title: A scoring system to guide the decision for a new systemic treatment after at least two lines of palliative chemotherapy for metastatic cancers: a prospective study.
abstract: A four-parameter score has been identified as associated with overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced cancer with an estimated survival inferior to 6 months. Here, we tested its prognostic value for OS in patients who had received more than two lines of systemic therapy.
  
  
  
  We prospectively enrolled patients with advanced cancer who were going to receive a third or more therapeutic line outside classical clinical guidelines. The four parameters (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, number of metastatic sites, serum LDH, and serum albumin) were collected at baseline, allowing to calculate the score, which sorted the patients in three groups, A, B, and C (low, intermediate, and high score, respectively). We then searched for correlations between this grouping and clinicopathological features particularly OS.
  
  
  
  From August 2013 to March 2014, 65 patients were enrolled and corresponded after determining their score to 26 patients in group A, 30 in B, and 9 in C. The median OS of the cohort was 4.4 months, and the 6-month OS was 42%. Overall survival was different between the three groups, with respective 6-month OS equal to 80% in group A, 17% in group B, and 0% in group C and respective median OS of 9, 2.3, and 1.6 months. Such prognostic value persisted in multivariate analysis. Similar OS differences were observed in patients with PS ≤2.
  
  
  
  This simple scoring should help oncologists identify which patients, after at least two lines of systemic therapy, might benefit from best supportive care alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Brice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chanez
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.|Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bertucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Marine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gilabert
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Madroszyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perrot
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France.|Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Viens
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Institut Paoli-Calmettes, Marseille, France. raouljl@ipc.unicancer.fr.
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Raoul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000066491:Clinical Decision-Making / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary / Q000628:therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies
keywords: Cancer; Chemotherapy; End of life; Palliative care; Prognostic score; Supportive care