Glasgow Prognostic Score predicts prognosis of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

High Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) has been associated with poor prognosis in patients with lung, ovarian, colorectal and renal cancer, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic value of GPS in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) undergoing partial hepatectomy. A total of 72 patients with pathologically confirmed ICC were classified according to their GPS scores assigned based on the preoperative levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and albumin. Their clinicopathological data were retrospectively assessed using univariate and multivariate analysis to determine their association with overall survival and recurrence. High GPS scores in ICC patients were associated with preoperative levels of CRP (P<0.001) and albumin (P<0.001), frequency of ascites accumulation (P=0.035), lymph node metastasis (P=0.002) and tumour size (P=0.005). On univariate analysis, preoperative levels of CRP (P<0.001), albumin (P=0.016) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (P=0.038), hepatitis B virus (HBV) positivity (P=0.009), occurrence of lymph node metastasis (P=0.001), Child-Pugh class B (P=0.013) and high tumour-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (P=0.002) were found to be associated with the 1- and 3-year overall survival. Multivariate analysis suggested that GPS score (HR=2.037, 95% CI: 1.092-3.799, P=0.025), TNM classification (HR=2.000, 95% CI: 1.188-3.367, P=0.009) and HBV positivity (HR=0.559 95% CI: 0.328-0.953, P=0.032) were independently associated with patient survival. High GPS scores also predicted ICC recurrence. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that GPS may serve as an independent marker of prognosis in patients with ICC following partial hepatectomy.