Pretreatment Low Serum Sodium as a Prognostic Factor for Patients with Esophageal Cancer Treated with Radiotherapy or Chemoradiotherapy

Low serum sodium levels have been associated with poor prognoses for several cancers. However, the prognostic value of low serum sodium levels in esophageal carcinoma (EC) has not been well elucidated. We examined the prognostic value of low baseline serum sodium levels before radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for EC patients. A retrospective analysis of data from EC patients who received radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy at a single cancer center was performed. Patients were divided into low serum sodium level (≤140.0 mmol/L) or high serum sodium level (>140.0 mmol/L) groups according to the median pretreatment serum sodium level. The Kaplan–Meier model and Cox proportional hazards model were used for survival analyses. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates in the whole group were 16.9% and 21.8%, respectively. The PFS and OS rates of patients in the low serum sodium levels group were significantly lower than those in the high serum sodium levels group (p < 0.001). A similar association between PFS/OS and sodium levels was observed in the treatment subgroups. The univariate analysis showed that low serum sodium levels, Karnofsky performance status (KPS), clinical N stage, tumor site, clinical stage, and treatment mode were the influencing factors of OS. Multivariate analyses indicated that low baseline serum sodium levels were an independent prognostic marker of poor PFS (HR, 1.744; 95% CI, 1.248-2.437; p = 0.001) and OS (hazard ratio (HR), 2.125; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.555-2.904; p < 0.001). Pretreatment levels of low serum sodium could be a new and helpful serum biomarker of the prognosis of EC patients receiving radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy.