Background: Treatment of anemia is an important issue in the palliative care setting. Blood transfusion is generally used for this purpose in supportive care. However the place of blood transfusion in terminally ill cancer cases is less far established. Objective: We aimed to outline the use of transfusions and to find the impact of blood transfusion on survival in patients with advanced cancer and very near to death. Design: Patients dying in 2010-2011 with advanced cancer were included in the study. We retrospectively collected the data including age, type of cancer, the duration of last hospitalisation, ECOG performance status, Hb levels, transfusion history of erythrocytes and platelets, cause and the amount of transfusion. The anaemic patients who had transfusion at admission were compared with the group who were not transfused. Survival was defined as the time between the admission of last hospitalisation period and death. Results: Three hundred and ninety eight people with solid tumours died in 2010-2011 in our clinic. Ninety percent of the patients had anemia at the time of last hospitalisation. One hundred fifty three patients had erythrocyte transfusion at admission during the last hospitalisation period (38.4%). In the anaemic population the duration of last hospitalisation was longer in patients who had erythrocyte transfusion (15 days vs 8 days, p<0.001). Conclusions: Patients who had blood transfusion at the end of life lived significantly longer than the anaemic patients who were not transfused. This study remarks that blood transfusions should not be withheld from terminal cancer patients in palliative care.

Abstract. Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide and the second cause of cancer-related mortality. A total of 20-30% of patients with early-stage breast cancer develop recurrence within the first 5 years following diagnosis. Trastuzumab significantly improves overall survival and disease-free survival (DFS) in women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive early and locally advanced breast cancer. This study aimed to determine the factors that affect DFS following adjuvant transtuzumab therapy. A total of 62 patients treated with trastuzumab for early and locally advanced breast cancer were included in our study. Data, including pathology, treatment and treatment outcome, rate of recurrence and laboratory tests, were retrospectively collected. There was no significant association between DFS and age, menopausal status, disease stage and hormone receptor status. The median follow-up was 48.4 months. The median DFS of patients treated with adjuvant trastuzumab was 64.1 months. In addition, the median DFS was 44.3 vs. 66.8 months in patients with platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) ≤200 vs. >200, respectively (log-rank test; P=0.001), and 70 vs. 45 months in patients with eosinophil count ≤70 vs. >70x10 3 ̸mm 3 (log-rank test; P=0.001). Our data revealed the prognostic relevance of a decrease in the peripheral blood eosinophil count and PLR value following trastuzumab therapy in breast cancer. PLR and eosinophil count measurements are cost-effective, readily available worldwide, non-invasive and safe. Combined with other markers, such as patient age, tumor stage and tumor histology, may be effectively used for patients with breast cancer.

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 15 (16), 6665-6668 IntroductionBreast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women and it is the second leading cause of cancer death around the world (Ferlay et al., 2010;DeSantis et al., 2011). Breast cancer in women under 40 years is not a common condition. However, prevalence of breast cancer in pre-menopausal women has been increasing in several countries over the last years (Cardoso et al., 2012;Keramatinia et al., 2014). Around 6.6% of all breast cancer cases are diagnosed in women less than age 40, 2.4%of women less than 35, and 0.65% in women less than 30 (Anders et al., 2009;Fredholm et al., 2009

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Our results showed that in patients with GC, PDW, one of the standard parameters measured in a complete blood count, is a predictor of metastasis. Therefore, the PDW may be an important consideration in the surgical and chemotherapeutic treatment planning of patients with GC. Treatment strategies should also take into account lymphocyte and platelet levels, both of which were shown to be significantly related to survival.