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Usefulness of the Palliative Prognostic Index in patients with lung cancer

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Abstract

The usefulness of the Palliative Prognostic Index (PPI) has been successfully validated in a variety of clinical settings. However, while lung cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, patients with lung cancer accounted for only 6.9–25.8 % of the study populations in these previous studies. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the usefulness of the PPI for survival prediction in patients with lung cancer. Patients with lung cancer who were admitted to our hospital between 2009 and 2013 to receive palliative care were enrolled. The association between the Palliative Prognostic Index, determined based on the data recorded in the clinical charts at the last admission to our hospital, and survival was evaluated. The patient group with a PPI of >6 showed a significantly shorter survival time than the patient group with a PPI of ≤6 (P < 0.0001, log-rank test). The sensitivity and specificity of the PPI determined using the cutoff value of 6 for predicting less than 3 weeks of survival were 61.3 and 86.8 %, respectively. However, the sensitivity decreased to 50.0 % when the assessment was carried out in only patients with small cell lung carcinoma. Our findings suggest the existence of a close association between the PPI and survival in patients with lung cancer receiving palliative care. However, the sensitivity of the index for predicting less than 3 weeks of survival was relatively low in patients with small cell lung carcinoma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. First Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama City, 930-0194, Japan

    Minehiko Inomata, Ryuji Hayashi, Kotaro Tokui, Chihiro Taka, Seisuke Okazawa, Kenta Kambara, Tomomi Ichikawa, Kensuke Suzuki, Toru Yamada, Toshiro Miwa, Shoko Matsui & Kazuyuki Tobe

  2. Department of Medical Oncology, Toyama University Hospital, Toyama City, Japan

    Tatsuhiko Kashii

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  1. Minehiko Inomata
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  2. Ryuji Hayashi
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  3. Kotaro Tokui
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  4. Chihiro Taka
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  5. Seisuke Okazawa
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  6. Kenta Kambara
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  7. Tomomi Ichikawa
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  8. Kensuke Suzuki
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  9. Toru Yamada
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  10. Toshiro Miwa
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  11. Tatsuhiko Kashii
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  12. Shoko Matsui
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  13. Kazuyuki Tobe
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Correspondence to Minehiko Inomata.

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Inomata, M., Hayashi, R., Tokui, K. et al. Usefulness of the Palliative Prognostic Index in patients with lung cancer. Med Oncol 31, 154 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-014-0154-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-014-0154-x

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