A retrospective analysis was performed on 410 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma of squamous or undifferentiated histotype. All patients were classified according to the classification of the American Joint Committee for Cancer Staging and End-Results Reporting (AJC) and to that of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC, Geneva, 1978). The following prognostic factors were investigated by means of a Weibull multiple regression model: sex, age, histology, primary tumor extent, and nodal metastasis extent. With the exception of sex, all factors significantly influenced survival. With regards to nodal extent, only the level of the involved nodes was a significant variable. Both AJC and UICC classifications, when applied to the entire series of patients, appeared to be unsatisfactory. The authors propose an alternative classification based on a prognostic scoring system directly derived from the Weibull model.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prognostic implications of cell kinetics, histopathology and pathologic stage in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

Cell kinetics ([3H]-thymidine labelling index, [3H]-Thy LI) were determined on pathologic lymph nodes from 175 untreated adult patients. [3H]-Thy LI significantly differed in low-grade and high-grade malignancy groups according to the Kiel classification (median values, 1.8 per cent and 10.4 per cent, respectively) and in low, intermediate, high grade according to the Working Formulation (median values: 1.7 per cent, 4.8 per cent and 14.2 per cent, respectively) but was unrelated to pathologic stage or patient's age. Cell kinetics, histopathology, pathologic stage and patient's age were significant discriminants of 6-year survival. Multivariate analysis was performed by Cox's proportional hazard model to investigate the role of [3H]-Thy LI after making allowance for the other prognostic factors. When [3H]-Thy LI was added to the model, a large increase (chi square = 29.94) contributed by the cell kinetic variable in identifying patients at different risk was revealed.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prognostic factors and risk groups: some results given by using an algorithm suitable for censored survival data.

The problem of identifying the role of various prognostic factors when the response variable is the patient's survival time is discussed. Morgan and Sonquist's approach of constructing groups at similar risk is useful and an algorithm which implements the method for survival time data with censored observations is described. Examples of its application to two sets of medical data are given, arising from studies of prognosis following renal transplantation and treatment for stage I malignant melanoma of the skin.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prognostic factors for stage I melanoma of the skin: a review.

The prognosis of melanoma of the skin has been investigated in many studies. In this report papers on the prognosis of stage I melanoma published since 1975 in the leading oncology journals have been reviewed. Further the data collected by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Evaluation of Methods of Diagnosis and Treatment of Melanoma are analysed, and the results compared with those of other series. Three factors emerge as clearly influencing prognosis: sex, maximum tumour thickness and ulceration. The role of other factors and particularly that of an interaction between tumour thickness and ulceration conjectured by some authors remains questionable.

Female↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Neonatal morbidity risk: a study of the relationship to birthweight and gestational age in four Italian centres.

Data collected in four Italian centres, in the framework of a multicentre survey of perinatal preventive medicine sponsored by the Italian National Research Council from 1973, have been used to evaluate the relationship among neonatal morbidity (NM), birthweight (BW) and gestational age (GA). A linear logistic model, whose structure is the same in all the centres, appeared to be appropriate to fit the observed NM relative frequencies corresponding to each cell of the two-way (BW X GA) layout. Fitted models have been used to represent NM risk as a function of GA and BW, providing a chart of neonatal morbidity risk for each centre. Although such charts show recognizable similarities (among the centres) confirming the coherence in the results attained, some differences of expected morbidity risks occur in the classes with higher GA and BW. The characteristics of the women attending, especially socio-economical level and incidence of high-risk pregnancies, which are specific for each perinatal centre, may account for some of the differences in NM risk for given GA and BW classes.

Birth Weight↗