Comparison of the effectiveness of liposomal doxorubicin and gemcitabine in patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer receiving third-line chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: In this retrospective study, we compared the effectiveness and reliability of the third-line chemotherapies gemcitabine and liposomal doxorubicin, in patients with platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer (OC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The retrospective study included platinum-sensitive epithelial ovarian cancer patients who had previously received paclitaxel and carboplatin therapy. Between 2013-2021, cross-matched 45 patients who received gemcitabine and 48 who received liposomal doxorubicin as third-line therapy were compared based on clinicopathological characteristics, biomarkers, and blood cancer antigen (CA) 125 levels. Time to treatment failure, survival, and quality of life were additional objectives. RESULTS: The study included a total of 93 patients. The reported mean survival durations for treatments, 19.45 months for gemcitabine and 17 months for liposomal doxorubicin, did not statistically significantly differ (p=0.398). The mean CA 125 levels for the liposomal doxorubicin and gemcitabine groups after treatment were 54.4±11.4 U/ml and 54.7±11.1 U/ml, respectively. There was no noticeable difference between the treatments when comparing the postop CA 125 value (p=0.37). CONCLUSIONS: For both pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) and gemcitabine as single agents in the third line, our data revealed comparable effectiveness results, and there was no substantial difference in progression-free survival (PFS) for recurrent ovarian cancer. These therapies were tolerated with an expected incidence of hematological toxicities.

Candida vaginitis during contraceptive use: the influence of methods, antifungal susceptibility and virulence patterns.

No consensus exists about whether contraceptives cause an increased risk of vaginitis, including vulvovaginal candidosis (VVC). We investigated 495 women (252 who used contraceptives; 243 who did not) for the presence of VVC. Antifungal susceptibility testing was performed for five antifungal agents and for boric acid, and three virulence factors were also examined. We recovered 129 (26.1%) monofungal populations from vaginal samples of women with acute VVC (AVVC, n = 18), symptomatic recurrent VVC (RVVC, n = 22) and asymptomatic RVVC (n = 28), as well as of other contraceptive users who carried Candida in their vaginas (n = 61). It is important to note that the women who had VVC used the same contraceptive methods (p > 0.05). Candida albicans was the most common species isolated (45%), followed by C. glabrata (40.3%). Most of the vaginal yeast isolates exhibited low minimum inhibitory concentration levels for the five antifungals tested. However, this was not the case for boric acid. In addition, the yeast fungi that was derived from the AVVC and RVVC patients showed higher amounts of haemolytic activity than the yeast fungi found among the controls (p < 0.05). The use of contraception does not predispose women to VVC (p > 0.05). Also, both host- and organism-related factors were required to achieve optimal clinical treatment for VVC.

Mature cystic teratoma of the fallopian tube.

Teratoma of the fallopian tube (cystic or solid) is a rarely encountered tumour and, to date, only 73 cases have been reported in the literature. A comprehensive review has not been done since 1972, when Mazzarella and colleagues reviewed 44 cases of tubal teratomas. This situation has prompted us to survey the literature to update the data on tubal teratoma cases. The majority of the tumours were benign. The tumour was cystic in nature in 50 cases. Patients' ages ranged between 17 and 67 years. None of them was diagnosed preoperatively. Half of the tumours were ≤ 5 cm, whereas the other half were > 5 cm in diameter. About two-thirds of the patients were associated with two or fewer gravidity. To the best of our knowledge, the present case included in our paper is the first tubal cystic teratoma reported from Turkey.