Comparison of neurone-specific enolase and pro-gastrin releasing peptide in the prognostic evaluation of small cell lung cancer patients.

摘要

Neurone-specific enoLase (NSE) is one of the most useful tumour markers for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and is widely used in daily practice . Pro-gastrin releasing peptide (proGRP) is a recently identified bio-marker of SCLC, and some reports have Indicated that the diagnostic usefulness of proGRP for SCLC is significantly higher than that of NSE . The clinical significance of these markers in diagnosing SCLC has been greatly evaluated. However, a few comparative studies evaluating the prognostic significance of these markers in SCLC have been reported. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, we determined the most suitable cut-off level of NSE and proGRP by which to distinguish between good and poor prognosis, and evaluated the prognostic significance of these two markers in SCLC patients.