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Absolute preoperative C-reactive protein predicts metastasis and mortality in the first year following potentially
T V Johnson1, A Abbasi, A Owen-Smith
1Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA.
Purpose:
C-reactive protein is an inflammatory biomarker associated with tumor burden and metastasis in renal cell carcinoma. Recent studies suggest that preoperative C-reactive protein predicts metastasis and mortality after nephrectomy for localized renal cell carcinoma. However, these studies dichotomized C-reactive protein (typically 10 mg/l or greater vs less than 10 mg/l). Considering the continuous range of C-reactive protein (less than 1 mg/l to greater than 100 mg/l) we assessed the ability of absolute preoperative C-reactive protein to predict metastases and mortality as a continuous variable.
Materials And Methods:
Patients with clinically localized (T1-T3N0M0) clear cell renal cell carcinoma were followed for 1 year postoperatively. Metastases were identified radiologically and mortality was determined by death certificate. Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses examined 1-year relapse-free survival and overall relative survival across patient and disease characteristics.
Results:
Of the 130 patients in this study metastases developed in 24.6% and 10.8% of the patients died. Mean (SD) preoperative C-reactive protein for patients in whom metastases did and did not develop was 89.17 (74.17) and 9.16 (30.62) mg/l, respectively. Mean preoperative C-reactive protein for patients who did and did not die was 102.61 (77.32) and 19.52 (46.10) mg/l, respectively. On multivariate analysis SSIGN score (p <0.001) and preoperative C-reactive protein (B 0.027, SE 0.003, p <0.001) were significant predictors of relapse-free survival, and preoperative platelets (p = 0.009) and preoperative C-reactive protein (B 0.011, SE 0.008, p <0.001) were significant predictors of overall relative survival.
Conclusions:
Absolute preoperative C-reactive protein is a robust predictor of metastasis and mortality after nephrectomy for localized renal cell carcinoma. Clinicians should consider absolute preoperative C-reactive protein to identify high risk patients for closer surveillance or additional therapy. In addition, predictive algorithms and models of metastasis should consider incorporating C-reactive protein as a continuous variable to maximize predictive ability.
