OBJECTIVE: To compare three scoring systems, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, the Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II and a modified Mortality Probability Model II (ICU cancer mortality model, ICMM) for their prognostic value for mortality during hospital stay in a group of cancer patients admitted to a medical ICU.

DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.

SETTING: Medical ICU of a tertiary care hospital.

PATIENTS: Two hundred forty-two consecutive cancer patients admitted to the ICU.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Variables included in APACHE II, SAPS II and the ICMM scores as well as demographic data were assessed during the first 24 h of stay in the ICU. Hospital mortality was measured; it was 44%. Calibration for all three scoring systems was acceptable, SAPS II yielded a significantly superior discrimination between survivors and non-survivors. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.776 for APACHE II, 0.825 for SAPS II and 0.698 for the ICMM.

CONCLUSION: The SAPS II was superior to APACHE II and ICMM. The newly developed ICMM does not improve mortality prediction in critically ill cancer patients.