Clinicopathological features and outcomes of patients with gastric cancer:A single-center experience

AIM:To evaluate the location,histopathology,stages,and treatment of gastric cancer and to conduct survival analysis on prognostic factors.METHODS:Patients diagnosed with of stomach cancer in our clinic between 2000 and 2011,with follow-up or a treatment decision,were evaluated retrospectively.They were followed up by no treatment,adjuvant therapy,or metastatic therapy.We excluded from the study any patients whose laboratory records lacked the operating parameters.The type of surgery in patients diagnosed with gastric cancer was total gastrectomy,subtotal gastrectomy or palliative surgery.Patients with indications for adjuvant treatment were treated with adjuvant and/or radio-chemotherapy.Prognostic evaluation was made based on the parameters of the patient,tumor and treatment.RESULTS:In this study,outpatient clinic records of patients with gastric cancer diagnosis were analyzed retrospectively.A total of 796 patients were evaluated(552male,244 female).The median age was 58 years(22-90 years).The median follow-up period was 12 mo(1-276 mo),and median survival time was 12 mo(11.5-12.4 mo).Increased T stage and N stage resulted in a decrease in survival.Other prognostic factors related to the disease were positive surgical margins,lymphovascular invasion,perineural invasion,cardio-esophageal settlement,and the levels of tumor markers in metastatic disease.No prognostic significance of the patient's age,sex or tumor histopathology was detected.CONCLUSION:The prognostic factors identified in all groups and the proposed treatments according to stage should be applied,and innovations in the new targeted therapies should be followed.

Clinical efficacy and drug resistance of anti-epidermal growth factor receptor therapy in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer(CRC) ranked third in cancer related death and its incidence has been increasing worldwide. In recent decades important therapeutic advances have been developed in treatment of metastatic CRC(mCRC), such as monoclonal antibodies against epidermal growth factor receptor(anti-EGFR), which provided additional clinical benefits in mCRC. However, anti-EGFR therapies have limited usage due to approximately 95% of patients with KRAS mutated mCRC do not response to anti-EGFR treatment. Thus, KRAS mutation is predictive of nonresponse to anti-EGFR therapies but it alone is not a sufficient basis to decide who should not be received such therapies because; approximately fifty percent(40%-60%) of CRC patients with wild-type KRAS mutation also have poor response to anti-EGFR based treatment. This fact leads us to suspect that there must be other molecular determinants of response to anti-EGFR therapies which have not been identified yet. Current article summarizes the clinical efficacy of anti-EGFR therapies and also evaluates its resistance mechanisms.