The prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease among hospital employees.

Quantitative estimate of the actual prevalence of the gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is difficult to obtain because most of the patients with heartburn have intermittent symptoms. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of typical and atypical symptoms suggesting GERD to investigate the association of habits and social conditions reported to lead to reflux in the employees of hospital. A total of 2037 collected forms were assessed. The prevalence of GERD was found to be 21.7% (442). The prevalence of symptoms other than heartburn in employees with and without GERD symptoms were 6.6% versus 3.4% (P < 0.05) for asthma, 27.6% versus 8.3% (P < 0.001) for night cough, 50% versus 19.5% (P < 0.001) for noncardiac chest pain. Dyspeptic complaints were found to be significantly higher among GERD patients (P < 0.001). By multiple logistic regression analysis, female gender (odds ratio [OR] 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-1.60, P = 0.027), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug medication (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.03-1.60, P = 0.021) and body mass index over 30 (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.60-3.18, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors associated with GERD symptoms. GERD is a common health problem in Turkey, and its prevalence is similar to that of Western populations with different symptom profiles. Female gender, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, and body mass index >30 kg/m(2) were independent risk factors associated with GERD symptoms. Age, alcohol, coffee, tea, and tobacco smoking do not seem to be risk factors for reflux.

Effect of PET/CT standardized uptake values on complete response to treatment before definitive chemoradiotherapy in stage III non-small cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE: The standard treatment for patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), unsuitable for resection and with good performance, is definitive radiotherapy with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Our aim is to evaluate the effect of the maximum value of standardized uptake values (SUVmax) of the primary tumor in positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) before treatment on complete response (CR) and overall survival. METHODS: The data of 73 stage III NSCLC patients treated with concurrent definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) between 2008 and 2017 and had PET/CT staging in the pretreatment period were evaluated. ROC curve analysis was performed to determine the ideal cut-off value of pretreatment SUVmax to predict CR. RESULTS: Median age was 58 years (range 27-83 years) and 66 patients were male (90.4%). Median follow-up time was 18 months (range 3-98 months); median survival was 23 months. 1-year overall survival (OS) rate and 5-year OS rate were 72 and 19%, respectively. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 9 months; 1-year PFS rate and 5-year PFS rate were 38 and 19%, respectively. The ideal cut-off value of pretreatment SUVmax that predicted the complete response of CRT was 12 in the ROC analysis [AUC 0.699 (0.550-0.833)/P < 0.01] with a sensitivity of 83%, and specificity of 55%. In patients with SUVmax < 12, CR rate was 60%, while, in patients with SUV ≥ 12, it was only 19% (P = 0.002). Median OS was 26 months in patients with pretreatment SUVmax < 12, and 21 months in patients with SUVmax ≥ 12 (HR = 2.93; 95% CI 17.24-28.75; P = 0.087). CR rate of the whole patient population was 26%, and it was the only factor that showed a significant benefit on survival in both univariate and multivariate analyses. CONCLUSION: Pretreatment SUVmax of the primary tumor in PET/CT may predict CR in stage III NSCLC patients who were treated with definitive CRT. Having clinical CR is the only positive predictive factor for prolonged survival.

The efficacy and safety of capecitabine plus bevacizumab combination as first-line treatment in elderly metastatic colorectal cancer patients.

AIM: The optimal treatment in older persons with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) is complicated by a lack of general agreement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of bevacizumab plus capecitabine combination in elderly mCRC patients who were not suitable for chemotherapy with irinotecan and oxaliplatin-containing regimens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy years and older patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma were included in this retrospective study. Bevacizumab was administered at a dose of 7.5 mg/kg on day 1 as an intravenous (IV) infusion over 30-90 min every 21 days, and capecitabine was prescribed at 1000 mg/m(2) twice daily on days 1-14 of the same 21-day schedule. RESULTS: Eighty-two consecutive patients (47 men, 35 women) were included in the study. The mean age was 75.5 (SD 3.9, range 70-87). Half of the patients were older than 75 years. There were 55 patients (67.1 %) with a good Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS: 0-1) and the remaining 27 patients (32.9 %) had a poor ECOG performance status (PS: 2). With a median follow-up period of 18.5 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 10 months (95 % CI, 7.8-12.1) and the median OS was 25 months (95 % CI, 18.6-31.3). The main toxicities recorded were non-hematological. Thirty-one patients (37 %) experienced grade 3/4 adverse events, the most common being hand-foot syndrome (9.8 %). No fatal toxicity resulting from this regimen was recorded. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the toxicity profile and survival outcomes, the combination regimen of capecitabine and bevacizumab is a potentially feasible treatment option in elderly mCRC patients.

Prognostic significance of ADAM17 expression in patients with gastric cancer who underwent curative gastrectomy.

BACKGROUNDS: A disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) 17 has been indicated to be an indispensable regulator of cellular events from proliferation to migration. Although prognostic importance of ADAM17 expression has been investigated in several tumours, its clinical utility as a useful prognostic molecular marker remains unclear in gastric cancer. In the current study, we evaluated the expression of ADAM17 and its prognostic significance in gastric cancer patients after curative gastrectomy. METHODS: The prognostic significance of ADAM17 expression was analysed immunohistochemically in 156 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone curative gastrectomy, and the relationship between its expression and clinicopathological factors was also evaluated. RESULTS: High ADAM17 expression was detected in 79 patients (51 %), whereas low expression was found in 77 cases (49 %). There was significant correlation between gender, histology, lymph node metastasis, vascular invasion, the presence of recurrence and high ADAM17 expression. Recurrence in patients with high ADAM17 expression was significantly higher than that for patients with low ADAM17 expression (p = 0.032). The median disease-free survival (DFS) time for patients with tumours with high ADAM17 expression was worse than that of patients with tumours with low ADAM17 expression (16.6 vs. 44.2 months, p = 0.004). In addition, patients with low ADAM17 expression had a higher median overall survival (OS) (49.6 vs. 26.9 months, p = 0.019) compared to those with high ADAM17 expression. Multivariate analysis indicated that the rate of ADAM17 expression was an independent prognostic factor for DFS, in addition to the already known important clinicopathological prognostic indicator. But the prognostic importance of ADAM17 expression could not be proved by multivariate analysis for OS. CONCLUSIONS: The potential value of ADAM17 expression as a useful molecular marker in gastric cancer progression should be evaluated comprehensively; it may predict recurrence and poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer after curative resection.