Design of a prognostic score model for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Abstract

The purpose of this analysis was to create a prognostic score model for newly diagnosed nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) which has not been created before. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 419 patients with newly diagnosed, nondisseminated, and biopsy proven NPC. Independent prognostic factors included age >45, stage III/IV, antienzyme rate of Epstein-Barr virus DNase-specific neutralizing antibody (AER) >58%, and absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >4.7 × 10(9) /L. Four prognostic groups based on prognostic score model were obtained: low-risk group (total score = 0-2); low-intermediate-risk group (total score = 3-4); high-intermediate-risk group (total score = 5-6); and high-risk group (total score = 7). Our proposed prognostic score model was a useful tool for improving the prognostic assessment of patients with NPC, stratifying patients into different risk groups that call for different treatments, and comparing clinical trials.