Background: This retrospective study aimed to combine the clinical signs, laboratory values, and ultrasound images of 199 children with acute appendicitis in order to create a new predictive score for complicated appendicitis in children. Methods: The study included children who had clinical examination of abdominal pain (description of pain, anorexia, body temperature, nausea or vomiting, duration of symptoms), laboratory findings on admission (white blood cell, platelets, neutrophils, C-reactive protein), preoperative abdominal ultrasound, and histopathological report after an operation for appendicitis in their records during the period from January 2016 to February 2022. Results: According to the statistical analysis of the values using multivariate logistic regression models, the patients with appendiceal diameter ≥ 8.45 mm, no target sign appearance, appendicolith, abscess, peritonitis, neutrophils ≥ 78.95%, C-reactive protein ≥ 1.99 mg/dL, body temperature ≥ 38 °C, pain migration to right lower quadrant, and duration of symptoms < 24 h were more likely to suffer from complicated appendicitis. The new score was comprised of the 10 variables that were found statistically significant in the multivariate logistic model. Each of these variables was assigned a score of 1 due to the values that were associated with complicated appendicitis. Conclusions: A cutoff value of ≥4 has been a good indicator of the final score. The sensitivity with the usage of this score is 81.1%, the specificity 82.4%, the PPV 73.2%, the NPV approaches 88% and finally the accuracy is 81.9%. Also, the pros and cons of this score are discussed in this study.

Objective: In the present phase II study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of a docetaxel-oxaliplatin-capecitabine combination as a first-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Patients and Methods: A total of 27 patients (18 males) with histologically confirmed inoperable gastric adenocarcinoma were recruited. Docetaxel was given (50 mg/m2 i.v.) on day 1 followed by oxaliplatin (75 mg/m2 i.v.) also on day 1. Capecitabine (2,750 mg/m2) was given orally as two daily divided doses from days 1 to 7. Cycles were repeated every 2 weeks. All patients had measurable disease and 18 of them had a performance status (WHO) of 0. Results: A total of 240 treatment cycles were administered. All patients were evaluable for toxicity. Four patients who discontinued treatment early (having received only 3 chemotherapy cycles) were included as non-responders in an intention-to-treat response analysis. Complete response, partial response, stable disease and progressive disease were observed in 4 (15%), 12 (44%), 3 (11%) and 8 (30%) patients, respectively. The observed response rate was 59%, and the disease control rate (complete response + partial response + stable disease) was 70%. At the time of analysis, 6 patients were still alive and the median survival was 18.0 months. The most common grade III/IV toxicities observed were neutropenia (5%), diarrhea (2%), palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (2%) and neurotoxicity (1%). All other toxicities were mostly of grade I/II and easily manageable. Conclusion: The combination of docetaxel, oxaliplatin and capecitabine in the described mode of administration represents a relatively active and well-tolerated regimen in patients with advanced gastric cancer and warrants further evaluation.