To investigate the prognostic and predictive value of PD-L1 expression in operated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and to analyze its relationship with clinicopathological factors. A total of 90 patients with operable NSCLC were included in this retrospective single center study. Tumor blocks of patients were stained immunohistochemically with PD-L1 polyclonal antibody. When evaluated immunohistochemically and statistically, patients with tumor staining percentage of ≥5%, those with +2 and +3 membranous staining intensity, and those with ≥50% H-Score were considered positive. The relationship between PD-L1 expression status and clinicopathological features in addition to the prognostic effect of PD-L1 on survival were statistically analyzed. The frequency of PD-L1 expression was 37%, 15% and 5% according to the staining percentage, staining intensity, and the H-Score, respectively. There was no significant relationship between PD-L1 expression and age, gender, smoking, tumor stage and histological subtype (p > 0.05). However, PD-L1 expression was relatively higher in patients < 65 years of age, men, smokers, patients with advanced tumor stage, and squamous cell subtype. Based on the analysis of the H-Score, no significant difference was noted regarding disease-free survival time between PD-L1 positive and PD-L1 negative patients (median 20 [95% CI 1.2-38.7] months vs. median 27 [95% CI 17.5-36] months, p=0.208). However, overall survival time was significantly shorter in PD-L1 positive compared to PD-L1 negative patients (median 24 months [95% CI 9.9-38] vs. median 48 months [95% CI 33.6-62.3], p=0.049). In patients with high PD-L1 expression, the biological behavior of the cancer was more aggressive, and the life expectancy was shorter. PD-L1 expression seems to be a poor prognostic marker in NSCLC patients.

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of the pre-treatment albumin-to-alkaline phosphatase ratio (AAPR) in early-stage colorectal cancer patients and to compare it with the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) within the same patient cohort. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 540 patients who were followed up after a diagnosis of early-stage colorectal cancer and whose albumin (ALB), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), neutrophil, platelet, and lymphocyte values were measured before treatment. Results: In the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis for overall survival (OS), the AAPR index Area Under Curve (AUC):0.560, (p = 0.018), NLR index (p = 0.079), and PLR index (p = 0.692) were evaluated. In the ROC analysis for OS, a cut-off value of the AAPR index of ≤0.423 was found. In the AAPR-low group, the relapse and death rates were higher than in the AAPR-high group (p = 0.004 and p = 0.001, respectively). As the AAPR index decreased, the NLR and PLR indexes increased (p = 0.027 and p = 0.003, respectively). Median disease-free survival (DFS) was worse in the AAPR-low group (128 versus 156) months (p = 0.015). The AAPR index significantly affected OS with hazard ratio (HR):0.42 (95%CI, 0.18–0.97) (p = 0.044). At 5 years, 68% of the patients in the AAPR-low group and 79% of the patients in the AAPR-high group were alive (p = 0.005). In a multivariate analysis, low AAPR, patient age at diagnosis, TNM stage, and recurrence status were independent factors affecting OS (p = 0.022, p < 0.001, p = 0.002, and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: In early-stage colorectal cancer patients, the OS was worse in the AAPR-low group than in the AAPR-high group. The AAPR index demonstrated significant prognostic value for OS compared to the NLR and PLR in the same patient cohort.

Aim: Vitamin D has a role in carcinogenesis and may have effect on recurrence. Thus, we aim to analyze the prognostic effect of vitamin D levels at beginning and follow-up together with the contrib...

Objective: To analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnostic method, disease stage, treatment modalities, and survival of operated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Oncology, Gaziantep University Oncology Hospital, Sahinbey, Turkey, from March 2018 to March 2022. Methodology: Patients who were operated for NSCLC were screened retrospectively. The diagnostic method, demographic and clinical characteristics of patients, COVID-19 infection and survival time were analysed and compared after dividing the patient into prepandemic and pandemic groups according to their chronology of enrollment. Results: A total of 303 patients were included in the study (prepandemic =163, pandemic =140). The time from the symptom onset to the histological diagnosis was shorter in the pandemic group (p=0.005). T4 tumours were more common in the prepandemic group (p=0.01). Most patients with adenocarcinoma underwent lobectomy, and most patients with pneumonectomy had squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) histology (p=0.001). The indications for chemotherapy and radiotherapy significantly differed between the groups (p=0.005 and p=0.001, respectively). The rate of patients with incidental diagnosis was higher in the pandemic group (p=0.001), often at Stage-1; patients diagnosed with symptoms were often at Stage-3 (p=0.001). Among the incidentally diagnosed group of patients, 34 (72%) had adenocarcinoma; 127 (50%) patients in the group diagnosed with symptoms had SCC subtype (p=0.001). Conclusion: During the pandemic, proportion of patients diagnosed incidentally increased. These patients were mostly diagnosed with adenocarcinoma subtype and diagnosed at an earlier stage.