Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2013 | Research article
Preoperative serum C- reactive protein: a prognostic marker in patients with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma
Authors:
Barbara Stein, Andres Jan Schrader, Gerd Wegener, Christoph Seidel, Markus A Kuczyk, Sandra Steffens
Published in:
BMC Cancer
|
Issue 1/2013
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Abstract
Background
To analyse the prognostic significance of preoperative C-reactive protein (CRP) serum level in patients with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UUT-UC).
Methods
We evaluated 158 UUT-UC patients who had undergone surgery in the University Hospital of Hannover (MHH). 143 (89.4%) suffered from cancer in the renal pelvis, 13 (8.1%) patients presented with tumour located in the ureter. A preoperative CRP value was available for 115 patients. The mean (median) follow-up for these patients was 28.3 (15.1) months.
Results
The median (mean) CRP value of all evaluable patients was 10.0 (40.7) mg/l. The CRP-level, stratified into two subgroups (CRP ≤5 vs. >5 mg/l), correlated significantly with muscle invasive tumour stage (36.4 vs. 78.9%; p<0.001), the risk of presenting nodal disease (4.5 vs. 26.8%; p=0.002) and distant metastasis (2.3 vs. 16.9%; p<0.016). The Kaplan-Meier 5-year cancer specific survival (CSS) rates were 54.2 and 26.4% for patients with preoperative CRP levels ≤ and >5 mg/l, respectively (p<0.006). Next to age and the presence of metastasis, multivariate analysis also identified CRP as a continuous variable as an independent prognosticator for CSS.
Conclusions
A high preoperative serum CRP level is associated with locally advanced and metastatic disease in patients with UUT-UC. Its routine use could allow better risk stratification and risk-adjusted follow-up of UUT-UC patients.