Is There a Novel Prognostic Parameter for Well-Differentiated Neuroendocrine Tumours? The Prognostic Value of Albumin and Hemoglobin in Patients Well-Differentiated Neuroendocrine Tumours

Abstract

Background: Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are a heterogeneous group of tumours. There are no well-established prognostic factors for accurately predicting survival of patients with well-differentiated NETs. Prognostic value of inflammatory markers was evaluated in some solid tumours previously. However, it was not well documented in orphan tumours like well-differentiated NETs. We aimed to find out a novel and easy-accessible prognostic parameter by using hemogram & biochemical parameters in patients with well-differentiated NETs. Patients and Methods: 132 patients with well-differentiated NETs were analyzed, retrospectively. Patients were subgrouped into two groups with respect to the cutoff value that was determined by ROC analysis. Survival analysis was performed by using the Kaplan-Meier method with the Long-rank test. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The cutoff value was defined as 47.94 for AlbXHb. High-risk (AlbXHb < 47.94) group had significantly increased risk of death (HR:5.16, 95%CI 1.45-18.38 p=0.011). AlbXHb was a significant prognostic factor for OS in univariate analyses (HR=0.925 95% CI 0.878-0.974, p=0.003). Conclusion: We demonstrated that AlbXHb might be a novel prognostic factor for well-differentiated NETs, but it needs further evaluation by randomized clinical trials. We believe that this novel parameter has feasible accuracy for predicting disease outcomes.