SERUM NEURON-SPECIFIC ENOLASE LEVEL AS A PROGNOSTIC FACTOR IN NONSMALL CELL LUNG-CANCER

In 93 patients with inoperable non-small cell lung carcinoma who under went chemotherapy including cisplatin, the prognostic value of 9 facto rs were determined using Cox's proportional hazard model. Univariate a nalysis revealed that patients with a performance status of grade 2 (p <0.01) or 3 (p<0.05), those with stage IV disease (p<0.05), those with a serum neuron specific enolase (NSE) level >7.0 ng/ml (p<0.001), and those with a low serum albumin level (p<0.05) had a significantly wor se prognosis. Multivariate analysis showed that a performance status o f 2 or 3 and a high NSE serum level were associated with a significant ly worse prognosis. More attention should be paid to the serum NSE lev el in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma, because it not only reflects the tumor volume, but is also a prognostic factor which is d ependent on individual tumor characteristics.