TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY 2009 , Vol 24 , Num 2
The importance of pretreatment performance status and LDH level in patients with stage III-IV nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Vuslat YÜRÜT-ÇALOĞLU1, Murat ÇALOĞLU1, Hakan KARAGÖL2, Ruşen COŞAR-ALAS1, Zafer KOÇAK1
1Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Radyasyon Onkolojisi Anabilim Dalı, Edirne
2Trakya Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Medikal Onkoloji Bilim Dalı, Edirne OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the prognostic factors in patients treated with radiotherapy for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

METHODS
Forty-eight patients (37 males, 11 females) treated between September 1999 and September 2007 were assessed retrospectively.

RESULTS
Ten patients (21%) recurred loco-regionally. Gender (p=0.022), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) (p<0.0001), hemoglobin (Hb) (p=0.0035), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (p=0.032) were prognostic for loco-regional control. On multivariate analysis, only PS (p<0.003) remained significant. Eighteen (38%) patients had distant metastases. On univariate analysis, PS (p=0.022), Hb (p=0.002), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) (p=0.004), LDH (p=0.007), and completion of radiotherapy (p=0.014) were prognostic for distant metastasis. On Cox regression analysis, only LDH (p=0.001) remained significant. There were 27 deaths at the time of analysis. On logrank analysis, PS (p=0.012), completion of radiotherapy (p<0.0001), metastasis (p=0.018), and LDH (p=0.018) were prognostic for overall survival. On Cox regression analysis, only LDH (p=0.026) remained significant.

CONCLUSION
The pre-treatment LDH was prognostic for distant metastasis and overall survival while PS was prognostic for loco-regional control. Keywords : LDH level; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; performance status; radiotherapy