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Introduction: Elderly breast cancer patients are diagnosed with a higher stage of disease. They are also found to undergo less surgery, receive more frequently hormonal treatment and have decreased relative survival. The interest of this study was to examine the differences in treatment and survival between elderly versus young (>65 versus <65) patients in Louisiana., Methods: The SEER database was searched, and all cases of female breast cancer in the state of Louisiana between 2000 and 2008 were analyzed. Data were stratified by age group and year of occurrence. The SEER definitions for breast cancer, surgery, chemotherapy, elderly populations, young populations, radiation therapy and breast conservative surgery were applied., Results: The state prevalence of localized breast cancer is lower compared with the national rate (128.5 versus 144, P < 0.001). The rate of regional breast disease is much higher in Louisiana patients than national average rate (69.7 versus 57.9, P < 0.001). There is no difference in disseminated disease. The elderly group was offered less surgery compared with the young group (11.39% versus 6.68%, P < 0.005). The elderly group received more general radiation interventions than the young group (65.97% versus 53.86%, P < 0.005). Mortality rates for the elderly group were higher in Louisiana compared with the national average. This difference was more remarkable in the >85 age group (127.8 versus 118.5, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: Differences between young and elderly breast cancer patients were observed. Mortality is higher among elderly breast cancer patients in Louisiana compared with the national average. Further studies are needed to review these differences.

Background: Non-AIDS-defining cancers in HIV-infected patients in the highly active antiretroviral therapy era have increased. To our knowledge a comprehensive review of non-AIDS-related malignancies in New Orleans has not yet been conducted., Methods: Databases from main institutions in New Orleans were queried retrospectively for the years 2001 to 2011. The International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes were used to search for HIV infection and cancer comorbidity., Results: A total of 16 patients were diagnosed with lung cancer (mean age 50 years) with 81% of the patients presenting with advanced stages. In all, 20 (mean age 47 years) were diagnosed with anal cancer, and 35% presented in late stages. In all, 14 patients (mean age 42 years) were diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma, and 64% were diagnosed at late stage. A total of 5 women (mean age 44 years) were diagnosed with breast cancer with 40% of them presenting at late stage., Conclusion: Malignancies were diagnosed at late stages in the majority of the cases, presented with worse outcomes, and had higher recurrence rates. The role of HIV and other viruses (Epstein Barr virus, human papillomavirus) and the potential mechanisms or pathways of oncogene activation also need to be clarified.