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Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is an integral component of T4 breast cancer (BCa) treatment. We compared response to NAC for T4 BCa in the U.S. and Nigeria to direct future interventions., Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional retrospective analysis included all patients with non-metastatic T4 BCa treated from 2010 to 2016 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, New York) and Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (Ile Ife, Nigeria). Pathologic complete response (pCR) and survival were compared and factors contributing to disparities evaluated., Results: Three hundred and eight patients met inclusion criteria: 157 (51%) in the U.S. and 151 (49%) in Nigeria. All U.S. patients received NAC and surgery compared with 93 (62%) Nigerian patients. Fifty-six out of ninety-three (60%) Nigerian patients completed their prescribed course of NAC. In Nigeria, older age and higher socioeconomic status were associated with treatment receipt. Fewer patients in Nigeria had immunohistochemistry performed (100% U.S. vs. 18% Nigeria). Of those with available receptor subtype, 18% (28/157) of U.S. patients were triple negative versus 39% (9/23) of Nigerian patients. Overall pCR was seen in 27% (42/155) of U.S. patients and 5% (4/76) of Nigerian patients. Five-year survival was significantly shorter in Nigeria versus the U.S. (61% vs. 72%). However, among the subset of patients who received multimodality therapy, including NAC and surgery with curative intent, 5-year survival (67% vs. 72%) and 5-year recurrence-free survival (48% vs. 61%) did not significantly differ between countries., Conclusion: Addressing health system, socioeconomic, and psychosocial barriers is necessary for administration of complete NAC to improve BCa outcomes in Nigeria., Implications for Practice: This cross-sectional retrospective analysis of patients with T4 breast cancer in Nigeria and the U.S. found a significant difference in pathologic complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (5% Nigeria vs. 27% U.S.). Five-year survival was shorter in Nigeria, but in patients receiving multimodality treatment, including neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery with curative intent, 5-year overall and recurrence-free survival did not differ between countries. Capacity-building efforts in Nigeria should focus on access to pathology services to direct systemic therapy and promoting receipt of complete chemotherapy to improve outcomes., (© 2021 AlphaMed Press.)

Introduction: Kidney length has traditionally been used as a predictor of chronic kidney disease (CKD); however, kidney volume (KV) rather than length has been emphasized by researchers as a true predictor of kidney size in states of good health and disease. Since KV can be assumed to be a predictor of kidney mass or remaining surviving nephrons in CKD patients, we theorized that the KV should reflect the functional capacity of the kidneys, i.e. the glomerular filtration rate (GFR)., Methodology: Forty CKD patients were recruited and investigated. Measured GFR was determined by calculating the average of endogenous creatinine clearance (mCrCl) and urea clearance (mUrCl) while predicted GFR was determined using Cockcroft and Gault, Hull and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equations. KV was assessed ultrasonographically using the formulae of Dinkel et al. and Solvig et al. for ellipsoid organ. The relationship between the KV and GFR was assessed using Spearman's correlation coefficient while Bland and Altman tests were used to assess intraobserver variation and agreement between measured and predicted GFR., Results: The results showed a weak but positive correlation between KV and various indices of GFR, best with measured CrCl (correlation coefficient ranged between 0.408 and 0.503; P < 0.05), and which was not improved after normalization for body surface area (BSA). We also found a significant correlation between the measured CrCl and various values of estimated CrCl., Conclusion: Ultrasonographically determined KV was found to correlate with GFR and hence can be used to predict it in established CKD, particularly in resource-poor settings.