[The Evaluation of Long Coronavirus Disease Symptoms at Ninth Month from a Hospital in Türkiye]. / Türkiye'deki Bir Hastanede Dokuzuncu Ayda Uzamis Koronavirüs Hastaligi Belirtilerinin Degerlendirilmesi.

Long COVID is defined as symptoms related to various organs following COVID-19. There is currently very little information available about the prevalence of these symptoms and their long-term recovery time. The aim of this study was to describe the symptoms that persisted nine months after COVID-19. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Antalya, Türkiye, between November 1 and 30, 2020 on COVID-19 patients. Patients were contacted approximately nine months later by two infectious diseases physicians, and the questionnaire which included 27 symptoms was completed. Of the 390 patients who met the criteria, 329 agreed to participate in the study. Patients' average age was 48.9 ± 14.4 years, and 51.7% were male. 79.3% of the people still had at least one symptom at the end of the ninth month. The most common symptoms were weakness-fatigue (54.7%), forgetfulness (45.3%), effort loss (35.0%), sleep disturbance (34.3%), joint pain (27.4%), and hair loss (23.4%). According to analysis performed in terms of sex; hair loss, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, sore throat, loss of taste and smell were more common in women than in men (p= 0.042, p= 0.047, p= 0.050, p= 0.026, p= 0.016, p= 0.036, p= 0.027, respectively). Individuals aged 65 years and over had a significantly lower number of symptoms (p= 0.029) than all other age groups. Furthermore, the number of symptoms was higher in patients who used steroids (p= 0.049). This study is an important source of information on the long-term symptoms of COVID-19. Our results have shown that the symptoms associated with COVID-19 do not completely resolve even after nine months, which explains why long COVID requires continuous monitoring.

The role of volumetric method in the assessment of chemotherapy response and predicting survival in malignant pleural mesothelioma.

BACKGROUND: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a pleural tumor with high mortality rate and short-term survival expectancy after diagnosis. Assessment of the response to chemotherapy, which is the first choice in treatment of MPM, is important for the transition to alternative chemotherapy protocols and immunotherapy. There is no clarity in the response to chemotherapy treatment. OBJECTIVE: Our study aims to compare the assessment of chemotherapy response using the Modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST) criteria and volumetric measurements and to correlate with median survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-two patients (16 females and 16 males) were included in the study, and their ages ranged from 28 to 78 years. Chemotherapy response was determined by both mRECIST and volumetric approach. Tumor volume was measured by linear interpolation and semi-automatic segmentation. Log-rank multiple cutoff analysis was used to determine appropriate cutoff values of volumetric response criteria. RESULTS: According to both mRECIST and volumetric approach, median survival times in partial response, stable disease, and progressive disease groups were 24, 15, and 9 months, respectively. The survival times of the three groups were different (logrank: 17.76; P < 0.001) by mRECIST. The survival of the progressive disease group was shorter than that of the other groups (logrank: 18.91; P < 0.001) by volumetric approach. CONCLUSIONS: In the assessment of chemotherapy response, even though classifications obtained according to the mRECIST criteria and volumetric measurements are statistically compatible, we think that the measurement of the volumetric values will increase the standardization. In our study, threshold values for volumetric measurements were determined; however, these values should be supported by large-scale multicenter studies.