title: Prognostic value of pretreatment serum alkaline phosphatase in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prognostic value of serum alkaline phosphatase (S-ALP) has not been fully validated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
  
  
  METHODS
  S-ALP levels were measured in 601 patients newly diagnosed with NPC before radical treatment, and possible associations of these levels with 5-year overall survival (OS) and tumor-free survival (TFS) were explored using univariate and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Elevated pretreatment S-ALP (>85 U/L) was significantly less frequent among patients classified as T1+2 or stage I+II than among those classified as T3+4 or stage III+IV. Multivariate analysis showed that elevated pretreatment S-ALP (>85 U/L), age, T classification and N stage were independent predictors of poor OS and TFS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pretreatment S-ALP may be a reliable biomarker to evaluate the long-term prognosis of patients with NPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Tumor Surgery, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guangxi Medical University China E-mail : wzhbo1973@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Zheng-Bo
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Xu-Wei
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002277:Carcinoma; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase