Influence of prognostic nutritional index and tumor markers on survival in gastric cancer surgery patients.

PURPOSE

Blood analytes are easily used in routine clinical practice. Tumor markers (TMs) are useful in diagnosing, treating, and predicting prognosis of gastric cancer (GC). The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) was also recently found to be useful in predicting GC prognosis.

METHODS

The PNI and serum levels of CEA and CA19-9 of 453 patients with GC were measured to examine correlations between those levels and patients' prognoses.

RESULTS

Of the 453 patients, 84 (18.5%) were positive for CEA and/or CA19-9 and therefore considered positive for TMs. Prognosis of patients who were TM+ was significantly worse than for those who were TM-. Mean PNI was 48.2 (range 27.7-63.6). ROC analysis indicated that 46.7 was the optimal PNI cutoff value. Prognosis of patients in the PNI group (<46.7) was significantly worse than in the PNI group (≥46.7). Prognosis of patients who were both TM+ and PNI was significantly worse than that of patients who were either TM+ or PNI and those who were both TM- and PNI. Multivariate analysis indicated that combination of TM and PNI was an independent prognostic indicator.

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of TM and PNI offers accurate information about a patient's prognosis.