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Cancer Resources > Cancer News > Cancer News from Reuters > Reuters Cancer News > 2006 > December
Serum albumin aids in prognosis of unknown site cancer
David Douglas
Last Updated: 2006-12-21 14:03:03 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - French researchers have developed an effective prognostic model for survival in patients with cancer, the primary site of which is unknown, according to findings published in the December 1st issue of Cancer.
"This study provides the first report on lymphopenia and low serum albumin levels related to the prognosis of patients with carcinomas of unknown primary," lead investigator Dr. Pascal Seve told Reuters Health.
Dr. Seve, of Hospices Civils de Lyon, and colleagues studied data on 317 Canadian patients with the disorder and found that those with liver metastasis, elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lymphopenia and low serum albumin levels had a worse prognosis.
The presence of liver metastasis and low serum albumin levels were the most powerful adverse prognostic factors, and the researchers developed and validated a refined prognosis model using these factors.
This allowed differentiation of a group of patients with a median survival of 371 days from those who had a median survival of 103 days. Study of a further 124 French patients showed that those deemed at good risk using the model, had a median survival of 378 days, compared to 90 days in the poor risk group.
"This new prognostic model substantially outperformed the previous standard prognostic model of Culine that is based on performance status and serum LDH levels," Dr. Seve concluded.
Cancer 2006;107:2698-2705.
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