ALB and cancer: CRP/Alb was highest in patients with progressive extracranial disease (median CRP/Alb = 2.85), followed by patients with synchronous diagnosis of BM with the primary cancer (median CRP/Alb = 2.73), followed by patients with stable disease (median CRP/Alb = 2.06) and lowest in patients with no evidence of extracranial disease (median CRP/Alb = 1.07; padj = 0.009; Kruskal–Wallis test; Fig. 1b).