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OBJECTIVE: We have conducted this study to evaluate clinical and laboratory findings and to gather and evaluate information that would be useful in clinical practice, such as demographics, joint involvement patterns, laboratory anomalies, treatments applied, and responses obtained in patients diagnosed with gout. METHODS: In our study, the demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of 94 patients diagnosed with gout were evaluated. The patients were re-evaluated with regard to their clinical and laboratory findings at the end of the 1st and 3rd months, their responses to the treatment were observed, and where necessary, new treatment adjustments were made. RESULTS: Seventy-nine (84%) of the patients were men, and 15 (16%) were women. The ages of the patients ranged between 22 and 86 years with the average age being 57.5 years. The joint involvement during a gouty arthritis attack was most frequently observed in the 1st metatarsophalangeal joint (87.2%), followed by the ankle joint (26.9%), and the knee joint (23.7%). The joint involvement pattern was evaluated to reveal that the acute monoarticular arthritis was observed in 87 patients (93.5%), followed by acute oligoarticular arthritis coming in second in terms of frequency (26.9%). An average attack was determined to last 10.7 days, and the average number of attacks in a year was 2.69. In our study, the colchicine treatment in 24 of our patients, in whom it was determined during the admission and follow-up process that they have not had gouty arthritis attack in the past 3 months, was stopped. Five (20.8%) patients whose colchicine treatment was stopped later developed gouty arthritis attacks, and the colchicine treatment was restarted. On the other hand, 10 out of 38 patients (26.3%), who have either been continuing or had never been on colchicine treatment, were observed to experience a gouty arthritis attack during their 1st and 3rd month check-ups. CONCLUSION: In patients with gout, it is recommended that the related diseases, as well as the triggering factors (alcohol, drug use, and dietary effect), be determined, the necessary lifestyle changes be made, and the treatments started.
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BACKGROUND: Increasing amounts of evidence suggest patient-related systemic inflammatory response (SIR) as a powerful prognostic factor in cancer and applicability of SIR as a prognostic factor has been investigated. AIM: To evaluate the prognostic significance of SIR, which is among routinely analysed blood parameters in patients with all stages of gastric cancer (GC). METHODS: A total of 245 patients with gastric cancer who were followed up and treated in four clinics of medical oncology were included in the study. At first admission of the patients, from routinely determined whole blood cell counts in medical oncology clinics, their neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) values were estimated and recorded before initiating chemo- or radiotherapy. A univariate non-parametric analytical method and chi-square test examined the correlation between prognostic factors, and survival rates. Survival curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Sixty-eight (27.8%) female and 177 (72.2) male patients (total n=245) were included in the study. When NLR was used as an indicator of SIR, 108 (44.1%) patients were SIR negative and 137 (55.9%) patients were SIR positive. When PLR was used as an indicator of SIR, SIR negativity and positivity were detected in 93(38%) and 152 (62%) patients, respectively. A statistically significant correlation was found between status of lymph node metastasis, stage of the disease and NLR (P=0.001, P=0.017). SIR determined with PLR was found to be correlated with the depth of tumor invasion and stage of the disease (P=0.016, P=0.033). A significant correlation was not detected between PLR and survival (P=0.405). CONCLUSION: According to our study, parameters of NLR and PLR calculated preoperatively from peripheral blood samples can be used in patients with various sizes of tumours in different disease stages. Still based on our results, NLR calculated during diagnostic workup is a parameter with a prognostic value. In addition, NLR is a determinative factor in the selection of surgical method and chemotherapeutic modalities, which also functions as a potential contributory marker in effective immunotherapeutic strategies.
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PURPOSE: We aimed to study the inflammatory parameters of complete blood count in breast cancer cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study covered 178 breast cancer patients and 107 age and body mass index matched healthy women. Complete blood count parameters, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/ lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and MPV/platelet were analyzed. RESULTS: The leukocyte, neutrophil and neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio were higher in the patient group (p values 0.001, 0.0001 and 0.0001, respectively) while haemoglobin and hematocrit were higher in the control group (p=0.0001 for both). Logistic regression analysis showed that elevated neutrophils and platelet distribution width (PDW) (OR: 0.627, 95%CI: 0.508-0.774, p=0.001 and OR: 1.191 95%CI: 1.057-1.342 p=0.003) were independent variables for predicting breast cancer. The cut- off value for the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was 2.56. CONCLUSIONS: According to our study results, neutrophil levels as part of complete blood count may be used as an independent predictor of breast cancer risk.
