Introduction: Macroprolactinaemia is a well-known analytical problem in diagnostics of hyperprolactinaemia usually detected with polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation method. Since there is no harmonization in macroprolactin detection and reporting results, this study proposes and evaluates the usefulness of in-house developed algorithm. The aims were to determine the most suitable way of reporting results after PEG treatment and the possibilities of rationalizing the precipitation procedure. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study based on extracted data for 1136 patients. Prolactin concentrations were measured before and after PEG precipitation on Roche cobas e601. Macroprolactinaemia was defined by percentage recovery and post-PEG prolactin concentrations. Results: Prevalence of macroprolactinaemia using recovery criteria of ≤ 40%, ≤ 60%, and post-PEG prolactin concentrations was 3.3%, 8.8% and 7.8%, respectively. Raising the cut-off value from the upper limit of the manufacturer’s reference interval to 32.9 μg/L does not drastically change detected macroprolactinaemia with recovery criteria. Post-PEG prolactin concentrations showed more than half of the patients with macroprolactinaemia would be overlooked. Regardless of the criteria, a cut-off of 47.0 μg/L would miss most of the macroprolactinaemic patients. Repeated recovery measurements of follow-up patients showed there is a significant difference with mean absolute bias of 9%. Conclusions: Post-PEG prolactin concentration with corresponding reference interval is the most suitable way of reporting results. All samples with prolactin concentration above the upper limit of the manufacturer’s reference interval should be submitted to PEG precipitation. Follow-up period could be prolonged since the difference between the recoveries of repeated measurements is not clinically significant.

Background: Systemic inflammatory indices such as the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) have demonstrated prognostic relevance in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). However, most available evidence relies on single baseline measurements, while the longitudinal dynamics of these biomarkers in relation to immunonutritional status remain insufficiently explored. Methods: This retrospective longitudinal study included 86 patients with previously untreated mCRC receiving first-line chemo-biological therapy. NLR, PLR, and SII were assessed at three predefined time points: before treatment initiation, after completion of induction therapy, and at radiologically confirmed disease progression. Nutritional and sarcopenia risk were evaluated using the NRS-2002 and SARC-F tools. Longitudinal differences were analyzed using the Friedman test with post hoc comparisons. Results: In nutritionally preserved patients, significant longitudinal changes were observed for NLR (χ²(2) = 16.72, p < 0.001), PLR (χ²(2) = 6.36, p = 0.003), and SII (χ²(2) = 24.57, p < 0.001), characterized by a marked decline following induction therapy and re-elevation at disease progression. In high nutritional risk patients, significant dynamics were observed only for SII (χ²(2) = 5.60, p = 0.007). Similarly, in the low SARC-F subgroup, all three indices demonstrated significant modulation over time, whereas no statistical analysis was feasible in the high SARC-F subgroup due to limited sample size. Among the evaluated parameters, SII showed the most consistent and pronounced longitudinal variation. Conclusions: The clinical value of inflammatory hematologic indices in mCRC appears to derive primarily from their longitudinal dynamics rather than single absolute measurements. SII, in particular, may serve as a marker of therapy-induced modulation of systemic inflammation, especially in patients with preserved immunonutritional reserve. Integration of dynamic inflammatory indices into routine clinical monitoring could enhance early identification of biological progression and improve risk stratification in mCRC.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease among women, constituting around a quarter of all cancers in women worldwide. This type of cancer is mainly affected by genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors such as nutrition and physical activity. A retrospective study including 192 women with breast cancer was performed for six years (from 2015 to 2021). We investigated the relationship between indirect hematological parameters, neutrophil-to lymphocyte ratio – NLR, plateletsto-lymphocyte ratio – PLR, systemic immune-inflammation index – SII and the treatment outcome. Additionally, we also followed the overall survival (OS) rate. The obtained results report assessed parameters before and after surgical intervention. Of importance is to emphasize that at a cut-off value of 2.65 (P = 0.001) and 3.30 (P < 0.001), a decline in the NLR value was noticed after surgical removal of the breast cancer. The same decrease was observed for SII after surgery (P < 0.001). Through the study, SII has been shown to be a more relevant parameter compared to NLR and PLR. The study outcome recommends the cut-off value of 2.65 as the optimal for NLR in predicting the effectiveness and successfulness of the surgical procedure.