Kaposi sarcoma is a rare disease and there is a gap in the literature about which chemotherapeutics should be applied, especially for the classical type. We aimed to present our institutional data on the demographic characteristics, treatment, and treatment efficacy in 16 Kaposi sarcoma (KS) patients treated with chemotherapy. We retrospectively analyzed the demographic and clinical characteristics, and the chemotherapeutic agents administered to the 16 KS patients diagnosed in our center and treated with chemotherapy, based on the medical records obtained. The median age, gender, type of KS, site of involvement, cytotoxic agents administered, progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and safety profiles of the patients were evaluated. The median age at disease onset was 61.07 years (range, 39.4–85.8 years). Among the patients, 1 had immunosuppression-related KS, 4 had AIDS-related KS, and 11 had classical KS. In the first-line cytotoxic therapy, 7 patients received pegylated-liposomal doxorubicin (PLD), 6 patients received paclitaxel, 2 patients received oral etoposide, and 1 patient received the adriamycin, bleomycin, and vincristine regimen. In the Kaplan–Meier analysis, the PFS was 39.9 months (95% CI, 7.7–72.0). In the first-line setting, a significant difference in terms of PFS was observed between the PLD- and paclitaxel-treated groups (not reached vs. 12.8 months, p = 0.033). The OS was 66.1 months (95% CI, 30.2–102.0). The ORR of the 16 patients was 43.8%, and their DCR was 81.3%. No grade 3 or 4 toxicity was observed. This retrospective study showed that PLD seems better than paclitaxel in terms of PFS and response rates and it has shown to have a good safety profile in KS patients.

The impact of inflammatory markers such as systemic immune-inflammation (SII) index and systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) on myelofibrosis (MF) prognosis was evaluated for the first time in this study. Data from 60 patients diagnosed with MF between March 2011 and September 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. In addition to disease-related markers, the impact of SII and SIRI on prognosis was evaluated. In our study, the overall median survival (OS) was 64 months. OS was significantly shorter in patients older than 65 years, with high ferritin and lymphocyte levels, transfusion dependence at diagnosis, platelet count below 100 × 109/L, Hb level below 8 g/dl, and high risk according to the dynamic international prognostic scoring system (DIPSS)-Plus score. When these variables were included in the multivariate Cox regression model, it was found that being older than 65 years, having a high ferritin value, being at high risk according to the DIPSS-plus score and Hb values below 8 increased the risk of death. Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and SII index were lower in patients with a fatal outcome. No statistically significant relationship was found between SIRI and mortality. The findings of this study showed that low PLR and high ferritin were associated with poor prognosis in MF. Elevated SII and SIRI, evaluated for the first time in patients with myelofibrosis, did not predict prognosis. Since non-inflammatory variables play a role in the pathogenesis of MF, bone marrow indicators and systemic inflammation indicators derived from hematologic parameters may not be accurate.

Background and Objective: Perianal pathologies are the most common cause of perianal infections in patients with hematological malignancies. Perianal infection diagnosis in this group of patients is difficult, thus careful anorectal examination is necessary, with imaging modalities. The literature revealed a knowledge gap on the approach of anal pathologies in patients with neutropenia during diagnosis or chemotherapy. This study aimed to examine our institutional data of perianal complications and investigate the relationship among the white blood cell-neutrophil count, perianal lesion, and the type of treatment in patients with hematologic malignancies during the neutropenic period. Methods: Patients with a hematologic malignancy, hospitalized for cytotoxic chemotherapy, complicated by perianal pathology, and documented by at least one imaging method were included in the study. Results: A total of 42 patients were included in the study. The comparison between the groups revealed no statistical significance between the anal abscess formation and the neutrophil count and previous perianal pathology. A statistical significance in favor of acute myeloid leukemia was found between patient diagnosis and anal abscess development. An inverse relationship was found between the number of white blood cells at hospitalization and having an anal pathology operation. It was observed that patients with high white blood cell count were less operated on due to anal pathology. Conclusions: In conclusion, this article has shown that white blood cell count at the time of hospitalization in patients with hematological malignancy, can affect the operation status of patients due to anal pathologies that may occur in the neutropenic period.

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Our results confirm that intra-erythrocyte Mg does not correlate with serum levels and clinical parameters in geriatric outpatients, but further studies are needed to define the correlation.