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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of bevacizumab a monoclonal, antivascular endothelial growth factor antibody in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy in Turkish patients with recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data of 64 patients with metastatic or recurrent cervical cancer, receiving bevacizumab with first-line cisplatin or carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy between 2013 and 2017 were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 49 years (range, 28-68), the median follow-up time was 12 months (range, 2-53), the median progression-free survival (PFS) was eight months, and the median overall survival (OS) was 23 months. All 64 patients received a median of 6 (range, 1-12) bevacizumab and 6 (range, 2-12) chemotherapy cycles. The chemotherapy regimens used with bevacizumab were cisplatin and paclitaxel in 31 (48%) and carboplatin and paclitaxel in 33 (52%) patients. The survival in patients treated with bevacizumab and cisplatin plus paclitaxel was better-particularly in patients with no previous cisplatin-based radiosensitizer therapy-than those treated with carboplatin, paclitaxel, and bevacizumab (p=0.023). The bevacizumab dose was 7.5 mg/kg in 30 patients (47%) and 15 mg/kg in 34 patients (53%) every 21 days. No significant difference was reported in the OS and the PFS between the two groups. While the most common all-grades adverse events were nausea, neutropenia, anemia, and peripheral sensory neuropathy, the most common grade ≥3 adverse events were neutropenia, anemia, and peripheral sensory neuropathy. CONCLUSION: Adding bevacizumab to platinum and paclitaxel chemotherapy in a case of metastatic or recurrent cervical cancer is an effective and tolerable treatment for Turkish patients.
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OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate survival outcomes and survival-related prognostic factors in gastric cancer patients who were followed-up or received adjuvant therapy in our center. METHODS: Patients with gastric cancer treated between 2005 and 2016 were evaluated retrospectively. We included 345 non-metastatic (stage I-III) gastric cancer patients in the study. The clinical, demographic, histologic data of the patients and treatment characteristics were obtained from the patient's files. RESULTS: While 50 patients were stage I, 94 patients were stage II, 201 patients were stage III. While 221 patients (64%) presenting with serosal or adjacent visceral organ invasion or with involved lymph nodes were treated with adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, 124 patients presenting with early-stage disease were followed after surgery. Median follow up time was 34 months (4-156 months). While the median overall survival (OS) was 51 months, median disease-free survival (DFS) was 35 months. Overall survival and disease-free survival rates for 1st, 3rd and 5th years were 85%, 55%, 45% and 72%, 49%, 38%, respectively. According to univariate analysis, tumor size, T stage (p<0.001), N stage (p<0.001), TNM stage (p<0.001), grade (p<0.001) and presence of lymphovascular invasion (p=0.005) were determined as prognostic factors that affect overall survival significantly. According to the multivariate analysis, only T and N stage (p<0.001) were determined as independent prognostic factors for overall survival. CONCLUSION: Many different prognostic factors have been defined for gastric cancer. In concordance with the literature, we found T and N stages as prognostic factors in univariate and multivariate analysis.