Prediction of hospital admissions and grade 3-4 toxicities in cancer patients 70 years old and older receiving chemotherapy.

Aim: To predict chemotherapy toxicity and hospitalisations in elderly patients using clinical and laboratory parameters.

Methods: Records of cancer patients 70 years old or older who received adjuvant chemotherapy or first-line chemotherapy for a cancer in a single centre were reviewed. Factors associated with hospitalisations, grade 3-4 toxicities and dose reductions during treatment were evaluated.

The metabolic syndrome and its components as prognostic factors in metastatic colorectal cancer.

Background: Components of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) are involved in colorectal cancer development and the incidence of the disease is higher in obese and diabetic patients. Nevertheless, the value of these diseases or the MetS as a whole as prognostic markers once colorectal cancer is diagnosed is controversial.

Methods: Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer treated in our center over a 6-year period were reviewed and data on baseline characteristics of the patients and their cancers were extracted.

Differences in Referral Access to Care Between Gastrointestinal Subspecialty Patients: Barriers and Opportunities.

Referral access to subspecialty care for patients with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases is not well defined, but has significant importance to patients. We hypothesized that patients experience barriers to care in two common gastroenterology subspecialties, Hepatology and Motility, in a university medical center. Two hundred thirteen clinic patients (mean age 46.

Diabetes, Obesity, and the Metabolic Syndrome as Prognostic Factors in Stages I to III Colorectal Cancer Patients.

Background: Attempts to introduce prognostic factors for survival outcomes in localized colorectal cancer patients receiving surgical treatment with or without adjuvant therapies, beyond the classic staging parameters, have been met with limited success. Obesity and diabetes mellitus are among the conditions that predispose to colorectal cancer but their value as prognostic markers once the disease is diagnosed is controversial.

Patients And Methods: This study examines the prognostic value of the components of metabolic syndrome in a retrospective series of colorectal cancer patients with stages I to III disease followed in a single center.

Focal fat masquerading as malignancy in the liver graft of a post-transplant patient.

Background And Aims: Liver failure from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasing indication for liver transplant and recurrence of fatty liver in transplanted grafts has been documented. Herein is described an atypical recurrence of steatosis as a de novo focal fatty lesion that mimicked a more ominous cancerous lesion. This presentation of recurrent NAFLD has not previously been described in the literature.