Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MpBC) is a rare disease entity, accounting for less than 1% of all breast carcinomas. Furthermore, it is a heterogenous disease with different subgroups, including malignant epithelial (carcinoma) and stromal ( Median 3 year progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in this patients cohort were 33% and 56%, respectively. In conclusion, MpBC is a rare and orphan disease without standardized treatment approaches and the prognosis is poor so that larger studies to investigate different treatment schedules are urgently needed.

Median overall survival (OS) was 56 months (95% CI, 22.5-89.5 months), and OS after 1, 2, 5 years was 84.7%, 78%, 49.4% respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age ≥60 years and high grade tumor were significantly associated with poor OS and RFS; patients administered adjuvant treatment with sequential chemotherapy and radiotherapy had longer RFS time. Among patients with leiomyosarcoma, in addition to age and grade, adjuvant treatment with sequential chemotherapy and radiotherapy after surgery had significant effects on OS. Conclusion: Uterine sarcomas have poor progrosis even at early stages. Prognostic factors affecting OS were found to be age and grade.

Background:Postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) is defined as a chronic (continuing for 3 or more months) neuropathic pain affecting the axilla, medial arm, breast, and chest wall after breast cancer surgery. The prevalence of PMPS has been reported to range from 20% to 68%. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of PMPS among mastectomy patients, the severity of neuropathic pain in these patients, risk factors that contribute to pain becoming chronic, and the effect of PMPS on life quality.Methods:This cross-sectional study was approved by the Sakarya University, Medical Faculty Ethical Council and included 146 patients ranging in age from 18 to 85 years who visited the pain clinic, general surgery clinic, and oncology clinic and had breast surgery between 2012 and 2014. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether they met PMPS criteria: pain at axilla, arm, shoulder, chest wall, scar tissue, or breast at least 3 months after breast surgery. All patients gave informed consent prior to entry into the study. Patient medical records were collected, and pain and quality of life were evaluated by the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, a short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), douleur neuropathique-4 (DN-4), and SF-36.Results:Patient mean age was 55.2 ± 11.8 years (33.0–83.0 years). PMPS prevalence was 36%. Mean scores on the VAS, SF-MPQ, and DN-4 in PMPS patients were 1.76 ± 2.38 (0–10), 1.73 ± 1.54 (0–5), and 1.64 ± 2.31 (0–8), respectively. Of these patients, 31 (23.7%) had neuropathic pain characteristics, and 12 (9.2%) had phantom pain according to the DN-4 survey. Patients who had modified radical mastectomy were significantly more likely to develop PMPS than patients who had breast-protective surgery (P = 0.028). Only 2 (2.4%) of PMPS patients had received proper treatment (anticonvulsants or opioids).Conclusions:PMPS seriously impacts patients’ emotional situation, daily activities, and social relationships and is a major economic burden for health systems. We conclude that the rate of PMPS among patients receiving breast cancer surgery in Turkey is 64.1% and that challenges to the proper treatment of these patients deserve further investigation.

Tumor-associated immune system cells secrete protease and cytokines that can inhibit the immune response. In particular, T-cell effector functions could be inhibited, potentially causing an increase in parasitic infestations. Demodex species are common inhabitants of normal hair follicles. Humans are the specific host for two species Demodex folliculorum and D. brevis. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence and infestation of D. folliculorum and D. brevis in patients with cancer. In the present study, 101 patients with cancer were selected from among patients who were diagnosed and treated for cancer. The cancer patients were divided into four groups according to cancer type. Slides were examined for parasites using light microscopy at magnifications of ×40 and ×100. Infestation was defined as having at least five living parasites/cm 2 of skin. The ages of the patients with cancer ranged between 38 and 82 years, with a mean of 65.5±10.1 years. It was determined that 77 of the 101 (76.2%) cancer patients were positive for Demodex species. Infestation was positive in 18 (47.4%) of the 38 cases in the breast cancer group, 7 (29.2%) of the 24 cases in the lung cancer group, 5 (18.5%) of the 27 cases in the gastrointestinal system cancer group, and 2 (16.7%) of the 12 cases in the urogenital system cancer group. Results showed that the rate of Demodex species infestation was higher in patients with breast cancer. Thus, cancer -and particularly breast cancer -is a risk factor for Demodex species infestation.

Gastric cancer is still one of the cancers with highest mortality. Most patients present with advanced-stage disease. Palliative chemotherapy is usually the only treatment option for patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC). Maintenance chemotherapy is an evolving concept in medical oncology. Maintenance chemotherapy can be administered with the same drug(s) in the initial regimen or with an alternative agent. In this article, we report our experience with capecitabine as a maintenance agent for patients with AGC. No treatment-related death was observed due to use of capecitabine. Median progression-free survival was 10.4 months, and median overall survival was 19.7 months. Activity and toxicity profile of capecitabine seems favorable as a maintenance agent in AGC. We believe that capecitabine deserves further trials as a maintenance agent for patients with AGC.