The impact of preoperative serum C-reactive protein on the prognosis of patients with upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma treated surgically.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the impact of preoperative C-reactive protein (CRP) levels on the prognosis in patients with upper urinary tract (UUT) urothelial carcinoma (UC) primarily treated surgically, as it is increasingly recognized that a systemic inflammatory response is associated with the prognosis for patients with various malignancies.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The clinical records of 130 patients treated surgically for UUT-UC were reviewed retrospectively. An elevated CRP was defined as >0.5 mg/dL. Actuarial survival curves were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method, with the difference between curves evaluated using the log-rank test. A multivariate analysis was used to identify prognostic factors, with Cox's proportional hazard model.

RESULTS

The median (range) follow-up was 47 (3-190) months. The preoperative serum CRP level was elevated in 24 patients (23%). There were significant associations between CRP level and haemoglobin concentrations, pathological T stage, tumour grade, lymph node involvement and lymphovascular invasion. The 5-year disease-specific and recurrence-free survival rates of 24 patients with elevated CRP were significantly worse than those of the 106 with no CRP elevation (both P < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, preoperative CRP level, pathological T stage and lymph node involvement were significant prognostic factors for disease-specific and recurrence-free survival.

CONCLUSION

This study indicated that an elevated preoperative CRP level predicts a poor survival in patients with UUT-UC.