Sukran Ulger

Estimating Radiation Therapy Toxicity and Tolerability with Comprehensive Assessment Parameters in Geriatric Cancer Patients

Cancer prevalance and incidence is increasing with aging of populations and age is a critical factor in decision-making for anti-cancer treatment. However it is believed that chronological age is not enough to guide management in elderly cancer patients. Multidisciplinary evaluation and comprehensive geriatric assessment has gained importance regarding the treatment selection especially for definitive anti-cancer therapy recently. We here aimed to analyse the effect of the comprehensive geriatric assessment parameters on radiotherapy toxicity and tolerability in a series of geriatric cancer patients in Turkey.

Impact of adjuvant treatment modalities on survival outcomes in curatively resected pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND We examined the impact of adjuvant modalities on resected pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma (PAC). METHODS A total of 563 patients who were curatively resected for PAC were retrospectively analyzed between 2003 and 2013. RESULTS Of 563 patients, 472 received adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) alone, chemoradiotherapy (CRT) alone, and chemoradiotherapy plus chemotherapy (CRT-CT) were analyzed. Of the 472 patients, 231 were given CRT-CT, 26 were given CRT, and 215 were given CT. The median recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were 12 and 19 months, respectively. When CT and CRT-CT groups were compared, there was no significant difference with respect to both RFS and OS, and also there was no difference in RFS and OS among CRT-CT, CT and CRT groups. To further investigate the impact of radiation on subgroups, patients were stratified according to lymph node status and resection margins. In node-positive patients, both RFS and OS were significantly longer in CRT-CT than CT. In contrast, there was no significant difference between groups when patients with node-negative disease or patients with or without positive surgical margins were considered. CONCLUSIONS Addition of radiation to CT has a survival benefit in patients with node-positive disease following pancreatic resection.

Circulating gelatinases are not prognostic of treatment response and survival in locally advanced rectal cancer patients undergoing preoperative chemoradiotherapy

Purpose: To investigate whether the serum levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are predictive on treatment response and survival in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients undergoing preoperative chemoradiotherapy. Patients and Methods: Serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and obtained before, midway, and 1-month after the end of preoperative radiotherapy treatment. The prognostic significance of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 levels and their association with other pathological findings for LARC patients were evaluated. Results: Serum levels of MMP-2 or MMP-9 were found to decrease with increasing clinical stage and negative correlation was statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in tumor response and survival between the low and high MMP-2 and MMP-9 groups. MMP-2 and MMP-9 were not correlated with local-regional recurrence. Conclusions: We propose that serum levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 are not predictive on treatment response and survival in LARC patients.

Radical Oncological Surgery and Adjuvan Therapy in Non- Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients over 70 years of Age.

BACKGROUND The incidence of lung cancer increases with age. Approximately 50% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients are over 70 years old. Because of the increasing elderly population, treatment approaches in this age group continue to be studied similar to groups of young people. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the current study, 26 patients who underwent radical surgery and adjuvan chemoradiation at Ataturk Chest Diseases and Chest Surgery Training and Research Hospital were evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS Of 21 patients (81%) were male and the average age was 74.4. Lobectomy was performed in 18 cases, pneumonectomy in 3, sleeve lobectomy in 3 and bilobectomy in 2. There was no perioperative or early period mortality. Overall survival was 24.5 months. CONCLUSIONS From our study, lung cancer surgery and adjuvant therapy can be performed safely with low morbidity in the elderly.

Role of triamcinolone in radiation enteritis management.

AIM To investigate the role of triamcinolone in the management of acute and chronic enteritis caused by pelvic radiotherapy. METHODS Twenty-eight patients with rectum adenocarcinoma or endometrium adenocarcinoma were studied. We compared the results of 14 patients treated with injected triamcinolone acetonide (TA) with those of 14 patients who were not treated with TA. For the TA group, 40 mg of TA was injected intramuscularly on the 1(st), 11(th) and 21(st) d of radiotherapy; the control group received no injections. All of the study participants had a median age of 65 years, had undergone postoperative radiotherapy and were evaluated weekly using Radiation Therapy Oncology Group and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Acute Morbidity Score Criteria, and complete blood counts for every 10 d. RESULTS Triamcinolone was found to effectively prevent and treat radiation-induced acute gastrointestinal (enteritis) and genitourinary (cystitis) side effects (P = 0.022 and P = 0.023). For the lower GI side effect follow up, 11 patients in the control group had Grade 2 toxicity and 3 patients had Grade 1 toxicity. In the TA group, 5 patients had Grade 2 toxicity and 9 patients had Grade 1 toxicity. For the genitourinary system side effect follow up, 4 patients had Grade 2 toxicity and 6 patients had Grade 1 toxicity. Additionally, 2 patients had Grade 2 toxicity and 2 patients had Grade 1 toxicity. The neutrophil counts did not differ between the TA group and the control group. There was no meaningful difference between age groups and primary cancers. At the 12th mo of follow up, there were no differences between groups for chronic side effects. CONCLUSION Triamcinolone is a moderately potent steroid, that is inexpensive and has a good safety profile. It would be beneficial for reducing medical expenses related to treatment of radiation induced enteritis.

Impact of adjuvant treatment modalities on survival outcomes in curatively resected pancreatic and periampullary adenocarcinoma

ABSTRACT Aim: We examined impact of adjuvant treatment modalities in patients with curatively resected pancreatric adenocarcinoma (PAC). Methods: A total of 563 consecutive patients who were resected for PAC in 26 oncology centers were retrospectively analyzed between January 2003 and December 2013. Results: Of 563 patients, 472 received adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy alone (CT), chemoradiotherapy alone (CRT), and chemoradiotherapy with maintenance chemotherapy (CRT-CT) were analyzed. Of 472 patients, 231 were given CRT-CT, 26 were given CRT, and 215 were given CT. The median recurrence free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were 12 and 19 months, respectively. Survival rates at 1st, 3rd, and 5th years were 70%, 23% and 16%, respectively. When CT and CRT-CT groups were compared, there was no difference with respect to both RFS and OS, and also there was no difference in RFS and OS among CRT-CT, CT and CRT alone groups. To further investigate the impact of addition of radiation to chemotherapy on subgroups, patients were stratified according to lymph node status and resection margins, and then analyzed separately. When patients with positive lymph node disease were considered, both RFS (p = 0.004) and OS (p = 0.003) were significantly longer in CRT-CT group than CT group. In contrast, there was no difference between groups when patients with no metastatic lymph node disease or patients with or without positive surgical margins were considered. Conclusions: Although adjuvant chemotherapy is the standart treatment in curatively resected PAC, radiation should be a part of treatment at least in patients with positive lymph node disease. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.