A national survey of lower urinary tract symptoms in Jordan.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and their severity population in Jordan. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted using a paper-based survey between August and September in 2019. The study was carried out in the health care centers or hospitals in three different regions of Jordan: North (Irbid and Jarash), Middle (Amman, Madaba, Salt, and Zarqa), and South (Karak and Aqaba). Results: To estimate the prevalence of LUTS, two definitions were used, including the first definition (presence of any LUTS regardless of the degree of severity) and the second definition (presence of any LUTS that occurs half the time or more). According to the first definition, 1038 (89.9%) reported LUTS (male: 47.3%, female: 52.7%), while 763 (66.1%) reported LUTS according to the second definition (male: 45.6%, female: 54.4%). According to the International Prostate Symptom Score characterization, 73.9% had nocturia and 62.9% reported daytime increased frequency. Conclusion: LUTS are highly prevalent among the Jordanian population, and more than half of them have nocturia or daytime increased frequency as most frequently reported symptoms.

Cytoreductive Surgery And Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy For Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: The First Reported Experience From Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES: To report our pilot experience (feasibility, morbidity and postoperative outcomes) of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for the treatment of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer and peritoneal carcinomatosis. METHODS: Thirty nine patients were retrospectively analyzed for perioperative details. RESULTS: The vast majority of patients had platinumsensitive disease (69.2%). Complete (CC-0) and incomplete (CC-1/2) resections were achieved in 24 (61.5%) and 15 (38.5%) patients, respectively. The median peritoneal cancer index (PCI) was 14 (range: 2-28). Cisplatin (50 mg/m2) and doxorubicin (15 mg/m2) was the most frequently used HIPEC regimen (87.2%). No intraoperative morbidity/mortality happened. A total of eight patients developed III-IV postoperative complications (20.5%). Median follow-up time was 41 months (range:3-106). No 60 day readmission/mortality happened. At the last date of follow-up, there were 13 patients who were alive without disease (33.4%); mortality occurred in 10 patients (25.6%). For all patients, the mean diseasefree survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were 46.3 months (95% CI: 33.7-58.9) and 81 months (95% CI: 68.6-93.3) respectively. PCI >14 was correlated with statistically significant poor DFS and OS at univariate analysis (p=0.046). When compared to CC-0, CC-1/2 was correlated with poor DFS and OS, however, without statistical significance. Cox multivariate analyses of DFS and OS failed to demonstrate PCI score, CC score and platinum-sensitivity as independent prognosticfactors of DFS and OS. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated the feasibility, safety and favorable clinical outcomes of CRS and HIPEC in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer and peritonealcarcinomatosis.

Germline POLE and POLD1 proofreading domain mutations in endometrial carcinoma from Middle Eastern region.

BACKGROUND: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) accounts for 5.8% of all cancers in Saudi females. Although most ECs are sporadic, 2-5% tend to be familial, being associated with Lynch syndrome and Cowden syndrome. In this study, we attempted to uncover the frequency, spectrum and phenotype of germline mutations in the proofreading domain of POLE and POLD1 genes in a large cohort of ECs from Middle Eastern region. METHODS: We performed Capture sequencing and Sanger sequencing to screen for proofreading domains of POLE and POLD1 genes in 432 EC cases, followed by evaluation of protein expression using immunohistochemistry. Variant interpretation was performed using PolyPhen-2, MutationAssessor, SIFT, CADD and Mutation Taster. RESULTS: In our cohort, four mutations (0.93%) were identified in 432 EC cases, two each in POLE and POLD1 proofreading domains. Furthermore, low expression of POLE and POLD1 was noted in 41.1% (170/1414) and 59.9% (251/419) of cases, respectively. Both the cases harboring POLE mutation showed high nuclear expression of POLE protein, whereas, of the two POLD1 mutant cases, one case showed high expression and another case showed low expression of POLD1 protein. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that germline mutations in POLE and POLD1 proofreading region are a rare cause of EC in Middle Eastern population. However, it is still feasible to screen multiple cancer related genes in EC patients from Middle Eastern region using multigene panels including POLE and POLD1.