Purpose Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the standard front-line treatment modality in locally advanced breast cancer. Achieving pathological complete response (pCR) is a significant prognostic factor for prolonged disease-free and overall survival. Insulin resistance is defined as a pathological condition in which insulin effect is impaired in peripheral target tissues such as the skeletal muscle, liver, and adipose tissue. The relationship between breast cancer and insulin resistance is controversial. In this study, our aim is to evaluate the role of insulin resistance, body mass index (BMI), metabolic syndrome, and inflammation markers to predict complete response in breast cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant treatment. Methods Data from 55 locally advanced non-diabetic breast cancer patients, treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy between 2015 and 2017, were retrospectively evaluated. Homeostatic model assessment, IR = insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated by using the obtained insulin and fasting blood glucose values before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (fasting insulin × fasting glucose/405). We considered a cut-off of 2.5 for insulin resistance. The systemic inflammatory index (SII), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were calculated. Results Twenty-five patients had no insulin resistance. The most common pathologic subtype (56%) was hormone receptor (HR) positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (Her-2)-negative invasive ductal carcinoma. Sixteen (29%) patients had a pathological complete response (pCR). We found that the probability of pCR in patients with insulin resistance was 4.7 times lower than that in patients without insulin resistance [OR: 4.7 (95%CI 1.7–17.2), p = 0.01]. Conclusion Our results revealed that insulin resistance may have a negative effect on pathological complete response (pCR) following neoadjuvant therapy particularly with hormone-positive and Her-2-negative cases of non-diabetic breast cancer.

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Background: To evaluate cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in outpatients receiving chemotherapy with cisplatin alone or in combination with other agents using a short hydration method. Methods: Forty-nine patients enrolled in the study were monitored during 3 cycles of chemotherapy. Cisplatin was given in 1000 mL of 0.9% NaCl solution for 90 min as an intravenous infusion. Renal parameters were evaluated before and after each chemotherapy cycle, and 6 weeks after the completion of treatment. Results: Blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, and cystatin C levels increased significantly during the 3 cycles of chemotherapy, whereas sodium and potassium levels decreased significantly. Magnesium and calcium levels decreased only during the second cycle of chemotherapy. Significant increases in uric acid level were observed during the 1st and 3rd cycles, and 6 weeks after the completion of treatment. Conclusions: The method used in our study shows minimal changes in renal functions. To effectively monitor nephrotoxicity, renal parameters and electrolyte levels should be measured before and after each cisplatin based chemotherapy cycle. More investigations are required to evaluate this method with higher doses of cisplatin.

Background Regional lymph node (LN) involvement in colorectal cancer (CRC) identifies the stage and the subset of patients who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. We performed a retrospective analysis to determine if the number of recovered LNs was associated with long-term outcome in patients operated on for stage II and III CRC. Patients and methods Hospital records of 179 patients with CRC followed in our unit from 1997 to April 2003 were reviewed. Results On average 11.68 ± 7.3 LNs were sampled per surgical specimen. Sampling of at least nine LNs appeared to be the minimum number required for accurately predicting LN involvement ( P = 0.002). Three-year rates of disease-free survival (DFS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and overall survival (OS) were lower in patients with fewer than nine LNs sampled ( P = 0.032, P = 0.006 and P = 0.04, respectively). However, this had no impact on the three-year distant metastasis-free survival rate (DMFS) ( P = 0.472). In stage II disease, patients with nine or more LNs dissected had significantly higher three year DFS and LRFS rates than the subgroup with fewer than nine LNs dissected ( P = 0.024 and P = 0.015, respectively), but this did not have any effect on DMFS or OS ( P = 0.406 and P = 0.353, respectively). Conclusion Current protocols provide adjuvant treatment in stage III patients; the problem is to correctly determine stage by recovering as many LNs as possible.