A team of investigators has developed a scoring system that may inform decision-making for the treatment of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine carcinomas.
With the scoring system, patients are assigned a score from 0 to 6 according to the presence of liver metastases, alkaline phosphatase levels, lactate dehydrogenase levels, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, and the presence of the Ki-67 protein.
The researchers, led by Angela Lamarca, MD (Christie NHS Foundation, Manchester, UK), assessed the validity of the scoring system to predict overall survival in a group of 121 patients with gastrointestinal neuroendocrine carcinomas. The 117 patients who scored between 0 and 2 points had a median overall survival of 20.7 months, whereas the 61 patients who scored between 3 and 6 points. The researchers confirmed that the difference in survival between the two groups of patients was significant. Univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed the predictive validity of the scoring system.
The authors concluded that the score was a valid prognostic indicator of survival in patients with this disease. They presented their findings in a poster at the recent ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL (June 3-7).
