Prognostic Significance of a Novel Score Model Based on Preoperative Indicators in Patients with Breast Cancer Spine Metastases (BCSM)

Interpretations of the Role of Plasma Albumin in Prognostic Indices: A Literature Review

This review assesses how publications interpret factors that influence the serum or plasma albumin (PA) level in prognostic indices, focusing on inflammation and nutrition. On PubMed, a search for "albumin AND prognosis" yielded 23,919 results. From these records, prognostic indices were retrieved, and their names were used as search strings on PubMed. Indices found in 10 or more original research articles were included. The same search strings, restricted to "Review" or "Systematic review", retrieved yielded on the indices. The data comprised the 10 latest original research articles and up to 10 of the latest reviews. Thirty indices had 294 original research articles (6 covering two indices) and 131 reviews, most of which were from recent years. A total of 106 articles related the PA level to inflammation, and 136 related the PA level to nutrition. For the reviews, the equivalent numbers were 54 and 65. In conclusion, more publications mention the PA level as a marker of nutrition rather than inflammation. This is in contrast to several general reviews on albumin and nutritional guidelines, which state that the PA level is a marker of inflammation but not nutrition. Hypoalbuminemia should prompt clinicians to focus on the inflammatory aspects in their patients.

A Novel Prognostication System for Spinal Metastasis Patients Based on Network Science and Correlation Analysis

AIMS

During the progress of oncological diseases, there is an increased probability that spinal metastases may develop, requiring personalised treatment options. Risk calculator systems aim to provide assistance in the therapeutic decision-making process by estimating survival chances. The predictive ability of such calculators can be improved, thereby optimising the choice of personalised therapy. The aim of this research was to create a new risk assessment system and show a method with which other centres can develop their own local score.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We created a database by retrospectively processing 454 patients. The prognostic factors were selected via a network science-based correlation analysis that maximises Uno's C-index, keeping only a small number of predictors. To validate the new system, we calculated the D-statistic, the Integrated Discrimination Index, made a five-fold cross-validation and also calculated the integrated time-dependent Brier score.

RESULTS

As a result of multivariate Cox analysis, we found five independent prognostic factors suitable for the design of the risk calculator. This new system has a better predictive ability compared with six other well-known systems with an average C-index of 0.706 at 10 years (95% confidence interval 0.679-0.733).

CONCLUSIONS

An accurate estimation of the life expectancy of cancer patients is essential for the implementation of personalised medicine. The training performance of our system is encouraging, indicating the benefit of a network science-based visualisation step. We believe that in order to further improve the prediction ability, it is necessary to systematise previously 'unknown' factors (e.g. radiological morphology).

Prognostic Factors for Bone Survival and Functional Outcomes in Patients With Breast Cancer Spine Metastases

According to the Global Cancer Statistics 2020 report, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide. Patients with mammary cancer live longer due to the continuous optimization of chemotherapy, targeted drugs, and hormone therapy, which will inevitably lead to an increase in the prevalence of metastatic bone tumors. Bone metastasis affects approximately 8% of patients with mammary cancer, with the spine being the most common site. Metastatic neoplasms can invade the centrum and its attachments, leading to local pain, spinal instability, vertebral pathological fractures, spinal cord compression, impaired neurological function, and paralysis, ultimately reducing the quality of life. Multidisciplinary and personalized management using analgesic drugs, endocrine therapy, corticosteroid therapy, chemotherapy, bisphosphonates, immunotherapy, targeted drugs, radiotherapy, and surgery has been advocated for the treatment of spinal metastases. Multiple paradigms and systems have been proposed to determine suitable treatments. In the early stages, the occurrence of metastasis indicates a terminal stage of the tumor process in patients with malignant tumors, implying that their lifespan is limited. As a result, the choice of treatment is heavily influenced by longevity. However, with the development of treatment methods, the lifespan of patients with tumors has considerably increased in recent years. This leads to the choice of patient's treatment, which depends not only on the patient's survival, but also on the radiotherapy or postoperative functional outcomes. Nevertheless, they fall short of determining the variables that affect survival and functional outcomes in histology-specific subgroups of breast cancer. To accurately predict the bone survival and functional outcomes of patients with breast cancer spine metastases a review of prognostic factors was performed.