Background and Objectives: Despite advances in immunotherapy, predicting survival outcomes in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains challenging. Inflammatory and nutritional indices such as the Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Platelet-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR), and Inflammatory Burden Index (IBI) have emerged as promising prognostic markers associated with overall survival (OS) in NSCLC patients. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 196 NSCLC patients treated with second-line nivolumab across multiple centers in Turkey. Of these, 101 patients aged ≥ 65 years were included in the elderly subgroup analysis. PNI, GNRI (in patients aged ≥ 65), and inflammation-based indices were calculated using pre-treatment laboratory values. ROC analysis determined optimal cut-off values. The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards models were used for survival analysis. Results: Median overall survival (OS) was 12.9 months in the full cohort and 12.1 months in patients aged ≥ 65. In univariate analysis, ECOG performance status (0–1), lower NLR (<3.3), lower PLR (<196.8), higher PNI (≥45.2), and higher GNRI (≥98.0) were significantly associated with longer OS. However, in the multivariate analysis adjusted for ECOG PS, NLR, PLR, and GNRI, only PNI remained an independent prognostic factor for OS in both the overall cohort [HR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.26–0.92; p = 0.02] and elderly patients [HR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.24–0.84; p = 0.01]. PNI is an independent prognostic biomarker for OS in NSCLC patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Conclusions: These findings support incorporating simple, cost-effective nutritional indices into clinical decision-making, particularly in elderly patients with NSCLC.
17 May 2019 in Journal of International Medical Research
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety profile of capecitabine and oxaliplatin (CAPOX) and 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) regimens as adjuvant treatment in patients with stage III colon cancer. A total of 243 patients who received CAPOX and FOLFOX chemotherapy between 2014 and 2018 for stage III colon cancer in two centers were retrospectively studied. Among the patients, 106 (43.6%) and 137 (56.4%) were treated using CAPOX and FOLFOX regimens, respectively. Efficacy, treatment-related side effects, and overall survival rates with these two regimens were compared. The rate of disease progression was significantly higher in the presence of moderately/poorly differentiated histology, and KRAS and NRAS mutations. An increased number of metastatic lymph nodes and prolonged time from surgery to chemotherapy significantly increased disease progression. Patients who received CAPOX were significantly older than those who received FOLFOX. Disease progression, metastasis, and mortality rates were significantly higher in the FOLFOX arm than in the CAPOX arm. There was no significant difference in the overall survival rate between the two regimens. The CAPOX regimen is preferred in older patients. Disease progression, metastasis, and mortality rates are higher with FOLFOX than with CAPOX.
Computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are the most commonly used methods for diagnosis and staging in both malignant and benign diseases of the lung parenchyma and mediastinum. Endobronchial ultrasonography (EBUS) guided transbronchial needle aspiration biopsy (TBNA) has become widespread in recent years because it allows minimally invasive tissue sampling. PET-CT has high sensitivity in the diagnosis of malignancy but has low specificity. The false positive rate is high with the SUVmax 2.5 cutoff value, which is widely used in studies about malignancy. In our study, we evaluated lymph nodes with high F18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake on PET/CT and sampled by EBUS-TBNA. We aimed to calculate the new SUVmax cutoff values in the differentiation of malignancy. Our study included 103 patients who were examined for any reason and who underwent biopsy with EBUS-TBNA due to mediastinal or hilar lymph node enlargement on PET-CT. The relationship between PET-CT findings and EBUS findings, EBUS-TBNA results was evaluated. Biopsies were taken from 140 lymph nodes in 103 patients included in our study, and 39 (27.8%) were diagnosed as malignant. In our study, when the SUVmax cutoff value in PET-CT is taken as 2.54, the sensitivity is 98%, but the specificity remains at the level of 12%. When the SUVmax cutoff value in PET-CT was taken as 4.58, the sensitivity was 92% and the specificity was 49%. When this value was accepted as 5.25, and 6.09 the sensitivity was respectively 90% and 85%, the specificity was respectively 52% and 60%. In evaluations, we conducted in order to determine different SUVmax cutoff values that can be used for higher sensitivity and specificity in malignancy studies, the cutoff values were 4.58, 5.25, and 6.09. It is thought that these cutoff values will be useful both for diagnosing malignancy and for distinguishing benign pathologies.