Primary tumor side is associated with prognosis of colorectal cancer patients with brain metastases.

BACKGROUND: Brain metastases (BM) are a rare complication in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and associated with an unfavorable survival prognosis. Primary tumor side (PTS) was shown to act as a prognostic and predictive biomarker in several trials including metastatic CRC (mCRC) patients. Here, we aim to investigate whether PTS is also associated with the outcome of CRC patients with BM. METHODS: Patients treated for CRC BM between 1988 and 2017 at an academic care center were included. Right-sided CRC was defined as located in the appendix, cecum and ascending colon and left-sided CRC was defined as located in the descending colon, sigma and rectum. RESULTS: Two hundred and eighty-one CRC BM patients were available for this analysis with 239/281 patients (85.1%) presenting with a left-sided and 42/281 patients (14.9%) with a right-sided primary CRC. BM-free survival (BMFS) was significantly longer in left-sided compared with right-sided CRC patients (33 versus 20 months, P = 0.009). Overall survival from CRC diagnosis as well as from diagnosis of BM was significantly longer in patients with a left-sided primary (42 versus 25 months, P = 0.002 and 5 versus 4 months, P = 0.005, respectively). In a multivariate analysis including graded prognostic assessment, PTS remained significantly associated with prognosis after BM (hazard ratio 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.46-0.92 months, P = 0.0016). CONCLUSIONS: PTS was associated with survival times after the rare event of BM development in CRC patients. Therefore, its prognostic value remains significant even thereafter.

The course of quality of life and neurocognition in newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND: The importance of QoL and neurocognitive functions in patients with glioblastoma (GB) is above controversy by now. We followed newly diagnosed GB patients treated with radio-chemotherapy during their course of disease by continuously evaluating their quality of life (QoL) and cognitive functions. METHODS: We included consecutive patients with newly diagnosed GB from 2010 to 2013 at the Medical University of Vienna. To assess QoL the EORTC QLQ C30 and BN20 questionnaire were used. Neurocognition was measured with the NeuroCog FX. The evaluations were done 6 times every three months, beginning at the beginning of radio-chemotherapy. RESULTS: 42 patients participated in this study. We also recorded QoL and neurocognition in 23 patients after the first disease progression. Patients maintained their cognitive summary score until relapse. Patients with left-sided tumors showed significant lower scores in the subscale verbal fluency than patients with right-sided tumors. The global health score of QoL decreased after the fifth evaluation (13months after diagnosis) whereas a peak of fatigue symptoms was obtained at the third evaluation. Furthermore, fatigue symptoms increased strongly 7months after diagnosis and patients' financial difficulties were mentioned more frequently by younger patients and in patients with lower education levels. CONCLUSIONS: QoL and cognitive long-term assessments are feasible also in some patients with GB after a symptomatic progression. Our study demonstrates maintenance of QoL and cognitive summary scales before tumor progression. Moreover, it highlights subgroups according to tumor location and socioeconomic factors.

Análisis de genes catabólicos de hidrocarburos aromáticos en cepas aisladas de suelos de la Patagonia / Analysis of aromatic hydrocarbon catabolic genes in strains isolated from soil in Patagonia

Seven strains belonging to genus Pseudomonas were isolated from an enrichment with hydrocarbon mixtures. Tests for enzyme activities showed that five strains used predominantly the catabolic meta-pathway for aromatic hydrocarbon degradation. Furthermore, the xylE gene which encodes a catechol 2,3-dioxygenase was amplified by PCR, and in two strains the nahAc gene, a key enzyme for naphthalene catabolism, was also found. The xylE gene might be a good marker to identify aromatic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in soils from Patagonia.

[Growth rate of pulmonary metastases (author's transl)]. / Die Wachstumsgeschwindigkeit von Lungenmetastasen.

The growth of 148 untreated metastases to the lung was determined in 47 patients. Pulmonary metastases of squamous-cell carcinomas, sarcomas and malignant melanomas exhibited exponential growth, the doubling times were distributed log-normally, the geometric mean amounted to six weeks. The growth rate of adenocarcinomas decreased with increasing tumor size approximately in accordance with a Gompertzian function.