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Treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has dramatically changed the life expectancy of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients. Although the impact of first-generation TKIs on quality of life (QoL) was shown in CML, the effects of new generic formulations of imatinib mesylate (IM) are unclear. We evaluated differences in QoL under treatment with first- or second-generation TKIs. Fifty-two patients diagnosed with CP-CML completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionaire-C30, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and General Health Questionnaire. General QoL scores were similar between groups. There was a significant difference in the frequency of diarrhoea between IM group and the group using new generic formulations of IM (P = 0.012). General QoL score tended to be higher in patients with disease duration longer than 3 years (P = 0.052). GHQ, anxiety and depression scores correlated positively with symptom scales and negatively with functional subscales.CML patients using new generic formulations of IM reported a higher frequency of diarrhoea than patients using original IM and second-generation TKIs that could result in more drug discontinuation.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common hepatic malignancies and the sixth most common cancer worldwide. Prognosis is affected by tumor stage, hepatic disfunction and patient performance. Albumin - bilirubin grade was developed to assess the hepatic function in patient with HCC. Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between albumin–bilirubin (ALBI) grade and survival in HCC patients receiving sorafenib. We also planned to investigate whether ALBI scores in advanced stage patients are prognostic and predictive. Patients and Methods: Patients presenting to the Karadeniz Technical University Medical Faculty Medical Oncology Clinic and diagnosed with HCC in 2010–2018 were included in the study. Fifty-six patients using sorafenib with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance scores of 0, 1, or 2, who had not previously received systemic therapy were enrolled. Results: Patients' median age was 64.8 years (range: 23–86), and 80.4% were men. The highest proportion of patients were infected with hepatitis B virus (46.4%), 37 patients were ECOG 1 (66.1%), and 40 were ALBI grade 2 (71.4%). The change occurring in ALBI scores after sorafenib therapy compared to pre-sorafenib values was found to affect progression-free survival. Prognosis was better in the group with decreasing ALBI scores than in the increasing score group (p: 0.028). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the change occurring in ALBI scores after sorafenib therapy compared to pre-sorafenib values was predictive of progression-free survival independently of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels. Conclusion: This study shows that ALBI grade affects survival independently of AFP, Hand–Foot Syndrome (HFS), and other prognostic factors. ALBI grading can be used as a prognostic parameter in patients using sorafenib.

Objectives: To investigate the prognostic significant of lymph node ratio and surgical margins in patients with colon cancer undergoing surgery. Methods: This observational and retrospective study was conducted at Karadeniz Technical University Medical Faculty, between 1 January, 2010 and 31 November, 2020. A series of 137 patients who had undergone surgical resection of colon carcinoma were included in this study. mLNR, defined as the ratio of the number of mLNs to the number of examined lymph nodes, was calculated in colorectal cancer cases with lymph node metastasis. Patients were divided into three groups; LNR1 (< 0.25), LNR2 (0.25-0.6) and LNR3 (> 0.6). Results: Mean disease-free survival was 79.2 months (95% CI 71.0-87.4). The mean expected survival time was 73.5 months (95% CI: 65.9-81.0). As the metastatic LN ratio increased, the rate of local recurrence or distant metastasis increased statistically significantly (p=0.007). As the metastatic LN ratio increased, the death rate increased statistically significantly (p=0.036). Metastatic lymph node ratio did not have a statistically significant effect on overall survival in patients with stage-3 and more than 12 LNs removed (p=0.069). There was no statistically significant association between the closeness of the surgical margin and disease-free survival in stage 1 (p=0.505) and stage-2 (p=0.161). There was no statistically significant association between the closeness of the surgical margin and overall survival among patients with stage 1 (p=0.494) and stage 2 (p=0.265). Conclusion: A high metastatic LNR is associated with poorer overall and disease-free survival. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.3.5085 How to cite this:Fidan E, Merev E, Usta A, Alandag C, Disli S, Ozdover A. The association between the lymph node ratio, surgical margin, and survival in patients with colon cancer receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(3):---------.  doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.3.5085 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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