Nutritional factors as predictors of response to radio-chemotherapy and survival in unresectable squamous head and neck carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE
This study sought to evaluate nutritional prognostic factors before treatment in patients with unresectable head and neck cancer treated by concomitant radio-chemotherapy.


METHODS
Seventy-two consecutive patients were treated. We studied the potential effects of CRP, Alb, preAlb, orosomucoid, weight, weight history, BMI, PINI, OPR and NRI on response to treatment, Event-Free Survival (EFS) and Overall Survival (OS). Effects of potential risk factors on OS and on EFS were analyzed by computing Kaplan-Meier estimates, and curves were compared using the log-rank test.


RESULTS
All biological nutritional factors were statistically correlated with the response to radio-chemotherapy. In multivariate analysis, only CRP (p=0.004) remained statistically significant. A statistical correlation was found between Alb and EFS in multivariate analysis (p=0.04). The factors influencing OS in univariate analysis were Alb (p=0.008), CRP (p=0.004), orosomucoid (p=0.01) and NRI (p=0.01), response to radio-chemotherapy (p<0.001) and staging (p=0.04). In multivariate analysis, only the response to radio-chemotherapy (p<0.001) remained significant.


CONCLUSIONS
This study illustrates the prognostic value of nutritional status. CRP and Alb may be useful in the assessment of advanced head and neck cancer patients at diagnosis and for stratifying patients taking part in randomized trials.
Salas
Sébastien
S
Service d'Oncologie Médicale, Adulte CHU Timone, APHM, Marseilles, France. sebastien.salas@ap-hm.fr
Deville
Jean-Laurent
JL
Giorgi
Roch
R
Pignon
Thierry
T
Bagarry
Danielle
D
Barrau
Karine
K
Zanaret
Michel
M
Giovanni
Antoine
A
Bourgeois
Aude
A
Favre
Roger
R
Duffaud
Florence
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D016190:Carboplatin; D005472:Fluorouracil