ERCC1 Expression Does Not Predict Survival and Treatment Response in Advanced Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cases Treated with Platinum Based Chemotherapy Non-small cell lung cancer;lung cancer chemotherapy;ERCC1;molecular markers; Background: ERCC1 is considered as a promising molecular marker that may predict platinum based chemotherapy response in non small cell lung cancer patients. We therefore investigated whether its expression is indeed associated with clinical outcomes in advanced stage NSCLC patients. Materials and Methods: Pretreatment tumor biopsy samples of 83 stage 3B and 4 non-small cell lung cancer patients treated with platinum based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed for immunohistochemical ERCC1 expression. None of the patients received curative surgery or radiotherapy. Results: By calculating H- scores regarding the extent and intensity of immunohistochemical staining of tumor biopsy samples, ERCC1 expression was found to be positive in 50 patients (60.2%). ERCC1 positive and negative groups had no statistically significant differences regarding treatment response, progression free survival and overall survival (respectively p=0.161; p=0.412; p=0.823). Conclusions: In our study we found no association between ERCC1 expression and survival or treatment response. The study has some limitations, such as small sample size and retrospective analysis method. There is need of more knowledge for use of ERCC1 guided chemotherapy regimens in advanced stage NSCLC.

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to determine how long patients who developed pneumothorax were followed up on in the emergency department, how many patients required chest tube placement, and what factors influenced the need for a chest tube in patients who underwent computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous trans -thoracic fine needle aspiration biopsy (PTFNAB).Materials and Methods: Patients who developed pneumothorax following CT-guided PTFNAB were analyzed retrospectively. In cases with pneumotho-rax, the relationship between chest tube placement and the size of the lesion, the lesion depth from the pleural surface, the presence of emphysema, and the needle entry angle were investigated. It was determined how long the patients were followed up in the emergency department, when a chest tube was pla-ced, and when patients who did not require chest tube placement were discharged.Results: CT-guided PTFNAB was performed in 3426 patients within two years. Pneumothorax developed in 314 (9%) cases and a chest tube was placed in 117 (37%). The risk factor for chest tube placement was found to be the lesion depth from the pleural surface. The lesion depth from the pleural surface of >24 mm increased the risk of chest tube placement by 4.8 times. Chest tubes were placed at an average of five hours (5.04 +/- 5.57).Conclusion: This study has shown that in cases with pneumothorax that required chest tube placement, the lesion depth from the pleural surface is a risk factor. Patients who developed pneumothorax on CT during the procedure had chest tubes placed after an average of five hours.

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that can be fatal if left untreated or poorly treated, and it is associated with many morbidities. Deaths may provide better understanding of the associated factors and help guide interventions to reduce mortality. In this study, it was aimed to reveal some of the features that predict hospital mortality in patients with TB and to present some alarming findings for clinicians. Materials and Methods: Patients who had been hospitalized with the diagnosis of TB between January 2008 and December 2018 were included and analyzed retrospectively. In -hospital mortality because of any TB disease after the initiation of treatment in patients admitted to the TB Ward and the primary cause of mortality were taken as endpoint. Results: A total of 1321 patients with a mean age of 50.1 years were examined. Total mortality was 39.4% (521 deaths) and 13.1% were in -hospital deaths (173 deaths). Of the deaths, 61.8% (n= 107) occurred during the first month after TB treatment were started. On univariate analysis, age over 48.5 years, Charlson comorbidity index, extension of radiological involvement, hypoalbuminemia and lymphopenia were most predictive variables with higher odds ratios (respectively, p< 0.001 for all). Conclusion: In -hospital tuberculosis disease mortality is related with older age, cavitary or extensive pulmonary involvement, low albumin levels, unemployment, cigarette smoking and especially those with concomitant malignancy and chronic pulmonary disease.

Background/Objectives: Spread through air spaces (STAS) represents an aggressive invasion pattern in lung cancer and is associated with unfavorable oncologic outcomes. As STAS is currently identifiable only on postoperative pathology, reliable preoperative, noninvasive prediction remains a clinical challenge. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of predicting STAS using ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT)-derived radiomic and clinicoradiomic models. Methods: In this retrospective study, patients who underwent surgical resection for lung cancer with available preoperative ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT imaging were analyzed. Radiomic features were extracted from intratumoral and peritumoral regions. Clinical, radiomic-only, and combined clinicoradiomic models were developed using LASSO-based feature selection and multivariable logistic regression. Model performance was evaluated using nested cross-validation, receiver operating characteristic analysis, calibration assessment, and decision curve analysis. Results: Radiomic features reflecting intratumoral metabolic characteristics and peritumoral tissue heterogeneity were significantly associated with STAS. The combined clinicoradiomic model demonstrated superior discriminative performance compared with the clinical and radiomic-only models (mean AUC ≈ 0.75), along with favorable calibration (Brier score = 0.20) and improved clinical net benefit across relevant threshold probabilities. Lower eosinophil count, lower SUVmin_tumor, and lower intratumoral SUV skewness emerged as independent predictors of STAS. Conclusions: Preoperative prediction of STAS in lung cancer is feasible using PET/CT-based radiomic analysis integrating intratumoral, peritumoral, and clinical features. This noninvasive approach provides biologically relevant information beyond conventional anatomical assessment and warrants further validation in prospective, multicenter cohorts.