Tumor anemia and thrombocytosis in patients with vulvar cancer

The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of tumor anemia and thrombocytosis in patients with vulvar cancer, and to evaluate the prognostic value or pretreatment hemoglobin (Hb) and platelet count regarding disease-free and overall survival of patients with vulvar cancer. We measured pretreatment Hb and platelet count in 62 patients with squamous cell vulvar cancer. The results were correlated to clinical data. Median Hb and platelet count in patients with vulvar cancer were 13.1 g/dl (range 8.3-16.2) and 268, 500/microl (range 88,000-778,000), respectively. Cut-off levels of 12 g/dl and 300,000/microl were selected for tumor anemia and tumor thrombocytosis, respectively according to published criteria. Tumor anemia and tumor thrombocytosis were present in 30.6 and 27.4% of patients with vulvar cancer, respectively. In a univariate analysis tumor stage and tumor thrombocytosis were significantly associated with a shortened disease-free (log-rank test, p < 0.001 and p = 0. 003, respectively) and overall survival (log-rank test, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Tumor anemia was not associated with a shortened disease-free, but with a shortened overall survival of patients with vulvar cancer (log-rank test, p = 0.1 and p = 0.002, respectively). A multivariate Cox regression model considering tumor stage, tumor anemia, and tumor thrombocytosis showed, however, that pretreatment Hb and platelet count did not confer additional prognostic information to that already obtained by the established prognosticator tumor stage on disease free (multivariate Cox regression model, p = 0.8, p = 0.2, and p = 0.003, respectively) and overall survival (multivariate Cox regression model, p = 0.4, p = 0. 5, and p = 0.04, respectively). Pretreatment tumor anemia and tumor thrombocytosis were associated with a poor prognosis, but were not an independent predictor of outcome in patients with vulvar cancer.