title: Lactate dehydrogenase as a prognostic factor for survival time of terminally ill cancer patients: a preliminary study.
abstract: This study evaluated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as a prognostic factor for survival time in terminal cancer patients. We prospectively followed 93 consecutive inpatients with terminal cancer in one general hospital. Cox's proportional hazard model was used to adjust the influence of some clinical and laboratory variables on survival time. For 25 patients, LDH levels at 2 weeks and 1 week before death were compared by paired t test. In multivariate analysis, elevated LDH level (313 IU/L) was confirmed as an unfavourable indicator for survival time (hazard ratio=2.087, p=0.002). Serum LDH levels were significantly increased as the patients approached death. A combined index comprising LDH levels, C reactive protein levels, uric acid levels, presence of moderate to severe pain, fatigue, hypotension and performance status demonstrated a good stratification value for predicting survival time. Our results showed that serum LDH level can be a useful predictor of survival time of terminally ill cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Dongguk University International Hospital, 814 Siksa-dong, Ilsan-dong-gu, Koyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. lisasuhmd@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Sang-Yeon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: Hong-Yup
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism*; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000401:mortality; D010166:Palliative Care; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D019452:Terminally Ill
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase