title: Validation of the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) for Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM) and the importance of serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH).
abstract: The recently proposed, ISSWM staging system for symptomatic patients with WM was based on patients treated with alkylating agents and nucleoside analogs and has not been externally validated nor has been validated for cause-specific survival (CSS). We independently validated ISSWM both for overall survival (OS) and for CSS and assessed whether addition of elevated serum LDH may add to the strength of ISSWM in 335 patients treated upfront mainly with alkylating agents (43%), and rituximab-based therapies (47%). ISSWM could discriminate three groups with significantly different OS and CSS (p<0.01 for both). High serum LDH was predictive of shorter OS and CSS (p<0.01). The combination of high risk according to ISSWM and elevated serum LDH identified a subset of patients for whom innovative treatment approaches are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Therapeutics, University of Athens, School of Medicine, 80 Vas. Sofias Ave, 115 28 Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Efstathios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kastritis
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kyrtsonis
authors.forename: Evdoxia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hadjiharissi
authors.forename: Argyris
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Symeonidis
authors.forename: Evridiki
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Michalis
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Repoussis
authors.forename: Constantinos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tsatalas
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sioni
authors.forename: Zafiris
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kartasis
authors.forename: Ekaterini
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stefanoudaki
authors.forename: Michail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voulgarelis
authors.forename: Sossana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Delimpasi
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gavriatopoulou
authors.forename: Efstathios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koulieris
authors.forename: Dimitra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gika
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zomas
authors.forename: Paraskevi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roussou
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Anagnostopoulos
authors.forename: Theophanis
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Economopoulos
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Terpos
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zervas
authors.forename: Meletios A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Dimopoulos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D008258:Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality*
chemical_list: D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase