Use of pretreatment serum uric acid level to predict metastasis in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive value of pretreatment serum uric acid (SUA) for metastasis in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Methods This retrospective study examined 1063 patients with locally advanced NPC. Multivariate survival analysis was used. Results High pretreatment SUA level (>353.4 μmol/L) independently predicted distant metastasis-free survival (p = .013) and was associated with high white blood cell (p = .005), lymphocyte counts (p < .001), and male sex (p < 0.001). In addition, SUA levels were significantly elevated in patients with T1 to T3 classification (p = .042). For patients with subsequent lung metastases after treatment, markedly higher pretreatment SUA levels were detected compared with patients who had other distant metastases (p =.012) and patients without distant metastasis (p = .024). Conclusion Pretreatment SUA may be a useful biomarker for evaluating treatment options for patients with locally advanced NPC. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 492–497, 2017