Serum lactic dehydrogenase strongly predicts survival in metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with palliative chemotherapy

• Published in: European journal of cancer (1990) Vol. 49; no. 7; pp. 1619 - 1626
• Main Authors: Jin, Y, Ye, X, Shao, L, Lin, B.C, He, C.X, Zhang, B.B, Zhang, Y.P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Bone Neoplasms - blood; Bone Neoplasms - secondary; Carcinoma; Cisplatin - administration & dosage; Female; Fluorouracil - administration & dosage; Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - blood; Liver Neoplasms - blood; Liver Neoplasms - secondary; Lung Neoplasms - blood; Lung Neoplasms - secondary; Male; Medical sciences; Metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Middle Aged; Multiple tumors. Solid tumors. Tumors in childhood (general aspects); Multivariate Analysis; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - blood; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - drug therapy; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - pathology; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) - statistics & numerical data; Paclitaxel - administration & dosage; Palliative Care - methods; Palliative chemotherapy; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Predictive Value of Tests; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Retrospective Studies; Serum lactic dehydrogenase; Tumors; Young Adult; Serum lactic dehydrogenase; Metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Palliative chemotherapy; Enzyme; Nasopharynx cancer; Prediction; Malignant tumor; Nasopharynx carcinoma; Metastasis; Dehydrogenase; Survival; Chemotherapy; Treatment; Cancerology; ENT disease; Advanced stage; Serum; Pharynx disease; Oxidoreductases; Predictive factor; Cancer
• ISSN: 0959-8049; 1879-0852
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejca.2012.11.032

Abstract Background and objective The survival outcomes of patients with metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) differ significantly between individuals. This study aimed to evaluate whether serum lactic dehydrogenase (S-LDH) level had a clinical value in predicting clinical response and survival outcome for patients with metastatic NPC. Methods S-LDH level was measured at baseline and then before every cycle of treatment in 689 NPC patients with distant metastases. Correlations of pre-treatment and post-treatment S-LDH levels to response of treatment and survival were analysed retrospectively. Results Patients with elevated values of pre-treatment S-LDH (>245 IU/L) had significantly worse survival than those with normal values of pre-treatment S-LDH (⩽245 IU/L) ( P < 0.001). Patients with elevated values of post-treatment S-LDH had worse survival compared with those with normal values of post-treatment S-LDH ( P < 0.001). Patients with normal values of pre-treatment and post-treatment S-LDH showed the highest response rate and the most favourable prognosis. Conclusion S-LDH appears to be a significant independent prognostic index in patients with disseminated NPC that should be considered in the comparison of the results achieved with different therapies and in planning new randomised clinical therapeutic trials.