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Background: Gastric cancer is the 2nd most common cause of cancer-related deaths, and the morbidity rate after surgery is reported to be as high as 46%. The estimation of possible complications, morbidity, and mortality and the ability to specify patients at high risk have become substantial for an intimate follow-up and for proper management in the intensive care unit. This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of the preoperative platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and their relations with clinical outcomes and complications after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: This single-center, retrospective cohort study evaluated the data of 292 patients who underwent gastrectomy with curative intent between January 2015 and June 2018 in a tertiary state hospital in Ankara, Turkey. A receiver operating characteristic curve was generated to evaluate the ability of laboratory values to predict clinically relevant postoperative complications. The area under the curve was computed to compare the predictive power of the NLR and PLR. Then, the cutoff points were selected as the stratifying values for the PLR and NLR. Results: The area under the curve values of the PLR (0.60, 95% CI 0.542-0.657) and NLR (0.556, 95% CI 0.497-0.614) were larger than those of the other preoperative laboratory values. For the PLR, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 50.00 and 72.22%, respectively, whereas for the NLR, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 37.50 and 80.16%, respectively. The PLR was related to morbidity, whereas the relation of the NLR with mortality was more prominent. This study demonstrated that the PLR and NLR may predict mortality and morbidity via the Clavien-Dindo classification in gastric cancer patients. The variable was grade ≥ 3 in the Clavien-Dindo classification, including complications requiring surgical or endoscopic interventions, life-threatening complications, and death. Both the PLR and NLR differed significantly according to Clavien-Dindo grade ≥ 3. In this analysis, the PLR was related to morbidity, while the NLR relation with mortality was more intense. Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, the PLR and NLR could be used as independent predictive factors for mortality and morbidity in patients with gastric cancer.

Objective: Individual risk of surgical patients is more often underestimated and there is not an absolute criterion demonstrating which patient deserves intensive care. Since a nominative assessment of these patients to quantify the intensity of critical illness is not appropriate, prognostic scores are used to assess the mortality rate and prognosis for critical patients including surgical ones. This study aimed to test the calibration power of SAPS-3 score and SOFA score of surgical patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery, and identify any relation with patient outcomes in the department of surgical ICU. Material and Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted during the period between August 2017 and December 2017. It was performed at a Gastroenterological Surgical ICU, a tertiary care hospital in Ankara, Türkiye. To calculate SAPS-3 and SOFA score, physiological data and laboratory analysis on the day of ICU admission were used. Records were reviewed from hospitalization to medical discharge or hospital mortality. Statistical analysis included Mann Whitney U-test and ROC-curves to predict 30-day mortality. Results: A total of 233 patients admitted to the Gastroenterological Surgical ICU were included into the study and the main reason for ICU admission was surgical problems. Mortality rate was 2.6 % (6 patients). Average SAPS-3 score was 32.5 and SOFA score was 30.1. A significant correlation was observed with the SAPS-3 score, but not with the SOFA score statistically in mortality as a dependent factor. The discriminative power, assessed using the AUC and the probability of death estimation, was satisfactory with the SAPS-3 scores (AUC 0.754) while it was lower with the SOFA score (AUC 0.631) Conclusion: We found that SAPS-3 score was significantly correlated not only with mortality rate, but also with LOS in the ICU. Nonetheless, SOFA score was not related to mortality, but related to LOS in the ICU. Prognostic score systems are used to estimate mortality but they may be used to identify LOS in the ICU and postoperative complications. It can be concluded that SAPS-3 and SOFA scores may be used to prognosticate postoperative ICU requirement.

The frequency of opportunistic fungal infections in critically ill patients whose intensive care unit stays are prolonged due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is higher than in the period before COVID-19. We planned this study to improve the management of Candida infections by defining the Candida species, the etiology of infections caused by Candida species, and the antifungal susceptibility of the species. This retrospective study included patients older than 18 hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) with a definitive diagnosis of COVID-19 for seven months (from March 2021 to September 2021). All study data that we recorded in a standard study form were analyzed with TURCOSA (Turcosa Analytics Ltd. Co., Turkey, www.turcosa.com.tr) statistical software. The patients were evaluated in four groups as group 1 (candidemia patients, n = 78), group 2 (candiduria patients, n = 189), group 3 (control patients, n = 57), and group 4 (patients with candidemia in urine cultures taken before Candida was detected in blood culture, n = 42). Candida species were identified using both conventional and VITEK® 2 (BioMérieux, France) methods. The antifungal susceptibility of fungi was determined using the E test method. Of the 5,583 COVID-19 patients followed during the study period, 78 developed candidemia, and 189 developed candiduria. The incidence of candidemia (per 1,000 admissions) was determined to be 1.6. As a result of statistical analysis, we found that Candida albicans was the dominant strain in candidemia and candiduria, and there was no antifungal resistance except for naturally resistant strains. Candida strains grown in blood and urine were the same in 40 of 42 patients. Mortality was 69.2% for group 1, 60.4% for group 2, and 57.8% for group 3. Antifungals were used in 34 (43.5%) patients from group 1, and 95 (50.2%) from group 2. In the candidemia group without antifungal use, mortality was quite high (77.2%). Antifungal use reduced mortality in the group 2 (p < 0.05). Length of ICU stays, comorbidity, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and corticosteroids are independent risk factors for candidemia in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Our study contributes to the knowledge of risk factors for developing COVID-19-related candida infections. The effect of candiduria on the development of candidemia in critically ill COVID-19 patients should be supported by new studies.