Anemia is a Prognostic Factor for Overall Survival Rate in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

• Main Authors: Tanaka H, Ono T, Manabe Y, Kajima M, Fujimoto K, Yuasa Y, Shiinoki T, Yamaji Y, Matsunaga K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2021-09-01
• Series: Cancer Management and Research
• Subjects: anemia; hemoglobin; non-small cell lung cancer; stereotactic body radiation therapy; stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/anemia-is-a-prognostic-factor-for-overall-survival-rate-in-patients-wi-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-CMAR

Hidekazu Tanaka,1 Taiki Ono,1 Yuki Manabe,1 Miki Kajima,1 Koya Fujimoto,1 Yuki Yuasa,1 Takehiro Shiinoki,1 Yoshikazu Yamaji,2 Kazuto Matsunaga2 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Japan; 2Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Disease, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, JapanCorrespondence: Hidekazu Tanaka 1-1-1 Minamikogushi, Ube, 755-8505, JapanTel [phone]Fax [phone]Email [e-mail]: Anemia has been associated with poor prognosis in patients with cancer across several cancer types. It has been identified as a prognostic factor in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have undergone surgery or chemoradiotherapy. However, there are only a few reports that have evaluated the prognostic significance of anemia in patients with NSCLC undergoing stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).Patients and Methods: A total of 77 patients were enrolled in this study. The pretreatment hemoglobin (Hb) levels, within 2 weeks before SBRT, were available for all patients. The median age of the participants (56 men, 21 women) was 80 (range, 50– 90) years. The median Hb level was 12.8 (range, 7.8– 18.3) g/dL. The median follow-up period was 24 (range, 1– 87) months.Results: Local recurrence was observed in 8 (10.4%) cases during the follow-up period. The 1- and 2-year local control (LC) rates were 94.8% and 86.4%, respectively. Seventeen (22.1%) patients died during the follow-up period. The 1- and 2-year overall survival (OS) rates were 93.1% and 85.2%, respectively. Univariate analysis identified anemia and body mass index as significant prognostic factors for predicting OS. On multivariate analysis, anemia was confirmed to be the only significant factor (p = 0.02469).Conclusion: Our data suggest that anemia is a prognostic factor for predicting the OS rate in patients with early-stage NSCLC treated with SBRT.Keywords: anemia, hemoglobin, non-small cell lung cancer, stereotactic body radiation therapy, stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy