Concomitant chemotherapy and radiation for the treatment of advanced-stage endometrial cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Ccombination chemotherapy and radiation therapy is used for adjuvant treatment of stage III-IV endometrial cancer. The goal of this study was to review the treatment duration, toxicity, and survival for patients treated with concomitant chemotherapy and radiation. METHODS: Women with stage III-IV endometrial cancer treated with concurrent chemotherapy and radiation between 2006 and 2013 were included. Toxicities were classified per CTCAE v3.0 and RTOG/EORTC late radiation morbidity scoring. Descriptive statistics were used to quantify treatment and toxicities. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate survival. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients met our inclusion criteria. Median age was 60 (range 33-85). Thirty-six patients (70.6%) had endometrioid histology, 13 patients (25.5%) had serous, clear cell, or mixed histology, and 2 women (3.9%) had carcinosarcoma. Forty-eight patients had stage III disease and three patients were stage IVB. Mean treatment duration was 107 ± 19 days. Forty-two patients received all planned chemotherapy, and 16 patients required a dose reduction. Thirty-four patients (66.7%) experienced grade 3-4 toxicities, the majority of which were hematologic. There were no deaths related to therapy. Eighty-six percent of patients received leukocyte growth factors, and 25% of patients received a blood transfusion. Seven late grade 3-4 complications occurred: four gastrointestinal and two genitourinary, and one patient had ongoing neuropathy. Median progression-free survival was 42.8 months (range 4.4-81.5 months) and median overall survival was 44.9 months (range 5.1-82.6 months). Three-year overall survival was 80%. CONCLUSION: Concomitant chemotherapy and radiation is an adequately tolerated treatment modality that allows for shorter treatment duration.

Polycystic ovary syndrome and migraine headache, is there any correlation?

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the role of some sex hormones in migraine headaches, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and characteristics of headache, especially migraine, in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO) compared with women without this disease. METHODS: One hundred and thirty-three women with PCO and 107 controls were interviewed by 2 neurologists experienced in headache diagnosis. The headache disorders were classified according to the International Headache Society criteria. The statistical significance was determined using the chi(2) test, and a p value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Forty-five women (33.8%) of the 133 cases without PCO complained of headache. Of the PCO patients, 48 women (44.9%) suffered from headache. The prevalence of headache was not significantly higher among women with PCO (p = 0.85). The same results were found for migraine headache (p = 0.13). CONCLUSION: Migraine is not more frequent in women with PCO. It was concluded that male sex hormones and especially testosterone do not play an important role in the exacerbation of migraine headache.