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Background/aim: Regorafenib is an oral multikinase inhibitor used in later lines for metastatic colorectal carcinoma (mCRC) treatment, but its efficacy and tolerability are low. To improve the response rates and ameliorate adverse effects, different strategies have been implemented. In our study, we examined the effect of statin usage in patients with mCRC treated with regorafenib., Patients and Methods: This single-center retrospective study included patients with mCRC who were treated with regorafenib between January 2015 and December 2023. The primary outcomes were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and the secondary outcomes were adverse effects and the tolerability of regorafenib., Results: The data of 105 patients were collected retrospectively. The median age of the patients was 66 years, and 60 patients were male. Seventeen patients (16.1%) were receiving statins. Statin-using patients were significantly older than non-users (72 years vs. 66.5 years, p=0.05). Comorbid diseases were more common in patients using statins. The median PFS was 1.9 months for statin users and 4.2 months for statin non-users (p<0.001), and the median OS was 4.7 vs. 6.7 months (p=0.01). Cox regression revealed that statin usage was significantly associated with a higher hazard ratio (HR) for PFS (2.53) and OS (2.06) (both p<0.01 and p=0.02, respectively)., Conclusion: Statins are associated with decreased survival and response rates in patients with mCRC treated with regorafenib. However, further studies are needed to confirm these results., (Copyright © 2024, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the demographic," clinicopathologic, and prognostic characteristics of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPeM), as well as the treatment options for the rare and heterogeneous MPeM population., Methods: A retrospective multi-center observational cohort study was conducted to evaluate patients with MPeM. Due to the heterogeneity of the study population, the study divided them into two main groups in terms of treatments, follow-up periods, and prognostic features. The first group comprised the patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), and the second group included the patients with metastatic disease for whom curative intent surgery was not possible. The patients' diagnostic procedures and treatments were identified from medical records. Patients older than 18 years old were included in the study regardless of asbestos exposure. Well-differentiated papillary and multicystic mesothelioma histologic types were not included in the study., Results: The study evaluated 118 patients from five centers. Survival times, prognosis, and treatment responses were analyzed in both groups. The study showed that CRS-HIPEC was associated with longer overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Perioperative therapy was evaluated in subgroup analyses of this population and shown to provide survival benefits. The patients treated with chemotherapy (metastatic and medically inoperable patients and those for whom complete cytoreduction was not achievable) had a poorer prognosis than the surgery group. The study showed that life expectancy decreased significantly for the patients not suitable to undergo surgery for any reason., Conclusions: According to data from experienced centers, CRS-HIPEC is a treatment option recognized as effective, cost-effective, and safe, with better OS and PFS , as well as low morbidity and mortality rates similar to those in the literature. In addition, the platinum-pemetrexed combination continues to be an effective and acceptable treatment option for metastatic patients, those who are medically inoperable, and those for whom complete or near-complete cytoreduction is not achievable., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Medical practitioners are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for easier and faster access to information. To our knowledge, the accuracy and availability of AI-generated chemotherapy protocols has not yet been studied. Methods: Nine simulated cancer patient cases were designed and AI chatbots, ChatGPT version 3.5 (OpenAI) and Bing (Microsoft), were used to generate chemotherapy protocols for each case. Results: Generated chemotherapy protocols were compared with the original protocols for nine simulated cancer patients. ChatGPT's overall performance was 5 out of 9 on protocol generation, and Bing's was 4 out of 9; this was statistically nonsignificant (p = 1). Conclusion: AI chatbots show both potential and limitations in generating chemotherapy protocols. The overall performance is low, and they should be used carefully in oncological practice.

Introduction: Angiotensin 2 has been shown to promote angiogenesis through multiple pathways. Reduction of angiotensin 2 production by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) could enhance the antiangiogenic effect of bevacizumab and lead to improved survival., Methods: Data from metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients treated with bevacizumab in our hospital were retrospectively collected. Patients were divided into groups taking ACEi or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) or neither. We performed survival analysis and COX proportional hazard modelling and calculated the hazard ratio (HR). Multivariate analyses were performed to measure the impact of factors affecting survival, and subgroup analyses were performed for patients younger than 65 years., Results: We enrolled 133 patients who received bevacizumab therapy. Eighty patients were male, and 53 were female. Twenty-three patients received ACEi treatment, and 34 patients received ARB. The median age was 58 years. Progression-free survival was higher in the ACEi group than in the ARB group or in the group receiving neither (7.66 vs. 5.98 vs. 5.0 months; p < 0.01), corresponding to a HR of 0.44 for the ACEi group (95% CI 0.26-0.74). Overall survival was not significantly longer in the ACEi group than in the ARB group or in the group receiving neither (22.0 vs. 23.5 vs. 19.7 months; p = 0.30), HR 0.66 (95% CI 0.38-1.2). In a subgroup analysis, overall survival was higher in patients younger than 65 years in the ACEi group (45.0 vs. 16.2 months; p = 0.02)., Conclusion: In the final analysis, ACEi use in patients treated with bevacizumab resulted in prolonged progression-free survival, but this did not affect overall survival. Because our study is the first to look at the enhancement of the effect of bevacizumab by ACEi treatment and ACEi receiving patients are older, it would be useful to confirm our results by randomized trials., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: In the adjuvant treatment of low-risk stage III colon cancer treated surgically, 3 months of CAPOX followed by 3 months of capecitabine is not a common clinical practice. Since there are no data on this practice in the literature, we have no idea how often it is used. However, it should be noted that this application is used in some centers due to the cumulative neurotoxicity of oxaliplatin but there are insufficient data in the literature on its efficacy., Methods: The data of patients with colon cancer treated surgically who were followed up in 12 different oncology centers in Turkey between November 2004 and June 2022 were analyzed retrospectively., Results: The study included 194 patients. The treatment arms were as follows: 3 months of CAPOX followed by 3 months of capecitabine = arm A and CAPOX/FOLFOX (6 months) = arm B. There were 78 patients (40.2%) in arm A and 116 patients (59.8%) in arm B. The median age and sex distribution were similar between the treatment arms. The median follow-up period of all patients was 34.4 months (95% confidence interval, 29.1-39.7). When arm A was compared with arm B, 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 75.3% versus 88.4% and 5-year DFS was 75.3% versus 82.8%, respectively. There were similar DFS outcomes between the treatment arms (p = 0.09). Rates of any grade of neuropathy were numerically lower in arm A, but the difference between the treatment arms was not statistically significant (51.3% vs. 56.9%; p = 0.44). The frequency of neutropenia was similar between the treatment arms., Conclusion: In this study, the efficacy and safety of the 3 months of CAPOX followed by 3 months of capecitabine chemotherapy regimen in the adjuvant treatment of low-risk stage III colon cancer treated surgically were proven. This result may also support the discontinuation of oxaliplatin at 3 months while continuing fluoropyrimidines, which is a common clinical practice but lacks sufficient data., (© 2023 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

The objective of this study was to assess the frequency of comorbidities and multimorbidities in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients under biologic therapy and their effects on biological disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) choice, timing, and response.Hacettepe University Biologic Registry (HUR-BIO) is single center biological DMARD registry. Cardiovascular, infectious, cancer, and other comorbidities were recorded with face to face interviews. Multimorbidity is defined as >1 comorbidity. Disease duration, initial date of biological DMARDs, initial and overall biological DMARD choice were recorded. Disease activity score-28 (DAS-28) responses were compared to comorbidity presence and multimorbidity.Total of 998 RA patients were enrolled into the study. The mean age was 53.1 (12.5) and mean disease duration (standard deviation [SD]) was 11.7 (7.5) years. At least 1 comorbidity was detected in 689 (69.1%) patients, 375 (37.9%) patients had multimorbidity. Patients had mean 1.36 ± 1.32 comorbidity. The median durations of first biological DMARDs prescription were 60 (3-552) months after RA diagnosis. For multimorbidity patients, the median first biological prescription duration was longer than the duration for patients without multimorbidity (72 [3-552] vs 60 [3-396] months, P < .001). The physicians prescribe tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) biological drugs less frequently than other biological DMARDs in patients with at least 1 comorbidity (66.2% vs 74.5%, P = .007) or multimorbidity (34.6% vs 43.5%, P = .006). Patients with comorbidities and multimorbidity achieved DAS-28 remission less frequently than patients without comorbidity (31.6% vs 42.6%, P = .012 and 27.2% vs 39.7%, P = .001, respectively).In real life, physicians may postpone to prescribe biological DMARDs and less frequently choose TNFi biological drugs in patients with multimorbidity. Furthermore, comorbidity may have a negative effect on the treatment response.