High body-mass index is not associated with worse clinicopathological characteristics in predominantly obese breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women. A high body-mass index (BMI) is related to increased incidence of BC with poorer prognosis. AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the association in patients with BC between BMI at the time of diagnosis and biological characteristics, according to the menopausal status. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study comprised a total of 318 women with BC. Clinicopathological differences between normal, overweight and obese patients according to menopausal status were evaluated. RESULTS: Premenopausal women had a significantly lower BMI than postmenopausal patients (28.7 vs. 31.5, respectively; p = 0.00001). No statistically significant association was determined between BMI and clinicopathological characteristics in either the premenopausal or the postmenopausal group (all p values are > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There are many conflicting results in literature on this relationship. The results of this study showed that a high BMI is not associated with worse clinicopathological characteristics in a predominantly obese population. In current medical oncology practice, BC should be evaluated on an individual patient basis and the impact of obesity on BC prognosis seems to be difficult to estimate especially in an obese population.

Primary testicular lymphoma: a single centre experience.

AIM: Primary testicular lymphoma (PTL) is an uncommon and aggressive form of extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). We aimed to analyse the clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of our PTL cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A review was made of the medical records of 339 NHL patients who were treated in the Medical Oncology Department between January 2005 and December 2013. RESULTS: 8 PTL patients were identified from the 339 NHL patients. The average age of the patients was 67.7 ± 7.9 years (range 53-79 years). The mean follow-up time was 24.8 months (range 7-98 months). Inguinal orchiectomy was performed as a diagnostic and initial therapy and all the patients underwent 4-6 cycles of chemoimmunotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone plus rituximab. 4 of 8 patients received intrathecal prophylactic chemotherapy and 6 of 8 patients continued contralateral testis irradiation. Relapse occured in only 1 patient in central nervous system after 6 months who had not received intrathecal prophylaxis. No contralateral testis relapse was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Primary testicular NHL is an uncommon entity and we evaluated 8 patients; with one relapse in central nervous system and no relapse in the contralateral testis.

Single dose regorafenib-induced hypertensive crisis.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are uncommon tumors of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Regorafenib is a new multikinase inhibitor and is approved for the treatment of GISTs in patients who develop resistance to imatinib and sunitinib. The most common drug-related adverse events with regorafenib are hypertension, hand-foot skin reactions, and diarrhea. Grade IV hypertensive side effect has never been reported after a single dose. In this report, we present a case of Grade IV hypertensive side effect (hypertensive crisis and seizure) after a single dose of regorafenib. A 54-year-old male normotensive GIST patient was admitted to the emergency department with seizure and encephalopathy after the first dosage of regorafenib. His blood pressure was 240/140 mmHg upon admission. After intensive treatment with nitrate and nitroprusside, his blood pressure returned to normal levels in five days. Regorafenib was discontinued, and he did not experience hypertension again. This paper reports the first case of Grade IV hypertension after the first dosage of regorafenib. We can suggest that hypertension is an idiosyncratic side effect unrelated to the dosage.