim was to identify patient's awareness and knowledge level of cancers and screenings and to create a road map of what we need to do to increase screening rates. This study was a descriptive type, and the research population was the patients between the age of 30 and 75, who went to 18 different Family Health Centres in different places in Turkey for any reason in July-September 2016. The survey was completed by face-to-face interview and consisted of 20 questions about the socio-demographic attributes, level of cancer and cancer screenings knowledge, causes of screening, and reasons for not doing. Screening rates was self-reported by patients. A total of 643 patients, 394 women (61.3%) and 249 men (38.7%), participated in the study. The average age was 45.67 ± 11.49. The most well-known cancer type was breast cancer (79%). Having no screening was high in general population (64.7%). Having a screening was statistically significantly higher in women, over 50 year olds group, divorced/widower group, housewives, primary school graduates, the group who have green-card (having very low or no income) as social security, and in the group who have a history of family member with cancer. 55.8% of patients received the information about screenings from healthcare professionals. The reasons for not having a screening were "not seeing themselves as under risk" (27.4%), not having knowledge (22.8%), and fear of the results (15%). First of all, the importance of cancer screening as an important part of the preventive health services should be understood by family doctors through in-service training. Then family doctors would share the information and experience, clear the lack of knowledge of them and by doing this rates of screening would increase.

The influence of acetabular morphology on prediction of proximal femur fractures types in an elderly population.

INTRODUCTION: The role of proximal femur morphology to the development of certain proximal femur fracture types both femoral neck and trochanteric fractures has been observed. However, the relavance of acetabular morphology to the development of proximal femur fractures is not extensively questioned. Therefore the aim of the study was to determine whether there is a correlation between acetabular morphology and pathogenesis of 2 different hip fracture types after low energy trauma. METHODS: This retrospective study includes 60 cases (41 women, 19 men) with a proximal femoral fracture after a low energy trauma between July 2012 and December 2014. Acetabular depth and acetabular index were measured on pelvic radiographs. Neck shaft angle, hip axis length and cortical index were measured on pelvic computed tomography scans. All measurements were performed on the contralateral hip. RESULTS: Mean age was 77.56 ± 8.99 years (range 61-92 years). No statistically significant difference was found with regard to neck shaft angle, acetabular depth or cortical index measurements between patients with femoral neck fracture and patients with trochanteric femoral fractures (p>0.05). Acetabular index measurement was higher (p = 0.001) and hip axis length measurement was lower (p = 0.001) in trochanteric fracture group as compared to femoral neck fracture. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of trochanteric femur fractures is higher in patients with high acetabular index, whereas the rate of femoral neck fractures is higher in patients with increased hip axis length.