Use of pretreatment serum uric acid level to predict metastasis in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive value of pretreatment serum uric acid (SUA) for metastasis in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

METHODS: This retrospective study examined 1063 patients with locally advanced NPC. Multivariate survival analysis was used.

RESULTS: High pretreatment SUA level (>353.4 μmol/L) independently predicted distant metastasis-free survival (p = .013) and was associated with high white blood cell (p = .005), lymphocyte counts (p < .001), and male sex (p < 0.001). In addition, SUA levels were significantly elevated in patients with T1 to T3 classification (p = .042). For patients with subsequent lung metastases after treatment, markedly higher pretreatment SUA levels were detected compared with patients who had other distant metastases (p =.012) and patients without distant metastasis (p = .024).

CONCLUSION: Pretreatment SUA may be a useful biomarker for evaluating treatment options for patients with locally advanced NPC. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 492-497, 2017.