Introduction: Gastric Cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancers that can result in death. Markers are needed to detect gastric cancer early and manage treatment. We aimed to reveal the relationship between Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) level and Fibrinogen-Albumin Ratio (FAR) and prognosis in gastric cancer, as well as to examine the relationship of these values with the number of metastatic lymph nodes and TNM stage.

Materials and methods: The data of 805 consecutive gastrectomy patients were analyzed retrospectively. A total of 461 patients were included. The optimal cut- off values of CEA and FAR were 2.43 ng/mL and 1.26, respectively. Patients were stratified into three groups based on this cutoff value: CEA-FAR=0 (CEA<2.43 ng/mL and FAR<1.26), CEA-FAR=1 (CEA ≥ 2.43 ng/mL or FAR ≥ 1.26), and CEA-FAR=2 (CEA ≥ 2.43 ng/mL and FAR ≥ 00201.26).

Results: There was a significant relationship between high CEA and stage (p=0.040), N status (p=0.017), and lymph node metastasis (p=0.004), and also there was a significant correlation between high FAR value and grade (p=0.003), stage (p<0.001), T status (p<0.001), N status (p<0.001) and metastatic lymph node count (p<0.001). Overall and disease-free survival were significantly different between the three CEA-FAR groups.

Conclusion: We believe that pre-operative FAR and CEA values are independent predictors of survival. FAR and CEA are potential prognostic indicators for resectable gastric cancer due to their easy access and low cost. Considering survival and prognosis in patients with very high preoperative CEA and FAR values, neoadjuvant chemotherapy should also be considered.

Background: In spite of antiviral prophylaxis regimens, Cytomegalovirus (CMV) remains a major reason for morbidity and allograft failure in kidney transplant recipients. This study aimed to investigate the incidence of early or late onset of CMV viremia in kidney transplant recipients and evaluate the correlation of laboratory findings and graft origin with CMV viremia.

Methods: In this prospective case-control study, 192 kidney recipients were evaluated for the timing and potential risk factors based on detectable CMV viremia (≥200 copies/ml) and all-correlates were assessed using multivariate logistic regression models.

Results: 153 participants from examined patients were eligible to enter the study. The risk of CMV viremia with viral loads ≥200 copies/ml was receiving a graft from a deceased donor. Importantly, CMV viremia mostly occurred 4 months after transplantation, while the patients were expected to be on CMV prophylaxis.

Conclusions: Receiving a renal graft from a deceased donor significantly raises the incidence of viremia in renal transplant patients. The median month of CMV viremia occurrence was month 4th after transplantation. Serum testing showed a significant increase in creatinine and a decrease in platelets in the CMV positive group compared to the control group. Our results indicated that the viremia has not affected the survival of the allograft or patient.