Cancer incidence rates in Turkey in 2006: a detailed registry based estimation.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed report on cancer incidence in Turkey, a relatively large country with a population of 72 million. We present the estimates of the cancer burden in Turkey for 2006, calculated using data from the eight population based cancer registries which have been set up in selected provinces representative of sociodemographic patterns in their regions. METHODS: We calculated age specific and age adjusted incidence rates (AAIR-world standard population) for each of registries separately. We assigned a weighting coefficient for each registry proportional to the population size of the region which the registry represents. RESULTS: We pooled a total of 24,428 cancers (14,581 males, 9,847 females). AAIRs per 100 000 were: 210.1 in men and 129.4 in women for all cancer sites excluding non-melanoma skin cancer. The AAIR per 100 000 men was highest for lung cancer (60.3) followed by prostate (22.8), bladder (19.6), stomach (16.3) and colo-rectal (15.4) cancers. Among women the rate per 100 000 was highest for breast cancer (33.7) followed by colorectal (11.5), stomach (8.8), thyroid (8.8) and lung (7.7). The most striking findings about the cancer incidence in the provinces were the high incidence rates for stomach and esophageal cancers in Erzurum and high stomach cancer incidence rates in Trabzon for both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: We are thus able to present the most accurate and realistic estimations for cancer incidence in Turkey so far. Lung, prostate, bladder, stomach, colorectal, larynx cancers in men and breast, colorectal, stomach, thyroid, lung, corpus uteri cancers in women are the leading cancers respectively. This figure shows us tobacco related cancers, lung, bladder and larynx, predominate in men. Concurrently, we analyzed the data for each province separately, giving us the opportunity to present the differences in cancer patterns among provinces. The high incidences of stomach and esophageal cancers in East and high incidence of stomach cancer in Northeast regions are remarkable.

Musical hallucinations and Parkinson disease.

INTRODUCTION: Musical hallucinations are complex auditory hallucinations. The term covers the clinical phenomenon of hearing tunes and melodies that are uncontrollable and not related to external stimuli. Musical hallucinations may be experienced in a variety of conditions including diseases of the ear and neurologic, psychiatric, infectious, and toxic states. When the underlying pathology resolves, musical hallucinations tend to disappear. CASE REPORT: We present an elderly man with musical hallucinations and without any conditions known to be related with its occurrence, except for Parkinson disease. CONCLUSION: Musical hallucinations in the elderly occur predominantly in women with a hearing impairment. Parkinson disease is usually accompanied by visual hallucinations. Auditory hallucinations are rare in Parkinson disease and most of them are accompanied by visual hallucinations. Isolated auditory hallucinations are rarer in Parkinson disease and mostly consist of human voices.

Intravenous theophylline decreases post-dural puncture headaches.

Post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) is a common complication of lumbar puncture. As invasive treatments for PDPH have known complications, pharmacologic management may be preferable. The aim of this study was to evaluate and to compare the efficacy of intravenous theophylline treatment for PDPH, in comparison with a placebo. We found that intravenous theophylline infusion was effective for decreasing the painfulness of PDPH compared with the control group. The mean visual analogue scale (VAS) value was 7.05+/-1.47 before the theophylline infusion and 2.88+/-2.31 after infusion. An average of 59.1% relief of pain was obtained in the group treated with theophylline infusion. The improvement in VAS in the study group was significant (p < 0.001), whereas that in the control group was not (p = 0.15). The mean VAS decrease after theophylline infusion was 4.17+/-2.03 in the study group and 0.41+/-0.71 in the control group; the difference in improvement between the groups was significant (p < 0.001). Intravenous theophylline infusion is an easy, rapid, minimally invasive, an effective treatment for PDPH. It may be attempted in PDPH patients before invasive techniques are used. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the effect of intravenous infusion of theophylline compared with a placebo in the treatment of PDPH.

Leukoaraiosis in stroke patients.

Pathogenesis of leukoaraiosis (LA) is not clearly understood and its significance in patients with stroke remains undetermined. In the Neurology Department of Ankara Hospital, computed tomography (CT) examination of brain was performed for various reasons in 288 patients. LA was detected in 178 patients by the use of brain CT. Patients with LA had a higher incidence of hypertension history (70.8%) when compared with the non-LA group (57.3%; p <.05). There was no statistically significant difference in terms of sex, mean age, smoking, diabetes mellitus, history of cerebrovascular disease, cardiac failure, ischemic cardiac disease between patients with and without LA. We showed that LA is related to hypertension but not related to age, diabetes mellitus, or cardiac disease in our patient population.