Aim: To investigate whether common terminology criteria for adverse events (CTCAE) grade 4 lymphopenia (<200 cells/μl) during concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is relevant to poor survival.
Patients and methods: We analyzed 124 patients with newly diagnosed Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I-III cervical cancer who received weekly cisplatin-based CCRT and brachytherapy using Kaplan-Meier curves and the Cox proportional hazard models.
Results: Grade 4 lymphopenia significantly predicted disease-specific survival (DSS) and progression-free survival (PFS) (adjusted hazard ratio (95% confidence interval (CI))=3.6 (1.37-9.44), p=0.009 and 3.28 (1.27-8.48), p=0.014, respectively). The 5-year DSS and 3-year PFS were significantly higher among patients with grade 2-3 lymphopenia (≥200 cells/μl) than among those with grade 4 lymphopenia (84.8% vs. 50.4%, p<0.001, and 80.7% vs. 50%, p=0.002, respectively).
Conclusion: Severe lymphopenia during CCRT could predict poor survival.
Keywords: Cervical cancer; concurrent chemoradiotherapy; prognosis; severe lymphopenia.
Copyright© 2016 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.