Merkel cell carcinoma in Turkey: A multicentric study.

BACKGROUND: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare but highly aggressive neuroendocrine carcinoma of the skin. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinicopathologic characteristics, treatment outcomes, and survival of MCC cases in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The patients diagnosed with MCC between 1999 and 2018 at twenty different centers in Turkey were included in the study. Patient and tumor characteristics and adjuvant and metastatis treatment outcomes were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The median age of totally 89 patients was 70 (26-93). The most common primary location was lower limbs (n = 29, 32.5%). Immunohistochemically, CK20 positivity was present in 59 patients (66.3%). Only two patients had secondary malignancy. The majority of the patients (n = 76, 85.4%) were diagnosed at the localized stage. Surgery was performed for all patients in the early stage, and adjuvant radiotherapy or/and chemotherapy was applied to 52.6% (n = 40) of nonmetastatic patients. The median follow-up was 29 months. Recurrence developed in 21 (27.6%) of the 76 patients who presented with local or regional disease. Two-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 68.1% and 5-year DFS was 62.0% for localized stage. The 5-year DFS was similar for patients receiving adjuvant treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or sequential chemoradiotherapy) and without adjuvant therapy (P > 0.05). Two-year overall survival in patients who presented with localized disease was 71.3% and 18.5% in metastatic patients (P < 0.001). In the metastatic stage, platinum/etoposide combination was the most preferred combination regimen. Median progression-free survival (PFS) in first-line chemotherapy was 7 months (95% confidence interval: 3.5-10.5 months; standart error: 1.78). CONCLUSIONS: Although MCC is rare in Turkey, the incidence is increasing. Gender, CK20 status, tumor size, lymph node involvement, and adjuvant treatment were not associated with recurrence.

A prognostic parameter in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: the ratio of hemoglobin-to-red cell distribution width.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of the ratio of hemoglobin-RDW (HRR) at diagnosis, in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Patients with metastatic NCCLC who attended two separate medical oncology clinics between April 2013 and December 2017 were retrospectively screened. HRR was calculated as Hgb (g/dL) divided by the RDW (%). Patients were assigned to either the low HRR group or high HRR group. RESULTS: A total of 153 patients were included in the study. The cuff-value for HRR was taken as 0.88. Among the low and high HRR groups, Glasgow prognostic scores (GPS), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and weight loss were statistically significantly different (p < 0.05). OS was found to be 5.6 months in the low HRR group and 13.9 months in the high HRR group (p < 0.001) while PFS was 5.1 months and 8.6 months in these two groups, respectively (p < 0.001). Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that low HRR was an independent factor, predictive of both OS (p = 0.03, Hazard Ratio (HR) = 1.607, 95% CI = 1.041-2.480) and PFS (p < 0.001, HR = 2.635, 95% CI = 1.667-4.166) in advanced NSCLC. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to show that low HRR is associated with poor OS and PFS in patients with advanced NSCLC. Thus, hemoglobin and RDW which can be easily measured in routine practice may be used as a prognostic tool in these patients.