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Ann Thorac Surg 2002;73:2035
© 2002 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Correspondence

Reply

^a Barrett Cancer Center, University of Cincinnati, 234 Goodman Ave, Mail Location 0501, Cincinnati, OH 45219, USA

To the Editor

Doctors Watine and Berteau raised concern about the value of hemoglobin as a prognostic indicator in surgically resected stages I and II non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients reported in the journal [1].

The sentence they commented on was simply indicating that hemoglobin has not been reported to have a significant correlation with outcome in the past in surgically resected stages I and II NSCLC patients. We did not mean that no one ever studied the value of hemoglobin in this patient population. Our statement did not intend to imply that we were the first authors to study the prognostic value of hemoglobin in these patients. However, we were the first to report a significant correlation of this laboratory finding with patient outcome.

As far as the role of the hemoglobin as a prognostic factor in patients with advanced lung cancer, we had referred to the study by Albain and colleagues on behalf of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) [2]. In this study, the authors analyzed the data of 2,531 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer enrolled in 14 SWOG trials. The analysis revealed that the hemoglobin value (11 gm/dl) was a significant prognostic indicator in the univariate analyses. In the multivariate analysis of patients with good performance status, the hemoglobin value ranked first.

Finally, our study did not suggest that the standard of care should be altered based on the hemoglobin value, but that a further investigation of this issue is warranted.

References

1. Jazieh A.R., Hussain M., Howington J.A., et al. Prognostic factors in patients with surgically resected stages I and II non-small cell lung cancer. Am Thorac Surg 2000;70:1168-1171.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): John A. Howington Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Jazieh, A.-R. Articles by Howington, J. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Jazieh, A.-R. Articles by Howington, J. A. Related Collections Related Articles