The association between the lymph node ratio, surgical margin, and survival in patients with colon cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy.

Objectives: To investigate the prognostic significant of lymph node ratio and surgical margins in patients with colon cancer undergoing surgery. Methods: This observational and retrospective study was conducted at Karadeniz Technical University Medical Faculty, between 1 January, 2010 and 31 November, 2020. A series of 137 patients who had undergone surgical resection of colon carcinoma were included in this study. mLNR, defined as the ratio of the number of mLNs to the number of examined lymph nodes, was calculated in colorectal cancer cases with lymph node metastasis. Patients were divided into three groups; LNR1 (< 0.25), LNR2 (0.25-0.6) and LNR3 (> 0.6). Results: Mean disease-free survival was 79.2 months (95% CI 71.0-87.4). The mean expected survival time was 73.5 months (95% CI: 65.9-81.0). As the metastatic LN ratio increased, the rate of local recurrence or distant metastasis increased statistically significantly (p=0.007). As the metastatic LN ratio increased, the death rate increased statistically significantly (p=0.036). Metastatic lymph node ratio did not have a statistically significant effect on overall survival in patients with stage-3 and more than 12 LNs removed (p=0.069). There was no statistically significant association between the closeness of the surgical margin and disease-free survival in stage 1 (p=0.505) and stage-2 (p=0.161). There was no statistically significant association between the closeness of the surgical margin and overall survival among patients with stage 1 (p=0.494) and stage 2 (p=0.265). Conclusion: A high metastatic LNR is associated with poorer overall and disease-free survival.

Repurposing calcium channel blockers: may be sensible combination with erlotinib for non-small cell lung cancer.

Erlotinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that inhibits epidermal growth factor receptor. It is being used for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients (NSCLC). Repurposing noncancer drugs for cancer treatment is a current issue and it has many advantages. We planned to reveal the effects of noncancer drugs [calcium channel blockers (CCBs) and others] on erlotinib. We scanned the files of NSCLC patients retrospectively who were applied to Karadeniz Technical University between January 2013 and April 2019 and used erlotinib. There were 63 patients, 9 of them were taking CCB simultaneously for arterial hypertension. We analyzed some parameters of these patients and their effects on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). A χ2 or Fisher's exact test, Kaplan-Meier and Cox regressions were used in the statistical analysis. 12-month OS rates of CCB user and nonuser were 78.3 and 39.7%, respectively, [odds ratio (OR),0.14; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.27-0.75; P = 0.023]. 24-month PFS rates of CCB user and nonuser were 44.4 and 8.3%, respectively (OR,0.11; 95% CI, 0.02-0.60; P = 0.016). There was 12-month OS and 24-month PFS advantage with simultaneously taking CCBs and erlotinib, they have an additive effect for NSCLC. This study will be inspiring future prospective studies.

The impact of new generic formulations of imatinib mesylate on general quality of life in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukaemia patients.

Treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has dramatically changed the life expectancy of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients. Although the impact of first-generation TKIs on quality of life (QoL) was shown in CML, the effects of new generic formulations of imatinib mesylate (IM) are unclear. We evaluated differences in QoL under treatment with first- or second-generation TKIs. Fifty-two patients diagnosed with CP-CML completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionaire-C30, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and General Health Questionnaire. General QoL scores were similar between groups. There was a significant difference in the frequency of diarrhoea between IM group and the group using new generic formulations of IM (P = 0.012). General QoL score tended to be higher in patients with disease duration longer than 3 years (P = 0.052). GHQ, anxiety and depression scores correlated positively with symptom scales and negatively with functional subscales.CML patients using new generic formulations of IM reported a higher frequency of diarrhoea than patients using original IM and second-generation TKIs that could result in more drug discontinuation.