Prognostic Value of Pretreatment Serum Alkaline Phosphatase in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Background: The prognostic value of serum alkaline phosphatase (S-ALP) has not been fully validated fornasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Materials and
Methods: S-ALP levels were measured in 601 patients newlydiagnosed with NPC before radical treatment, and possible associations of these levels with 5-year overall survival(OS) and tumor-free survival (TFS) were explored using univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: Elevatedpretreatment S-ALP (>85 U/L) was significantly less frequent among patients classified as T1+2 or stage I+IIthan among those classified as T3+4 or stage III+IV. Multivariate analysis showed that elevated pretreatmentS-ALP (>85 U/L), age, T classification and N stage were independent predictors of poor OS and TFS.
Conclusions:Pretreatment S-ALP may be a reliable biomarker to evaluate the long-term prognosis of patients with NPC.