Background: Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy and the second leading cause of mortality among women in Iraq forming 23% of cancer related deaths. The low survival from the disease is a direct consequence to the advanced stages at diagnoses. Aim: To document the composite stage of breast cancer among Iraqi patients at the time of diagnosis; correlating the observed findings with other clinical and pathological parameters at presentation. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study enrolling the clinical and pathological characteristics of 603 Iraqi female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. The composite stage of breast cancer was determined according to UICC TNM Classification System of Breast Cancer and the American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging. The studied parameters comprised age of the patient, stage of the disease, marital and educational status, history of lactation and hormonal intake (for a minimum period of 6 months), family history of breast or any other cancer, the effected breast side, hormone (Estrogen and Progesterone) receptor (ER, PR) and Her2 contents of the primary cancer. Statistical analysis was performed to correlate the recorded composite stages at diagnosis with the corresponding clinical and pathological data utilizing SPSS version 16.0 statistical program. Results: Out of 603 patients, seven (1.2%) had ductal carcinoma in situ (Stage 0). Stages I, II and III and IV were documented in 9.5%, 47.1%, 33.2% and 9.1% of the patients at the time of diagnoses. Overall 70.8% of patients presented in the age group (40-59 years), 79.3% were married and 32.2% were highly educated. History of lactation, hormonal intake, family breast cancer and contralateral breast involvement was observed in 73.4%, 26.5%, 20.2% and 6.5% respectively. No correlation was elicited between the stage of breast cancer and the age of the patients, history of lactation or contralateral breast involvement. On the other hand, significant associations were demonstrated with respect to the marital and educational status, history of hormonal intake and breast cancer in the family. Immuno-histochemical evaluation revealed ER+PR+Her2+ (Triple Positive/Luminal B), ER-PR-Her2- (Triple Negative), ER+PR+Her2- (Luminal A) and ER-PR-Her2+ (Her2) subtypes in 13.4%, 11.8%, 48.2% and 9.8% of the examined breast samples respectively. When correlating the composite stage at diagnosing breast cancer with the corresponding subtypes the relationship was highly significant at p<0.01. Conclusions and Recommendations: The study reports a regression in Stage IV breast cancer at the time of initial presentation among Iraqi patients specifically in those with family history of the disease; pointing out to the fruitful outputs of initiating the National Program for Early Detection of Breast Cancer in the country. Further professional efforts, endorsed by practical policy decisions, are recommended to down stage breast cancer through promoting evidence based protocol guidelines and adopting comprehensive well designed diagnostic, screening and cancer control strategies.
Colorectal cancer CRC is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and the second in female, so it is a common and life-threatening disease serum of 48 males and 40 females suffering from CRC disease as group one (G1) without taking a chemotherapy dose, the same patients group tow (G2) after taking the first chemotherapy dose, while group three (G3) whose patients in (G1) and (G2) after second taking a chemotherapy dose. and group four (G4) consist of (30 males and 30 females) healthy Iraqi control. Results showed a significant increase in IL-17, IL-17RA and CEA in G1, while there was a significant decrease in vitamin D concentration in G1 than other groups, also there was positive (+ ve) significant correlation between IL-17 and CE
... Show MoreFLI1 is a member of ETS family of transcription factors that regulate a variety of normal biologic activities including cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The expression of FLI1 and its correlation with well-known breast cancer prognostic markers (ER, PR and HER2) was determined in primary breast tumors as well as four breast cancer lines including: MCF-7, T47D, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 using RT-qPCR with either 18S rRNA or ACTB (β-actin) for normalization of data. FLI1 mRNA level was decreased in the breast cancer cell lines under study compared to the normal breast tissue; however, Jurkat cells, which were used as a positive control, showed overexpression compared to the normal breast. Regarding primary breast carcinoma
... Show MoreBackground: Both bladder cancer and schistosomiasis are endemic in Egypt. The former has a unique epidemiological pattern, which has been linked to bladder infestation by Schistosoma. The last decades have witnessed a great reduction in the infection rate of schistosomiasis and a decline in the incidence and changes in the patterns of bladder cancer. Whether these changes are linked to each other or a co-incidence is a subject of investigations.
Method: Literature on epidemiological data of bladder cancer and Schistosoma in Egypt was searched for in Medline, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Furthermore, a hand search for literature and reports released by the Egyptian government and involved agencies was perfo
... Show MoreBackground: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a collection of connected cardiovascular risk factors that characterizes the complicated illness. The waist circumference cutoff point fluctuation has so far defined Mets. Objective: This study aimed to determine the cutoff point for WC in healthy Iraqi adults. Methods: This cross-sectional survey establishes the standard value for WC among 300 healthy university students in Wasit city, Iraq. They are aged between 18-25 years. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was used WC to predict the presence of two or more risk factors for MetS, as defined by IDF. Results: The cutoff level yielding maximum sensitivity and specificity for predicting the presence of multiple risk factors was
... Show MoreBackground: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a collection of chronic, recurrent inflammatory illnesses of the gastrointestinal system, including Crohn's disease (CD). Infliximab is one of the biological medications used to treat CD. Therapeutic drug monitoring has evolved as a treatment in IBD, aiming to optimize benefit while meeting more demanding, objective end criteria. Objective: To determine the achievement of target trough level (TL), develop anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) to infliximab, assess response to therapy, and study TL relations with different variables. Methods: The present study was cross-sectional and conducted from May 2022 to November 2022. It included 40 CD patients allotted into 2 groups: group 1 patients ach
... Show MoreBackground: Squamous cell carcinoma is a disease of elderly peopleand it is uncommon in people with less than 40 years old; however many literatures revealed that tumor developing in patients younger than forty years appears more aggressive at the time of diagnosis. The purpose of the present study was to focus on the clincopathological features of the oral SCC in different age groups. Material and methods: In this study thirty five cases of paraffin embedded tissue blocks of oral squamous cell carcinoma were studied. The age range was from 16 to 80 years. The clinicopathological data were recorded for evaluating the tumor characters according to age of patients. Results : The age was not significantly correlated to the clinicopathological
... Show MoreColorectal cancer (CRC), the second most fatal cancer and the 3rd most common cancer is expected to cause 0.9 million deaths globally in 2025. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is currently used in the follow-up of patients with colorectal cancer, and in this study, we are trying to find a better marker than CEA in following up on patients' health and knowing the effectiveness of the treatment used and as a diagnostic marker for colorectal cancer. To determine the significance of Cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4) as a prognosis predictor in patients with colorectal cancer, compare its prognostic validity to the CEA biomarker. this case-control study includes (150) participants, 100 patients (59 males and 41 females), and 50 healthy controls
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