Preoperative controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score as a novel predictive biomarker of survival in patients with localized urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract treated with radical nephroureterectomy

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) score and survival of patients with localized urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU). Methods and materials: We retrospectively enrolled 107 patients. CONUT score was calculated based on the serum albumin concentration, lymphocyte count, and total cholesterol concentration. Patients were classified into 2 groups based on CONUT score. Relapse-free survival (RFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) after RNU were compared between the 2 groups, and predictors of survival were analyzed using Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: For CONUT score, the area under the curve was 0.588 and the optimal cutoff value was 3. Twenty-four patients (22.4%) had high CONUT scores. The patients with high CONUT scores had significantly shorter 5-year RFS, CSS, and OS than did those with low CONUT scores (RFS: 50.1% vs. 66.0%; CSS: 28.1% vs. 71.7%; OS: 26.4% vs. 66.8%; all P < 0.05). Results of the multivariable analysis, after adjustment for factors such as pT stage, pN stage, tumor grade, presence of lymphovascular invasion, and C-reactive protein level, revealed that CONUT score was an independent predictor of CSS (hazard ratio [HR] = 5.44, P = 0.0016) and OS (HR = 2.90, P = 0.0214) and showed marginal significance for predicting RFS (HR = 2.26, P = 0.0581). Conclusions: Preoperative CONUT score helps predict survival in patients with localized urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract treated with RNU. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.