Prognostic Significance of Platelet-Based Inflammatory Indicators in Patients with Gastric Cancer

Thrombocytosis develops in association with malignant tumors and may reflect the inflammation status in cancer patients. This study retrospectively investigated the prognostic significance of two platelet-based inflammatory indicators, the platelet × C-reactive protein multiplier value (P-CRP), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), in gastric cancer patients.

The 453 enrolled patients had a histopathological diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma and underwent curative surgery.

P-CRP correlated significantly with age, tumor size, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and disease stage. A high PLR correlated significantly with tumor size, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, lymphatic involvement, venous involvement, and disease stage. In the ROC analysis, the optimal cutoff value of P-CRP and PLR was 3.689 and 173.3, respectively. Five-year survival rates were 62.9 and 82.1% in patients with P-CRP^High (≥3.689) and P-CRP^Low (<3.698), respectively (P < 0.0001). Five-year survival rates were 66.3 and 81.3% in patients with PLR^High (≥173.3) and PLR^Low (<173.3), respectively (P = 0.0022). The prognosis of the P-CRP^High/PLR^High group was significantly worse than that of the P-CRP^High or PLR^High and P-CRP^Low/PLR^Low groups in terms of overall survival (P < 0.0001) and disease-specific survival (P = 0.029). In a multivariate analysis, the combination of P-CRP and PLR was an independent prognostic indicator.

The combination of P-CRP and PLR may be useful in predicting prognosis in gastric cancer patients.