Prognostic Nutritional Index Predicts Treatment Outcomes following Palliative Surgery for Colorectal Adenocarcinoma

Palliative surgeries such as stoma creation and bypass are effective for relieving symptoms related to incurable abdominal malignancies; however, these methods are controversial in patients with severe metastatic disease or poor pre-surgical health. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical significance of the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) in evaluations for palliative surgery.

We retrospectively analyzed data from 37 patients who underwent palliative surgery for histologically-proven colorectal adenocarcinoma from 2009 to 2015. We investigated both risk factors for postoperative complications and prognostic factors. We used a PNI cutoff value of 40, as defined by previous studies.

The reason for surgery was stenosis in 18 patients, obstruction in 12, fistula in 5, and bleeding in 2. Bypass was performed in 10 cases, ileostomy in 5, and colostomy in 22. Postoperative morbidity and mortality occurred in 9 and 2 patients, respectively. Median overall survival time was 8.9 months. Only low PNI correlated with postoperative complications at trend-level (p=0.07), and the 2 patients with mortality were classified as PNI-low. The presence of ascites (p=0.003) and PNI (p=0.02) were identified as independent prognostic factors.

PNI could be used as an objective marker for deciding whether to proceed with palliative surgery, independent of the extent of metastatic disease.