Cyclin-dependent 4/6 is a vital resistance pathway as it has a targetable treatment. According to the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines, as an expert opinion, primary endocrine ...resistance is defined as relapse while on the first 2 years of adjuvant endocrine treatment (ET), or progressive disease (PD) within first 6 months of first-line ET for advanced breast cancer (ABC), while on ET. This definition is based on endocrine monotherapy used in the adjuvant and metastatic process. It is obvious that the concept of primary endocrine resistance defined by ESMO for adjuvant is still applicable. However, the concept of primary endocrine resistance defined for metastatic disease is no longer viable. We think that a new concept such as “primary ET + CDK 4/6 resistance” should be defined. Because the progression-free survival achieved with monotherapies in metastatic disease does not exceed 12 months, this period has reached 27 months with ET + CDK 4/6 inhibitors. We think that the 6 months defined for primary endocrine resistance in patients with ABC during endocrine monotherapy is too short for patients receiving ET + CDK 4/6 inhibitor. Therefore, the concept of novel primary ET + CDK 4/6 inhibitor resistance should be created to be used in patients with ABC. The concept of ET + CDK 4/6 inhibitor resistance to be defined may be used in the stratification of clinical trials aimed at determining subsequent treatments in patients who progressed under ET + CDK 4/6 inhibitor.
Purpose
COVID-19 will continue to disrupt the diagnosis-treatment process of cancer patients. Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Hospital has been considered as a ‘non-pandemic’ center (‘
...clean
’) in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. The other state hospitals that also take care of cancer patients in Ankara were defined as ‘
pandemic
’ centers. This study aimed to evaluate hospital admission changes and the precautionary measures in
clean
and
pandemic
centers during the pandemic. The effect of these measures and changes on COVID-19 spreading among cancer patients was also evaluated.
Methods
The patients admitted to the medical oncology follow-up, new diagnosis, or chemotherapy (CT) outpatient clinics during the first quarter of pandemic period (March 15–June 1, 2020) of each center were determined and compared with the admissions of the same frame of previous year (March 15–June 1, 2019). COVID-19 PCR test results in clean and pandemic centers were compared with each other. Telemedicine was preffered in the clean hospital to keep on follow-up of the cancer patients as ‘noninfected’.
Results
In the
clean
hospital, COVID-19-infected patients that needed to be hospitalized were referred to pandemic hospitals. COVID-19 test positivity rate was eight-fold higher for outpatient clinic admissions in pandemic hospitals (
p
< 0.001). The number of patients admitted new diagnosis outpatient clinics in both clean and pandemic hospitals decreased significantly during the pandemic compared with the previous year.
Conclusion
We consider that local strategic modifications and defining ‘
clean
’ hospital model during infectious pandemic may contribute to protect and treat cancer patients during pandemic.
Introduction
Cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) inhibitors are the new generation drugs that have been started to be used in our clinical practice recently. These drugs have been shown to have ...better progression-free survival compared to standard therapy in patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2)-negative breast cancer. The most common side effects of CDK 4-6 inhibitors are neutropenia, nausea, leukopenia, fatigue, and diarrhea. This case demonstrated vortex keratopathy in both eyes, a rare condition in patients with breast cancer treated with ribociclib.
Case report
A 68-year-old female patient was diagnosed with locally advanced HR (+)/HER2 (−) breast cancer in March 2015. In June 2021, bone metastases were detected. The patient was started on ribociclib and fulvestrant. After three cycles of ribociclib and fulvestrant treatment, she was admitted with the complaint of blurred vision in her left eye. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy examination revealed subepithelial haze with central subepithelial whorls in both corneas, more in the left eye, and also a mild punctate epithelial staining was observed with the application of fluorescein dye.
Management and outcome
Ribociclib treatment was immediately discontinued and no changes were observed in the cornea and vision levels during the one-month follow-up.
Discussion
Routine and regular follow-up eye examinations in breast cancer patients treated with ribociclib may benefit patients in our daily clinical practice and may help us to detect side effects at an early stage and to manage them more effectively.
Purpose
To investigate the clinical outcomes of patients with hyponatremia who received supportive treatment or tolvaptan plus supportive treatment and the effects of treatment and other variables on ...overall survival
Methods
This study included oncology patients who were hospitalized at two oncology centers between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2019 for hyponatremia (sodium levels < 135 mEq/L) and who received tolvaptan plus supportive treatment (
n
= 22) or supportive treatment only (
n
= 42).
Results
The median age of all the patients was 59 years (range 26–85) and 64.1% of the patients were male. There was no statistically significant difference between patients in the tolvaptan plus supportive treatment (TpST) group and the supportive treatment only (ST) group in terms of gender and age (
p
> 0.05). In the TpST group, recovery days of the hyponatremia after treatment and the length of hospital stay was shorter and hyponatremia symptoms and hospital complications were less frequent compared to the ST group (
p
< 0.05). There was no significant difference between the TpST group and the ST group in terms of overall survival (OS). OS was shorter in men who were non-responders to hyponatremia treatment and had recurrent hyponatremia. Multivariable analysis showed that normal sodium levels after treatment decreased the risk of death.
Conclusion
In the treatment of hyponatremia in cancer patients, TpST was found to have more positive effects on blood sodium levels, length of hospital stay, hospital complications, and hyponatremia symptoms compared to ST. A decreased risk of death was observed in patients with normal sodium levels after treatment.
BackgroundDepression, anxiety, or both are common in women with early-stage breast cancer (BC). A relationship is known between low perceived social support (PSS) and depression. We aimed to ...investigate the relationships between alexithymia, PSS, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score in patients diagnosed with early-stage BC.Materials and methodsA demographic and medical information form, BDI, the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Multidimensional Scale of PSS (MSPSS) were given to 200 early-stage BC patients to respond. Two subgroups were created as group A (BDI score < 17) and group B (BDI score ≥ 17) and compared in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, TAS-20, and MSPSS scores.ResultsTwenty-six (18.1%), 48 (33.3%), and 26 (18.1%) patients were with high BDI scores, in low PSS status, and alexithymic, respectively. The median ages of the participants in group A and group B were 53.4 (interquartile range (IQR): 46-60.7) and 46 (IQR: 41.5-59) years, respectively (p = 0.083). The rates of single participants (26.9% versus 11%, p = 0.055), alexithymic participants (42.3% versus 12.7%, p = 0.001), low PSS levels (57.7% versus 28%, p = 0.018), psychiatric treatment history (46.2% versus 22%, p = 0.025), and patients with low income (57.7% versus 22.9%, p = 0.001) were higher in group B than in group A. In the multivariate regression model that contains the parameters mentioned above, psychiatric treatment history (odds ratio (OR): 2.758, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.034-7.356, p = 0.043), low-income status (OR: 3.503, 95% CI: 1.336-9.182, p = 0.011), and alexithymia (OR: 3.482, 95% CI: 1.229-9.867, p = 0.019) were independent predictive factors for a high BDI.ConclusionAlexithymia and low PSS are significantly common in patients with prominent depressive symptoms in early-stage BC patients. Alexithymia may be associated with depression and may also have a role in depression pathogenesis in early-stage BC patients. New studies are needed to investigate whether there is a causal relationship between alexithymia and depression.
Cigarette smoking is a primary risk factor, linked to 80% of LC deaths. TP53, a key gene, is implicated in various cancers, with TP53 alterations in 36.7% of cancers. This research aims to ...investigate TP53 mutations detected in NSCLC patients by liquid biopsy and explore the relationship between these mutations and smoking history.
The study enrolled a total of 340 patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). For sequencing, the Illumina NextSeq 500 system was utilized. The oncogenicity of the variants was assessed according to the ClinGen/CGC/VICC SOP and the variants were categorized into four tiers according to AMP/ASCO/CAP.
The most common mutations were in TP53 (48.7%), followed by EGFR, PIK3CA, and PTEN. Missense mutations were frequent, with TP53 and EGFR having higher rates in ever-smokers. No indels or complex mutations were found in ever-smokers. Patient age ranged from 20 to 86 years. Tier I-II variants were more common in ever-smokers, while Tier III variants were prevalent in never-smokers. TP53 mutations were more frequent in ever-smokers, showing a strong association with smoking. Domain distribution showed differences in PIK3CA. Transversion/transition ratios varied by gene and smoking status.
The presence of TP53 mutations is strongly associated with both cigarette smoking and elevated Tv/Ti ratios. The tier status of TP53, EGFR, and PTEN variants does not show a specific domain distribution, but interesting associations are observed between the tier status and domain distribution in PIK3CA variants. Therefore, further comprehensive investigations are needed to explore this entity, as well as the underlying factors contributing to the increased Tv/Ti rates in the TP53 gene. Such research will provide deeper insights into the genetic alterations associated with smoking and tumor heterogeneity, ultimately aiding in the development of targeted therapies.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) in cases with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) in different lines of treatment.
Retrospective analysis of ...T-DM1 results of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2) positive 414 cases with mBC from 31 centers in Turkey.
Except 2, all of the cases were female with a median age of 47. T-DM1 had been used as second-line therapy in 37.7% of the cases and the median number of T-DM1 cycles was 9. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) times were different according to the line of treatment. The median OS was found as 43, 41, 46, 23 and 17 months for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th line, respectively (p = 0.032) while the median PFS was found as 37, 12, 8, 8 and 8 months, respectively (p = 0.0001). Treatment was well tolerated by the patients. The most common grade 3-4 adverse effects were thrombocytopenia (2.7%) and increased serum gamma-glutamyl transferase (2%).
The best of our knowledge this is the largest real-life experience about the safety and efficacy of T-DM1 use in cases with mBC after progression of Her2 targeted treatment. This study suggests and supports that T-DM1 is more effective in earlier lines of treatment and is a reliable option for mBC.
Hidradenitis suppurativa, known as acne inversa, is a relapsing and chronic inflammatory skin disease affecting the skin folds. During the chronic course of the disease many local complications like ...fistulae to other tissues or systemic complications including anemia, secondary amyloidosis, lymphedema, nephrotic syndrome, artropathy may take place. Amyloid A amyloidosis is a rare complication of hidradenitis suppurativa, which has been described in a limited number of case reports. Herein, we present such a patient that had developed AA amyloidosis during the course of hidradenitis suppurativa. Both AA amyloidosis and hidradenitis suppurativa have responded to infliximab therapy which was shown by clinical recovery and by the improvement in renal functions.
Introduction: Tamoxifen treatment has been shown to reduce the recurrence and mortality rates in hormone receptor-positive breast cancers independent from chemotherapy. This benefit increases with ...the prolongation of the use of tamoxifen but with increasing side effects. In this study, we aim to evaluate the presence of urogenital symptoms in breast cancer patients on tamoxifen and compare them with those who are not on any hormonotherapy.Materials and methods: This study was performed on patients diagnosed as early-stage breast cancer. The study group consisted of hormone receptor-positive patients given tamoxifen as adjuvant hormonal therapy. The control group consisted of breast cancer patients who had no hormonotherapy. Patients with a complaint of urinary incontinence with onset after tamoxifen usage were evaluated with Urogenital Distress Inventory Short Form (UDI-6), Incontinence Impact Questionnaire Short Form (IIQ-7) and Incontinence Quality of Life Questionnaire (I-QOL).Results: A total of 137 early-stage breast cancer patients were included in this study; 74 estrogen receptor-positive patients on tamoxifen therapy (study group) and 63 hormone receptor-negative patients with no hormonotherapy (control group). The median age was 44 (30-65) years for tamoxifen users and 49 (27-64) years for the control group. The stages of the patients were similar for both groups. 78.4% of the women in the tamoxifen group and 49.2% in the control group were in the premenopausal period. The groups were similar in regard to body mass index and parity. The complaint of urinary incontinence was more frequent in the study group compared to controls (39 (52.7%) vs. 5 (7.9%)). Women with the complaint of urinary incontinence were evaluated with self-reported UDI-6, IIQ-7 and I-QOL forms and the scores were similar for both study and control groups. A statistically significant relation was observed between cigarette smoking and the presence of urinary incontinence. The percentages of smokers were 50% of those with incontinence and 24.7% of those without incontinence.Conclusion: Urinary incontinence is positively correlated with tamoxifen usage in early-stage breast cancer patients.
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