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Potential Prognostic Factors (potential + prognostic_factor)
Selected AbstractsAdjuvant lipiodol I-131 after curative resection/ablation of hepatocellular carcinomaHPB, Issue 6 2008K. M. Ng Abstract Aim. A total of 329 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma have been treated at our unit since 1990. Following the randomized controlled trial in Hong Kong by Lau et al. in 1999, patients have been offered adjuvant lipiodol I-131. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of adjuvant lipiodol I-131, following potentially curative surgery with resection and/or ablation, on overall and disease-free survival rates. Material and methods. The prospectively updated hepatocellular carcinoma database was analysed retrospectively. A total of 34 patients were identified to have received adjuvant lipiodol I-131 post-curative treatment with surgical resection and/or ablation. Patient demographics, clinical, surgical, pathology, and survival data were collected and analysed. Results. Three patients received ablation alone, 24 resection, and 7 resection and ablation. Of the 34 patients treated, there were 2 possible cases of treatment-related fatality (pneumonitis and liver failure). Potential prognostic factors studied for effect on survival included age, gender, serum AFP concentration, Child-Pugh score, cirrhosis, tumor size, portal vein tumor thrombus, tumor rupture, and vascular and margin involvement. The median follow-up duration was 23.3 months. The overall median survival was 40.1 months, while the overall survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 4 years were 87.1%, 71.7%, 60.7%, and 49.6%, respectively. Median duration to recurrence was 22.3 months. Conclusion. Administration of adjuvant lipiodol I-131 is associated with good overall survival. [source] N1S3: A revised staging system for head and neck cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma with lymph node metastasesCANCER, Issue 5 2010Results of 2 Australian Cancer Centers Abstract BACKGROUND. A staging system was designed for metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) that would incorporate the parotid as a regional level and facilitate a better prognostic discrimination between subgroups. METHODS. A retrospective review of clinical and pathological information of patients treated for metastatic cutaneous SCC to the parotid and/or neck was conducted. Potential prognostic factors were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses. A staging system was elaborated and externally validated. RESULTS. Two hundred fifteen patients were included. All patients had surgery as their primary treatment; 148 had parotidectomy with neck dissection, 50 parotidectomy alone, and 18 neck dissection alone. One hundred seventy-five patients received postoperative radiotherapy. On univariate analysis, the number of involved lymph nodes (P < .001), maximal size (P = .01), and extracapsular spread (P = .003) were found to be significant predictors of survival. On Cox regression, the number of involved lymph nodes as single or multiple (P = .006) was significant. The N1S3 staging system incorporates involved lymph nodes from parotid and neck (single or multiple) and the size (< or >3 cm). This system demonstrates significant predictive capacity for locoregional control (P < .001), disease-specific survival (P<.0001), and overall survival (P<.0001). N1S3 was tested on a different cohort of 250 patients, and the results confirmed those obtained from our primary analyses. CONCLUSIONS. The N1S3 system stages patients according to the number of involved lymph nodes and size, and incorporates parotid as 1 of the regional levels. These 2 predictors are easily applied on both clinical and pathological data. Cancer 2010. © 2010 American Cancer Society. [source] Outcome of secondary root canal treatment: a systematic review of the literatureINTERNATIONAL ENDODONTIC JOURNAL, Issue 12 2008Y.-L. Ng Abstract Aims, (i) To investigate the effects of study characteristics on the reported success rates of secondary root canal treatment (2°RCT or root canal retreatment); and (ii) to investigate the effects of clinical factors on the success of 2°RCT. Methodology, Longitudinal human clinical studies investigating outcome of 2°RCT which were published upto the end of 2006 were identified electronically (MEDLINE and Cochrane database 1966,2006 Dec, week 4). Four journals (Dental Traumatology, International Endodontic Journal, Journal of Endodontics, Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology Endodontics Radiology), bibliographies of all relevant papers and review articles were hand-searched. Two reviewers (Y-LN, KG) independently assessed and selected the studies based on specified inclusion criteria and extracted the data onto a pre-designed proforma, independently. The criteria were: (i) Clinical studies on 2°RCT; (ii) Stratified analyses available for 2°RCT where 1°RCT data included; (iii) Sample size given and larger than 10; (iv) At least 6-month post-operative review; (v) Success based on clinical and/or radiographic criteria (strict = absence of apical radiolucency; loose = reduction in size of radiolucency); and (vi) Overall success rate given or could be calculated from the raw data. Three strands of evidence or analyses were used to triangulate a consensus view. The reported findings from individual studies, including those excluded for quantitative analysis, were utilized for the intuitive synthesis which constituted the first strand of evidence. Secondly, the pooled weighted success rates by each study characteristic and potential prognostic factor were estimated using the random effect model. Thirdly, the effects of study characteristics and prognostic factors (expressed as odds ratios) on success rates were estimated using fixed and random effects meta-analysis with DerSimonean and Laird's methods. Meta-regression models were used to explore potential sources of statistical heterogeneity. Study characteristics considered in the meta-regression analyses were: decade of publication, study-specific criteria for success (radiographic, combined radiographic & clinical), unit of outcome measure (tooth, root), duration after treatment when assessing success (,at least 4 years' or ,<4 years'), geographic location of the study (North American, Scandinavian, other countries), and qualification of the operator (undergraduate students, postgraduate students, general dental practitioners, specialist or mixed group). Results, Of the 40 papers identified, 17 studies published between 1961 and 2005 were included; none were published in 2006. The majority of studies were retrospective (n = 12) and only five prospective. The pooled weighted success rate of 2°RCT judged by complete healing was 76.7% (95% CI 73.6%, 89.6%) and by incomplete healing, 77.2% (95% CI 61.1%, 88.1%). The success rates by ,decade of publication' and ,geographic location of study' were not significantly different at the 5% level. Eighteen clinical factors had been investigated in various combinations in previous studies. The most frequently and thoroughly investigated were ,periapical status' (n = 13), ,size of lesion' (n = 7), and ,apical extent of RF' (n = 5) which were found to be significant prognostic factors. The effect of different aspects of primary treatment history and re-treatment procedures has been poorly tested. Conclusions, The pooled estimated success rate of secondary root canal treatment was 77%. The presence of pre-operative periapical lesion, apical extent of root filling and quality of coronal restoration proved significant prognostic factors with concurrence between all three strands of evidence whilst the effects of 1°RCT history and 2°RCT protocol have been poorly investigated. [source] Outcome of secondary root canal treatment , Systematic review of the literatureINTERNATIONAL ENDODONTIC JOURNAL, Issue 5 2007Y.-L. Ng Aims, To assess the success rates of secondary root canal treatment (2oRCT) and identify factors influencing outcome. Methodology, Longitudinal clinical studies investigating outcome of 2oRCT were identified by electronic (medline) and hand searches. Inclusion criteria were data on: number of samples, those successful and definition of success. Two reviewers independently assessed the studies and extracted the data onto a proforma. The pooled weighted success rates by each potential prognostic factor were estimated using the binomial random effect model (MLwiN version 2.02) whilst their pooled effects (expressed as odds ratio) on success rates were estimated using fixed and random effects meta-analysis with DerSimonean and Laird's methods (Stata version 9.2). Meta-regression models were used to explore potential sources of statistical heterogeneity. Study characteristics considered in the meta-regression analyses were: decade of publication, study-specific criteria for success (radiographic, combined radiographic & clinical), unit of outcome measure (tooth and root), duration after treatment when assessing success (at least 4 years or shorter), geographic location of the study (North American, Scandinavian and other countries), and qualification of the operator (undergraduate students, postgraduate students, general dental practitioners, specialist or mixed group). Results, Of the 41 studies identified, 18 studies published between 1921 and 2005 were included. The majority of studies were retrospective (n = 13) and only five prospective. The pooled weighted success rate of 2oRCT judged by complete healing was 77.6% (95% CI 73.2%, 81.4%) and by incomplete healing, 77.4% (95% CI 64.1%, 86.7%). The success rates were similar by ,year of publication' and ,country of study'. Eighteen clinical factors were investigated in various combinations in previous studies. The most frequently investigated were ,periapical status' (n = 13), ,size of lesion' (n = 7), ,culture results prior to RF' (n = 5), and ,apical extent of root filling (RF)' (n = 4). The effect of different aspects of previous treatment and re-treatment technique has been poorly tested. Conclusions, The pooled weighted estimated success rate of 2oRCT was 77%, which was significantly (P , 0.001) influenced by the presence and size of pre-operative periapical lesion. The effects of existing canal content, procedural error and re-treatment technique were poorly investigated. [source] Prognostic evaluation of epidermal fatty acid-binding protein and calcyphosine, two proteins implicated in endometrial cancer using a proteomic approachINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 10 2008Zhengyu Li Abstract With the aim to translate the discovery from proteomic research into clinical applications, we identified epidermal fatty acid-binding protein (E-FABP) and calcyphosine (CAPS) by MALDI-Q-TOF MS and validated their overexpressions by immunoblotting. Their expression statuses were examined by immunohistochemistry in 39 normal endometrium, 29 endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia (EIN) and 84 endometrial cancer (EC) cases. We evaluated the correlations to the clinicopathologic characteristics and determined whether these proteins had prognostic significance. Expressions of E-FABP and CAPS were increased 2.64- and 2.18-fold in EC by immunoblotting. Immunoreactivity of both E-FABP and CAPS were stronger in EC than in EIN or normal tissues (p < 0.001 and < 0.001). Stronger immunoreactivity of E-FABP and CAPS were shown to present with poor differentiation (p = 0.032 and 0.001), but no relevance was observed with staging (p = 1.368 and 4.306). Survival analysis indicated that immunoreactivity of CAPS was correlated to poor survival (p = 0.018), but E-FABP status appeared to be no correlation to the clinical outcome of patients (p = 0.865). Multivariate analysis indicated that CAPS might be an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with EC (p = 0.008). Results demonstrated the ubiquitous overexpressions of E-FABP and CAPS in EC and the correlations to the clinicopathologic parameters. CAPS might be a potential prognostic factor for survival in patients with EC. The research pattern from proteomics to clinical specimens would have widespread applications. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Expression and promoter methylation status of mismatch repair gene hMLH1 and hMSH2 in epithelial ovarian cancerAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 5 2008Hui ZHANG Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between methylation and loss of hMLH1 and hMSH2 expression in ovarian cancer. Methods: We examined the methylation status of hMLH1 and hMSH2 promoter region by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) in 56 primary ovarian cancer tissues and 20 normal ovarian tissues, the relationship between the methylation status of these two genes and clinicopathological characteristics were analysed. We then treated SKOV3 and 3AO ovarian cancer cell lines with the demethylating agent 5-aza-2,-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dc). The hMLH1 and hMSH2 methylation was further assessed by MSP, and their mRNA expression was compared by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) before and after 5-aza-dc treatment in these two cell lines. Results: The methylation frequency of hMLH1 and hMSH2 was 30.4% (17 of 56) and 51.7% (29 of 56) in ovarian cancers, respectively, while no methylation was detected in normal ovarian tissues (P = 0.015). There is a significant correlation between hMLH1 promoter hypermethylation and histological grade (P = 0.028) as well as lymphatic metastasis (P = 0.003). Methylation of hMSH2 correlated with histological grade (P = 0.035) and lymphatic metastasis (P = 0.015). Besides, the methylation rates of hMSH2 were significantly higher in endometrioid adenocarcinoma tissues than in other pathological types of ovarian cancer. After 5-aza-dc treatment, the expression of hMLH1 and hMSH2 was reversed in two cell lines. Conclusion: Our results indicate that promoter hypermethylation is an important mechanism for loss of hMLH1 and hMSH2 expression in human ovarian cancer and may be a potential prognostic factor in ovarian cancer. [source] Prognostic factors for the malignant triton tumor of the head and neckHEAD & NECK: JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES & SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK, Issue 5 2009Andrej Terzic MD Abstract Background. Malignant triton tumors are rare neoplasias consisting of a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with additional rhabdomyoblastic differentiation. These tumors are highly aggressive and prognosis is poor. Our aim is to describe the outcome and to identify potential prognostic factors. Methods. From 1993 to 2005, 7 patients with a malignant triton tumor of the head and neck were treated at our institution. A literature search revealed another 46 published cases. All these cases were analyzed for outcome and prognostic factors. Results. Patients with primary tumors involving the nose and paranasal sinuses have better, patients involving the neck a poor prognosis. All other locations show an intermediate course. Complete surgical removal is of crucial importance. Additional radiation or chemotherapy show little effect. Conclusion. Location of the primary tumor is a key factor for prognosis. Complete surgical removal is the only treatment associated with survival.© 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2009 [source] Molecular markers and mortality in prostate cancerBJU INTERNATIONAL, Issue 6 2007John Concato OBJECTIVE To evaluate prognosis in prostate cancer by assessing the independent effect of selected molecular factors (e.g. markers of cell-cycle regulation), in addition to the effect of traditional clinical factors (e.g. anatomical stage, histological grade), in predicting long-term mortality among men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS In a community-based population of 64 545 USA veterans aged ,,50 years and receiving ambulatory care during 1989,90 at nine Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centres in New England, 1274 had incident prostate cancer during 1991,95. We obtained the medical records and diagnostic tissue for these men, and then extracted demographic data and clinical information, and conducted immunohistochemical assays of molecular markers in biopsy tissue, as potential prognostic factors. In this interim analysis, data on 250 patients were analysed; the main outcome was overall mortality to 31 December 2003, providing 8,13 years of follow-up. RESULTS In 228 (91%) patients with available medical record and laboratory data, the median age was 72 years and the median prostate-specific antigen level was 10.4 ng/mL. In adjusted (multivariate) analyses that included traditional prognostic factors, bcl-2 staining (hazard ratio 2.14, 95% confidence interval 1.27,3.58, P = 0.004) and high microvessel density (1.76, 1.19,2.60; P = 0.005) had an independent effect on the outcome. CONCLUSIONS Bcl-2 and microvessel density are independent predictors of subsequent death among men with prostate cancer and might have a clinical role in assisting in deciding on treatment. [source] Evaluation of the use of prophylactic cranial irradiation in small cell lung cancer,CANCER, Issue 4 2009Shilpen Patel MD Abstract BACKGROUND: Prophylactic cranial irradiation has been used in patients with small cell lung cancer to reduce the incidence of brain metastasis after primary therapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) on overall survival and cause-specific survival. METHODS: A total of 7995 patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer diagnosed between 1988 and 1997 were retrospectively identified from centers participating in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. Of them, 670 were identified as having received PCI as a component of their first course of therapy. Overall survival and cause-specific survival were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method, comparing patients treated with or without prophylactic whole-brain radiotherapy. The Cox proportional hazards model was used in the multivariate analysis to evaluate potential prognostic factors. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 13 months (range, 1 month to 180 months). Overall survival at 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years was 23%, 11%, and 6%, respectively, in patients who did not receive PCI. In patients who received PCI, the 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year overall survival rates were 42%, 19%, and 9%, respectively (P = <.001). The cause-specific survival rate at 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years was 28%, 15%, 11%, respectively, in patients who did not receive PCI and 45%, 24%, 17%, respectively, in patients who did receive PCI (P = <.001). On multivariate analysis of cause-specific and overall survival, age at diagnosis, sex, grade, extent of primary disease, size of disease, extent of lymph node involvement, and PCI were found to be significant (P = <.001). The hazards ratios for disease-specific and all cause mortality were 1.13 and 1.11, respectively, for those not receiving PCI. CONCLUSIONS: Significantly improved overall and cause-specific survival was observed in patients treated with prophylactic cranial irradiation on unadjusted and adjusted analyses. This study concurs with the previously published European experience. Prophylactic cranial irradiation should be considered for patients with limited stage small cell lung cancer. Cancer 2009. © 2008 American Cancer Society. [source] Prognostic factors for functional outcome and survival after reirradiation for in-field recurrences of metastatic spinal cord compression,CANCER, Issue 5 2008Dirk Rades MD Abstract BACKGROUND. The purpose of the current study was to retrospectively investigate clinical outcome and potential prognostic factors after reirradiation (Re-RT) for in-field recurrence of metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC). METHODS. Re-RT with 1 × 8 Gy (n = 48), 5 × 3 Gy (n = 29), 5 × 4 Gy (n = 30), 7 × 3 Gy (n = 3), 10-12 × 2 Gy (n = 11), or 17 × 1.8 Gy (n = 3) was administered to 124 patients. Cumulative biologically effective dose (BED) (first course of RT plus re-RT) ranged from 77.5 Gy2 to 142.6 Gy2, and was ,120 Gy2 in 114 (92%) patients. Twelve potential prognostic factors were investigated for associations with motor function and survival. RESULTS. Motor function improved in 45 (36%) patients, was stable in another 62 (50%) patients, and deteriorated in 17 (14%) patients. Upon multivariate analyses, the effect of Re-RT on motor function was significantly associated with the effect of the first course of RT (P = .048), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (P = .020), time to development of motor deficits before Re-RT (P = .002), and visceral metastases (P < .001). Survival was associated with ECOG performance status (P < .001), ambulatory status before Re-RT (P < .001), time to development of motor deficits (P = .018), and visceral metastases (P <.001). Re-RT dose schedule or cumulative BED had no significant impact on functional outcome or survival. Acute toxicity was mild, and late toxicity, such as radiation myelopathy, was not observed. CONCLUSIONS. Given the limitations of a retrospective study and the relatively short follow up after Re-RT, spinal reirradiation appeared to be effective and safe when the cumulative BED is ,120 Gy2. Motor function after Re-RT was associated with the effect of first irradiation, performance status, time to development of motor deficits, and visceral metastases, whereas the Re-RT schedule had no significant impact. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society. [source] Whole-brain radiotherapy versus stereotactic radiosurgery for patients in recursive partitioning analysis classes 1 and 2 with 1 to 3 brain metastasesCANCER, Issue 10 2007Dirk Rades MD Abstract BACKGROUND. The authors investigated whether stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) alone improved outcomes for patients in recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) Classes 1 and 2 who had 1 to 3 brain metastases compared with whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT). METHODS. Data regarding 186 patients in RPA Classes 1 and 2 who had 1 to 3 brain metastases and who received either 30 to 40 grays (Gy) of WBRT (n = 91 patients) or 18 to 25 Gy SRS (n = 95 patients) were analyzed retrospectively. Eight other potential prognostic factors were evaluated regarding overall survival (OS), entire brain control (BC), local control (LC) of treated metastases, and brain control distant from treated metastases (distant control [DC]): Those 8 factors were age, sex, performance status, tumor type, number of brain metastases, extracranial metastases, RPA class, and interval from tumor diagnosis to radiotherapy. RESULTS. On multivariate analysis of OS, age ( risk ratio [RR], 1.51; P = .024), Karnofsky performance status (KPS) (RR, 1.98; P = .002), and extracranial metastases (RR, 2.26; P < .001) were significant, whereas the radiation regimen was not significant (P = .89). On multivariate analysis of BC, only the radiation regimen (RR, 1.33; P = .003) was found to be significant. On multivariate analysis of LC, radiation regimen (RR, 1.63; P < .001) and sex (RR, 1.62; P = .022) were significant. On multivariate analysis of DC, KPS (RR, 1.85; P = .049) and extracranial metastases (RR, 1.69; P = .047) were significant. The radiation regimen was not found to be significant even on univariate analysis (P = .80). In RPA class subgroup analyses, BC and LC were better after SRS than WBRT for patients in RPA Classes 1 and 2, whereas OS and DC did not differ significantly. CONCLUSIONS. For patients in RPA Classes 1 and 2 who had 1 to 3 brain metastases, SRS alone was associated with improved BC and LC compared with 30 to 40 Gy WBRT, whereas OS and DC were not significantly different. Similar results were observed in separate subgroup analyses of patients in RPA Class 1 and RPA Class 2. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society. [source] A boost in addition to whole-brain radiotherapy improves patient outcome after resection of 1 or 2 brain metastases in recursive partitioning analysis class 1 and 2 patientsCANCER, Issue 7 2007Dirk Rades MD Abstract BACKGROUND. The current study was conducted to compare 2 treatment regimens including surgical resection and whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT) for patients with 1 to 2 brain metastases. METHODS. A total of 201 patients with recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class 1 to 2 disease with 1 to 2 resectable brain metastases were analyzed retrospectively. Patients underwent either resection of the metastases plus WBRT with 10 fractions of 3 grays (Gy) each or 20 fractions of 2 Gy each (99 patients; Group A) or the same treatment plus a WBRT boost to the metastatic site (10 fractions of 3 Gy each plus 5 fractions of 3 Gy each or 20 fractions of 2 Gy each plus 5 fractions of 2 Gy each) (102 patients; Group B). Eight other potential prognostic factors were evaluated with regard to overall survival (OS), brain control (BC), and local control of resected metastases (LC): age, gender, Karnofsky performance status, extent of surgical resection, tumor type, extracranial metastases, RPA class, and interval from tumor diagnosis to WBRT. RESULTS. Group B patients had better 1-year OS (66% vs 41%; P < .001). On multivariate analysis of OS, treatment regimen (relative risk [RR] of 1.94; P < .001), extent of surgical resection (RR of 1.80; P = .001), and interval from tumor diagnosis to WBRT (RR of 1.62; P = .010) were found to be statistically significant. On multivariate analysis of BC, treatment regimen (RR of 2.15; P = .002), extent of surgical resection (RR of 2.78; P < .001), and interval from tumor diagnosis to WBRT (RR of 1.52; P = .034) were found to be statistically significant. On multivariate analysis of LC, treatment regimen (RR of 2.31; P = .002) and extent of surgical resection (RR of 3.79; P < .001) were found to be statistically significant. On RPA class subgroup analyses, outcome was found to be significantly better with a WBRT boost in both RPA class 1 and class 2 patients. A WBRT boost resulted in better outcome after both complete and incomplete surgical resection. However, the results concerning BC and LC were not found to be statistically significant if surgical resection was incomplete. CONCLUSIONS. After surgical resection of 1 to 2 brain metastases, a boost of 10 to 15 Gy in addition to WBRT was found to improve outcome. After incomplete surgical resection, further dose escalation to the metastatic site may be considered. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society. [source] Prognostic factors in the nonsurgical treatment of esophageal carcinoma with radiotherapy or radiochemotherapyCANCER, Issue 8 2005The importance of pretreatment hemoglobin levels Abstract BACKGROUND The current study was performed to evaluate prognostic factors for overall survival (OS), distant metastasis (DM), and local failure (LF) in patients with Stage II/III esophageal carcinoma. METHODS The following potential prognostic factors were retrospectively investigated in 124 patients treated with radiotherapy (RT) alone or with radiochemotherapy: age, gender, performance status, tumor location, tumor length, histology, histologic grade, T classification, N classification, International Union Against Cancer stage, chemotherapy, RT dose, and pre-RT hemoglobin level. RESULTS Using univariate analysis (Kaplan,Meier method), pre-RT hemoglobin level, RT dose, tumor length, chemotherapy, and performance status were significantly associated with OS. Hemoglobin levels of 12.1,14.0 g/dL were associated with the best OS, followed by , 14.1 g/dL and , 12.0 g/dL. DM was significantly influenced by tumor length, RT dose, N classification, and performance status. LF was significantly influenced by pre-RT hemoglobin level, RT dose, and tumor length. Using multivariate analysis (Cox proportional hazard model), pre-RT hemoglobin maintained significance for OS (P < 0.001) and LF (P < 0.001), RT dose for OS (P = 0.001), DM (P = 0.031), and LF (P < 0.001), tumor length for OS (P = 0.003), DM (P = 0.017), and LF (P = 0.033), and chemotherapy for OS (P = 0.027). N classification was of borderline significance for DM (P = 0.054). Performance status lost significance for OS (P = 0.73) and LF (P = 0.22). CONCLUSIONS The strongest predictors for outcome in Stage II/III esophageal carcinoma were RT dose, tumor length, pre-RT hemoglobin level, and chemotherapy. The pre-RT hemoglobin level was an independent prognostic factor significantly associated with OS and LF. A hemoglobin level of 12.1,14 g/dL resulted in a better prognosis than hemoglobin levels , 14 g/dL and , 12 g/dL. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||