Margel et al developed a discriminant function to identify a patient with extravesical bladder cancer prior to surgery. This can help to identify a patient who may require more aggressive management. The authors are from Rabin Medical Center and Tel Aviv University in Israel.
Patient selection: bladder cancer that is muscle-invasive and clinically organ confined (cT2N0M0) or less
Parameters:
(1) serum CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen, Abbott AxSYM analyzer)
(2) serum CA 19-9 (carbohydrate antigen 19-9, Abbott AxSYM analyzer)
(3) serum CA 125 (cancer antigen 125, Abbott AxSYM analyzer)
(4) clinical stage (CIS, cT1, cT2)
(5) hydronephrosis
(6) concomitant carcinoma in situ (CIS)
(7) initial tumor size
Parameter |
Finding |
Points |
clinical stage |
CIS |
1 |
|
cT1 |
2 |
|
cT2 |
3 |
hydronephrosis |
absent |
1 |
|
present |
2 |
concomitant CIS |
absent |
1 |
|
present |
2 |
initial tumor size |
<= 3 cm |
1 |
|
> 3 cm |
2 |
PCA score =
= (0.596 * (CEA value)) + (0.508 * (CA 125 value)) + (0.664 * (CA 19-9 value)) + (0.697 * (points for clinical stage)) - (0.567 * (points for concomitant CIS)) + (0.578 * (points for hydronephrosis)) + (0.590 * (points for tumor size))
Interpretation:
• A PCA score > 18.53 was associated with pathologic extravesical disease.
Performance:
• The area under the ROC curve was 0.84.
• The positive predictive value was 88% and the negative predictive value was 94%.
• The equation was 95% accurate in predicting non-organ confined disease.
Limitations:
• The normal reference ranges for the serum tumor markers were not stated.
• Hydronephrosis and elevated serum markers can be caused by other conditions. The function would work better in patients without these.
Specialty: Hematology Oncology, Surgery, general, Urology
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