Long term clinical outcomes and associated predictors of progression free survival in anal canal cancer. J Gastrointest Oncol 2022 Feb;13(1):185-196
Date
03/15/2022Pubmed ID
35284138Pubmed Central ID
PMC8899735DOI
10.21037/jgo-21-482Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85125562951 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 1 CitationAbstract
BACKGROUND: Reports of long term clinical outcomes for patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the anal canal treated with chemotherapy and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) are limited. Pre-treatment hematologic variables associated with outcomes remain understudied. We sought to report the long-term clinical outcomes of a cohort of patients treated with definitive chemoradiation (CRT) utilizing helical tomotherapy (HT) IMRT at a single tertiary referral center. We further sought to examine for any correlations between pre-treatment hematologic parameters and progression free survival (PFS).
METHODS: Data from patients with SCC of the anal canal treated with definitive CRT using HT IMRT from 2005 to 2017 were collected. Pre-treatment patient characteristics examined for correlations with PFS included: hemoglobin (Hgb) level, age, diabetes mellitus (DM) status, smoking status, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil/WBC ratio, lymphocyte/WBC ratio, sex, transplant status, HIV status, Karnofsky performance score, T-stage, and N-stage. Pre-treatment Hgb levels were recorded within two weeks prior to starting CRT. Clinical outcomes, including PFS, were described using the Kaplan-Meier estimator. A multivariable (MVA) Cox model of PFS evaluated the impact of pre-treatment Hgb and diabetes while adjusting for T-stage and age.
RESULTS: The median patient age was 57 years old (range, 26-87) and there were 39 females (63.9%) with the remaining patients identifying as males. Median patient follow up was 5.8 years. The PFS was 83% at 5 years. The median pre-treatment Hgb was 13 g/dL. On multivariable analysis (MVA), Hgb ≤10 g/dL (HR: 11.891, 95% CI: 2.649-53.391, P=0.001) and a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (HR: 4.524, 95% CI: 1.436-14.252, P=0.010) were both significantly associated with a worse PFS. These factors were independent of T-stage and age.
CONCLUSIONS: Long-term clinical outcomes for patients with SCC of the anal canal treated with definitive CRT are presented. Pre-treatment hemoglobin of ≤10 g/dL and diabetes were both independently associated with worse PFS on MVA. This retrospective data supports further prospective study of the impact of hematologic markers and medical co-morbidities such as DM and their management on clinical outcomes for patients with SCC of the anal canal treated with curative-intent CRT.
Author List
Ponce SEB, Erickson BA, Hall WA, Bedi M, Martens MJ, Siker M, Thomas J, George B, Ludwig K, Peterson C, Ridolfi T, Longo JMAuthors
Manpreet Bedi MD, MS Professor in the Radiation Oncology department at Medical College of WisconsinBeth A. Erickson MD Professor in the Radiation Oncology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Ben George MD Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
William Adrian Hall MD Professor in the Radiation Oncology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
John Maclou Longo MD Associate Professor in the Radiation Oncology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Malika L. Siker MD Associate Dean, Associate Professor in the Radiation Oncology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
